Media Supression

Media Covering-Up Venezuela?

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Article in The Nation by Jack Mirkinson, 1/9/26

Headline:  “The Media’s Coverage of the Venezuelan Coup Has Been Dreadful”

Subhead:  “War may be the health of state, but it’s death to honest journalism.”

“We live in a turbulent, unpredictable world. Few things feel certain. But there are some truths we can hold fast to. The sun will rise. We’ll grow older each day. And the media will bend over backward to celebrate US imperialism.

“For evidence of this, just review the past week’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s illegal abduction and overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Once the kidnapping operation swung into gear, our most prominent newsrooms obediently adopted their time-honored patterns: indulging war lust, sidestepping or downplaying the rule of law, and uncritically cheerleading yet another violent foreign intervention by the US military. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/media-venezuela-tony-dokoupil/

Reporting Public Information Illegal?

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Article in FAIR by Jim Naureckas, 1/9/26

Headline:  “The First Amendment Allows You to Report Things the Government Doesn’t Want Reported”

“The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed journalist Seth Harp (Washington Post, 1/8/26) over his posting on X a photo and publicly available biographical information about the US colonel who apparently leads the Army’s Delta Force unit, which played a key role in the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Committee member Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R–Fla.) called for Harp’s criminal prosecution, accusing him of ‘leaking classified information’  and ‘doxing’ the colonel.

“. . .Actually, the First Amendment does give you a license to do all of those things. None of them are covered by the extremely limited exceptions to the freedom of the press recognized by the US Constitution. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/the-first-amendment-allows-you-to-report-things-the-government-doesnt-want-reported/

Did “60 Minutes” Lose Something?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 1/8/26

Headline: “The Shadow Over ‘60’ “

Subhead:  “As Sharyn Alfonsi’s ’60 Minutes’ report remains shelved, Status has learned that an Anderson Cooper piece is also caught in a prolonged editorial review process, frustrating the veteran producer attached to the story.”

“Earlier this week, on Tuesday, members of the ’60 Minutes’ team gathered for a meeting to discuss the future of Sharyn Alfonsi’s delayed piece on migrants deported by Donald Trump’s administration to a notorious El Salvadorian prison. The segment, which had been slated for broadcast on December 21, was pulled from air at the eleventh hour by the network’s new MAGA friendly editor in chief, Bari Weiss. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/60-minutes-bari-weiss-cbs-news-cecot

Somebody’s Pants on Fire?

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Article in Mediaite by Isaac Schorr, 1/8/26

Headline: ” ‘Absolute Disgrace!’ Irate JD Vance Loses It on the Media for ‘Lying’ About ICE Shooting”

“Vice President JD Vance dressed down the media on Thursday over its coverage of the shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer on Wednesday in a monologue he delivered from the podium in the White House briefing room.

“After first discussing the administration’s response to the Somali fraud scandal playing out in Minnesota, Vance accused the press of ‘lying’ about what had transpired in Minneapolis the day before. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/absolute-disgrace-irate-jd-vance-loses-it-on-the-media-for-lying-about-ice-shooting/

Network Slowly, Slowly Sinking

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Article in Mother Jones by Mika Bauerlein, 12.30.25

Headline:  “The End of CBS News”

Subhead:  “Why corporate media won’t come to save us.”

“. . .Now, editors-in-chief often, annoyingly, ask for changes in stories. I was one, and I did it. But what no editor in her right mind will do is yank a piece at the last minute, after it has been reported, vetted, fact-checked, lawyered, greenlit for publication, and promoted for several days. For if you do that, the issue will no longer be the reporting. The issue will be your management. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/the-end-of-cbs-news/

Standing Firm Against Targeting

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Article in the New York Times by Benjamin Mullin

Headline:  “NPR’s C.E.O. Was a Right-Wing Target. Then the Real Trouble Started.”

Subhead:  “Katherine Maher has taken an unyielding approach to NPR’s biggest battles — which has sometimes put her at odds with her colleagues in public media.”

