Media Supression

Judge Stops Media Supression

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 8/4/26

Headline:  “Civil-Liberties and Press-Freedom Groups Applaud First Circuit Ruling in Rodríguez-Cotto v. González-Colón, Affirming First Amendment Rights”

“On Tuesday, civil-liberties and press-freedom organizations praised the First Circuit’s ruling in Rodríguez-Cotto v. González-Colón. The First Circuit’s ruling upholds a district court’s permanent injunction, preventing use of a Puerto Rican law criminalizing information shared about states of emergency.

“Article 5.14(a) of Puerto Rico law, known as the ‘Fake News’ law, was enacted during the COVID-19 crisis and criminalized raising a ‘false alarm’ or spreading false information about public emergencies . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/civil-liberties-and-press-freedom-groups-applaud-first-circuit-ruling-puerto-rico-law

WSJ Bawdiness Lawsuit?

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 8/5/26

Headline:   “Judge signals Trump’s defamation lawsuit against Wall Street Journal may be dismissed again”

Subhead:  “Obama-appointed judge seemed unmoved by Trump attorneys’ arguments in case also naming Murdoch”

“A federal judge in Florida seemed skeptical of arguments from Donald Trump’s legal team on Wednesday over whether the court should allow a $10bn defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal to move forward.

“Trump sued the Journal and the News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch over a July 2025 article about a “bawdy” letter reportedly from Trump that was included in a 2003 birthday book for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/aug/05/trump-defamation-lawsuit-murdoch-dismissal

After CECOT – LULAC Begins News

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Article in FAIR by Carolina Abbott Galvão. 8/4/26

Headline: ‘The Most Accurate Truth’

Subhead: “After CBS News hit the brakes on a 60 Minutes story about CECOT prison, the League of Latin American Citizens decided it was time to start their own newsroom. Within months, El Grito Media has become a definitive resource.”

“n July 7 in Houston, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a fifty-two-year-old Mexican man. Audrey Colocho and Katherine Torres of El Grito Media—which this spring started publishing stories directly on Instagram, X, YouTube, and TikTok instead of on a dedicated site—tried to piece together what happened, beginning with a social media post. Soon, they had collected more footage, from more angles—providing a definitive account that became a source for major news outlets. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/getting-the-story/the-most-accurate-truth-el-grito-media-ice-salgado-killing-shooting-cecot-el-salvador-venezuela-60-minutes-cbs-news.php

Fox News Ignoring Something in the Room?

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Article in Media Matters by Tyler Monroe & Kayla Gogarty, 8/3/26

Headline:  “Fox News and podcasters in the right-wing media ecosystem bury recent reporting on alleged domestic abuse by Ohio GOP Rep. Max Miller”

Subhead:  “The Benny Show, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Megyn Kelly Show, Steve Bannon’s War Room, The Ben Shapiro Show, Loomer Unleashed, Tim Pool Daily Show, and Timcast IRL all ignored the story”

“The right-wing media ecosystem has largely buried recent reporting detailing reports of alleged domestic abuse by Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), with Fox News spending just 4 minutes discussing the story and several popular podcasters ignoring it completely. . . ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/congress/fox-news-and-podcasters-right-wing-media-ecosystem-bury-recent-reporting-alleged-domestic

Media Literacy Events

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Source:  Neutrality Studies

NATIONALLY KNOWN  AUTHOR, ROBIN ANDERSEN

CONDUCTS MEDIA LITERACY EVENT AND BOOK TALK

 On August 4th  at 6:00 CST, Robin Andersen, Professor Emerita from Fordham University, New York City, and author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles on media, war, refugees, etc., will conduct a workshop on how to “Expose media lies and have fun doing it” in joint with two others in the “large meeting room” in the Plaza Branch Library, 4801 Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri.

Andersen collaborates in this workshop with Katerina Canyon, Executive Director of the Peace Economy Workshop, headquartered in St. Louis. The workshop will be moderated by Spencer Graves, President of Friends of Community Media. This workshop is designed to promote critical thinking about what appears in the media.  The public is encouraged to attend and may register with email for free at savethemedia@cs.com. The event begins with a reception at 5:30 PM.

In addition Robin Andersen will speak August 5th at 7 PM at Rainy Day Books in 2706 W 53rd Street, Fairway Kansas, on her new book, The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza (OR Books, published June 2, two months ago).

