Media Turmoil

One Media, One Country!

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 10/27/25

Headline:  “The CEOs of Everything”

Subhead:  “Larry and David Ellison are poised to become the Trump era’s reigning media moguls.”

“. . .Larry Ellison’s net worth is currently 342.5 billion dollars, according to Forbes. As a businessman, Ellison characterizes his approach by paraphrasing Genghis Khan: “It is not sufficient that I succeed. Everyone else must fail.’. . .”

“The Ellisons are not the only billionaires buying newspapers, seizing power over TV networks, and remaking social media platforms. But what makes their efforts more formidable is the vertical integration they would command: movie studios, news networks, part of a social media platform, and user data on millions of people, all in one package.. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/ceos-everything-david-larry-ellison-oracle-skydance-paramount-kimmel-carr.php

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Article in The New Republic by Alex Shephard, 10/27/25

Headline:  “Larry and David Ellison Are Building a Pro-Trump Media Behemoth”

Subhead:  “With the president’s blessing, the Ellisons’ Skydance merged with Paramount, gaining control of CBS News. Now the new giant might gobble up Warner Bros. Discovery, which includes CNN.”

“Donald Trump is about to give Larry Ellison and his son David another present. In July, the Trump administration gifted the mogul Paramount, whose properties include Paramount Studios and CBS, allowing it to merge with the Ellisons’ Skydance, despite antitrust concerns. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/202272/larry-david-ellison-paramount-warner-pro-trump-media-behemoth

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Article in The Daily Beast by Eboni Boykin-Patterson, 10/23/25

Headline:  “Jon Stewart Predicts ‘Bloodletting’ From His New Billionaire Boss”

Subhead:  “ ‘Just one guy controls all of the media—what could go wrong?’ Stewart said Thursday.”

“Jon Stewart joked that his new boss should “have it all,” as his network’s new overlord Skydance continues to gobble up the country’s biggest media companies.

“Skydance CEO David Ellison now has his sights set on acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery after its acquisition of Paramount, The Daily Show’s parent company.

“ ‘He should have it all,’ Stewart quipped on The Weekly Show Thursday. ‘My guy should have it all. He should be the leader of all… Why are there other media companies? Shouldn’t they all just be one?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jon-stewart-sounds-off-on-his-new-billionaire-boss-david-ellison/

Alaska Community Radio Trouble

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Article in Poynter by Liam Scott, 1028/25

Headline:  “An Alaska station connects communities across hundreds of miles. Now it’s fighting to survive.”

Subhead:  “Federal funding cuts have left KOTZ, the only local news source for much of northwest Alaska, on the brink of closure”

“In the remote Arctic town of Kotzebue, Alaska, some residents still talk about the Dairy Queen that closed several years ago. They also talk about what’s at risk of closing next: the region’s lone radio station.

“Since 1973, KOTZ has delivered the news to Kotzebue, population 3,102, and several other small, sparse villages that collectively are home to about the same number of people. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/alaska-radio-station-kotz-faces-funding-crisis/

 

CBS – Off to the Dump?

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Article in Mother Jones by David Corn, 10/28/25

Headline:  “Another Big Reason to Worry About Bari Weiss’ Tenure at CBS News”

Subhead: “Right now, a potential peril is at hand: the end of truth.”

“The appointment of Bari Weiss, the former New York Times opinion writer who started the heterodox Free Press website, to lead venerable CBS News set the media world in a tizzy. Since she had no experience in television broadcast news operations, David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance, must have selected her for ideological and editorial reasons. . .”

“Weiss’ first days at the network yielded worrisome signs. She asked senior staff at 60 Minutes, why does the country think you’re biased? This query suggested she buys the right-wing narrative Donald Trump propels about the media. . .”

Read the full article at:


https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/bari-weiss-cbs-news-david-ellison-larry-ellison-artificial-intelligence-ai-60-minutes/

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Article in The Guardian by Eric Berger & Jeremy Barr, 10/27/25

Headline:  “CBS News anchor John Dickerson becomes latest figure to exit network”

Subhead:  “Announcement comes amid concerns about network’s ownership and ability to maintain editorial independence”

“John Dickerson, a longtime CBS News journalist, has become the latest high-profile figure to resign from the network amid concerns about its ownership and ability to maintain editorial independence. . .”