“. . .Ms. Maher, 42, stood by her strategy.

“ ‘The government targeted public funding to punish specific editorial decisions it disagreed with,’ she said in a recent interview with The New York Times. ‘That’s not a funding dispute dressed up as a constitutional case; that’s textbook First Amendment retaliation.’

“Ms. Maher’s stance brought support pouring in for her organization. NPR emerged from the biggest political battle in its history on firm footing, generating record donations. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/business/npr-katherine-maher.html

Slow News Week on El Salvador

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Article in The Hill by Sarah Fortinsky, 12/25/25

Headline:  “Bari Weiss defends 60 Minutes decision in memo to CBS News staff”

: . . .The new top editor’s decision to pull the segment — which was set to highlight conditions inside the notorious Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration has deported Venezuelan migrants — drew sharp backlash this week, including from the segment’s own correspondent, who called the move ‘political.’

“But Weiss, in her message to the news staff, attributed the widespread blowback to a ‘slow news week.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5663141-bari-weiss-60-minutes-segment/

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Article in Raw Story by John Stoehr, 12/25/25

Headline:  “The Bari Weiss 60 Minutes scandal is just one sign of drastic media rot”

“In light of the scandal at 60 Minutes, it bears repeating that the primary crisis facing American democracy is about information. There are just too many ways for the rich and powerful to control the truth. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/2674824432/

For Uncensored US News, Turn to Canada

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Article in The Guardian by Jenna Amatulli, 12/23/25

Headline:  “60 Minutes episode on brutal El Salvador prison, pulled from air by CBS, appears online”

Subhead:  “Segment that Bari Weiss had removed provides in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison”

“A 60 Minutes episode investigating a brutal prison in El Salvador, which CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled from the air on Sunday, appeared online on Monday after appearing on a Canadian TV app.

“The segment, which runs for nearly 14 minutes and was viewed by The Guardian, provides an in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison in El Salvador. It opens with footage of the mega-prison and shows detainees being shackled upon arrival in El Salvador. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/23/60-minutes-cecot-appears-online

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Published on CBCRadio-Canada 12/22/25

“Bari Weiss is quoted as saying ‘My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason . . . happens every day in every newsroom.’

Watch the broadcast at:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cecot+cbs+video&kp=1

Grave News?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/22/25

Headline:  “Bari’ing The News”

Subhead:  “The decision to spike a ready-to-air ’60 Minutes’ segment has frayed trust at CBS News and renewed fears of interference by Paramount management amid its WBD bid.”

“In August, David Ellison and the new executive team for Paramount held a press conference with media reporters as the Skydance acquisition closed, where Status’ own Oliver Darcy pointedly asked whether executives would ;commit to not meddling or interfering in any way with ‘60 Minutes.’  Ellison refused to directly answer his inquiries about the editorial independence of CBS News, though investor Gerry Cardinale insisted that interference in editorial programming would be ‘bad business.’

“On Sunday, those concerns regarding CBS News’ editorial direction became tangible, as Bari Weiss, Ellison’s hand-picked editor-in-chief, pulled a ’60 Minutes’ investigation into conditions at El Salvador’s CECOT prison. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-60-minutes-segment-cbs-news

Trump, the Knife?

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 12/22/25

Headline:  “The numbers that defined the Trump administration’s attacks against the press in 2025”

Subhead:  “Nine hours into his term, Trump took his first action against the media. The attacks only escalated from there.”

“After waiting four years to return to the White House, President Donald Trump did not hesitate.

“Congratulations from foreign leaders were still pouring in on Inauguration Day when Trump signed his first directive. That day, he issued a raft of executive orders, proclamations and pardons that remade vast swaths of public policy and upended lives around the globe. Among those affected by his actions were journalists. Just nine hours into his term, Trump suspended hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid meant to support press freedom overseas. . .:

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/united-states-press-freedom-donald-trump/