Friends of Community Media (FCM, ourfcm.org) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in Kansas City, whose mission includes educating citizens on the nature of the media and encouraging media to be responsive to the public. FCM also has a daily blog that examines national media from a progressive viewpoint.

Harassing Freelancers Now?

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Article in The New York Times by Devlin Barrett, 8/1/26

Headline:  “Justice Dept. Subpoenas Times Freelancer in Effort to Identify Sources”

Subhead:  “A previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects the government’s expanding campaign to investigate leaks of secrets.”

“A freelance reporter has been fighting a subpoena from the Trump administration seeking to force him to reveal his sources for a New York Times article about a failed top secret mission in North Korea, according to people familiar with the matter. . .”

“In the months since Mr. Cole’s subpoena, The Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have faced similar subpoenas seeking information about their reporting. The news organizations have resisted. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/us/politics/times-subpoena-reporter-trump-north-korea.html

ABC Persecuted?

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Article in The New Republic by Sophie Jager, 7/30/26

Headline:  “ABC Accuses Trump’s FCC of Trying to Censor the Whole Media Industry”

Subhead:  “ABC fired back at the Federal Communications Commission, accusing the agency of “attempted censorship” and “retaliation.”

“ABC accused the Federal Communications Commission Thursday of “attempted censorship” and a clear “retaliation” effort meant to send a message to every other media company in the country.

“The Administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC’s licenses, because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs,” ABC wrote in a fiery 119-page regulatory filing to the agency. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/post/213787/abc-trump-fcc-censorship-media-industry

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Article in Reuters by David Shepardson, 7/30/26

Headline: “ABC says FCC seeks to intimidate network over news coverage”

“. . .Walt Disney-owned, ​ABC said on Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission’s threat to revoke the network’s broadcast licenses is ‌part of an unprecedented campaign of intimidation over broadcast content the Trump administration dislikes.

“ABC said that the Trump administration agency’s nearly unprecedented decision to order an early license review of the eight Disney-owned ABC stations is a warning from the government to other media companies. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/world/abc-says-fcc-seeks-intimidate-network-over-coverage-2026-07-30/

Unhinged Journalist-Harassment?

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Article in Ars Technica by Jon Brodkin, 7/28/26

Headline:  “eBay pays $46M to journalists it targeted in bizarre harassment campaign”

Subhead:  “eBay sent bloody pig mask and other macabre deliveries to journalists’ home.”

“eBay and three former executives agreed to pay nearly $56 million in a settlement over a macabre campaign of cyberstalking and harassment that targeted two journalists in 2019.

“As we’ve previously written, the case involved deliveries of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a book about surviving the loss of a spouse, and a bloody pig mask to the home of a couple who run a news website. There were also harassing messages sent via email and Twitter, and an attempt to install a GPS tracking device on the victims’ car. Criminal charges resulted in guilty pleas and prison terms for former eBay employees. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/ebay-former-execs-pay-56m-to-settle-bloody-pig-mask-harassment-case/

McCarthy Ghost Pursues Media

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Article in Democracy Now! by Staff, 7/28/26

Headline: “A New McCarthyism? House GOP Subpoenas BreakThrough News in Escalating War on Progressive Groups”

“The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee subpoenaed BreakThrough News last week, demanding the independent online news outlet hand over internal communications and financial records. BreakThrough News says it’s being targeted over its coverage of U.S. mass deportations, ICE abuses, Cuba and Palestine solidarity and U.S. foreign policy. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/28/rania_khalek_breakthrough_news_subpoena

Media, Drinking it all in?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo. 7/27/26

Headline:  “The Atlantic calls Patel lawsuit an ‘assault’ on Constitution in dismissal bid”

“The Atlantic is asking a judge to toss a lawsuit brought by FBI Director Kash Patel against the outlet over its reporting alleging excessive drinking and questioning his performance in the job. . .”

“The Atlantic, in a statement on Monday, called Patel’s suit ‘meritless’ and said it was asking the court to permit it to begin seeking factual discovery from the FBI and the Department of Justice — including documents and depositions of key individuals, which it called ‘appropriate given the allegations in this matter’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5993569-atlantic-patel-defamation-suit/