“Bari Weiss, the new CBS News editor-in-chief, is expected to revamp the evening news and has been working to find a new anchor. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/27/cbs-evening-news-anchor-john-dickerson-resigns

Public Radio Fallout

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Article in Freepress.net by Amy Kroin, 10/23/25

Hedline:  “The Defunding of Public Media Is Hitting Local Stations Hardest”

Subhead:  “The decision to end federal funding for public media in the United States already has local stations reeling. . .”

“A New York Times analysis found that 245 stations in rural communities were at risk of closure. That’s because rural stations were far more dependent on CPB funding than many urban stations, which often have a far greater range of underwriters and larger donor pools.

Rural stations have long served as a lifeline for local communities. At a time when media consolidation has decimated local news, public-media stations are often the only source of local journalism. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/blog/defunding-public-media-hitting-local-stations-hardest

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Article in NPR by Staff, 10/22/25

Headline: “How Funding Cuts Are Changing Public Radio”

“This summer, Republicans clawed back over a billion dollars that had been pledged to public media. . . . Now, many stations are weighing whether to spend their shrinking budgets on national programming from the likes of NPR, or to fund journalism on their local communities. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538775/on-the-media

Broken Post?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 10/22/25

Headline:  “Pain at The Post”

Subhead: “As morale sinks and top talent exits, staffers at The Washington Post are bracing for more pain ahead of the holidays—raising questions about Will Lewis’ leadership, nearly two years into his tenure as chief executive.”

“Inside the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper, ‘the mood is grim,’ one insider told Status. Of course, there is plenty of reason for the workforce to be demoralized. This year, The Post has endured an unprecedented talent exodus and seen longtime staffers accept buyouts. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/washington-post-layoffs-cuts-morale

Reporting Abductions

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu. 10/22/25

Headline: “Tear gas, fear and federal secrecy: How Chicago journalists are covering Trump’s immigration policies while living through them”

Subhead:  “‘It’s really exhausting, mentally and physically. But somebody has to record history’”

“. . .The tips pour in at all hours: sightings of agents in all parts of Chicago. Many of them are masked, in the city to find undocumented immigrants. They move quickly, but sometimes, Garcia Hernandez — whose beat is the largely Latino neighborhoods of Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards but whose coverage area has since expanded — gathers just enough information to make it to the aftermath of a raid. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/chicago-ice-raid-apartment-journalists-immigration-trump/

Network News Slowly Twisting

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 10/25/25

Headline: “Rattled at 30 Rock”

Subhead:  “NBC News is reeling from its biggest round of cuts in years, cutting about 150 staffers as it divorces itself from MSNBC and CNBC.”

“On Wednesday morning, NBC News staffers saw a last-minute meeting added to their calendar for 10 a.m. Most immediately knew what the unspecified meeting would be about: layoffs. Staffers across the organization have been dreading cuts for months . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/nbc-news-layoffs-cuts

Trump Press Conference Highlights

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Article in AlterNet by Alex Henderson, 10/14/25

Headline  ” ‘My body is a little bit larger than’ Biden’s: Here are 5 wild moments from Trump’s presser”

“U.S. President Donald Trump’s schedule, on Tuesday afternoon, October 14, included a meeting with visiting Argentine President Javier Milei in the White House.

“The Trump Administration is giving Argentina, whose currency, the peso argentino, has suffered major problems in recent years, a $20 million bailout. . .”

“Here are five of the wildest moments from Trump’s Tuesday afternoon at the White House. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/trump-milei-stephanopoulos/

Newspaper Subscriber Woes

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Riddhi Setty, 10/14/25

Headline:  “Postal Service Delays Are Making the Already Tight Newspaper Business Even Harder”

Subhead:  “Subscribers report delays of as long as two months.”

“In late September, a man walked into the office of Jill Friesz, the owner of a newspaper publishing company in North Dakota, in a rage. ‘He was telling me he was tired of my excuses and that he may as well just quit subscribing to the paper,’ said Friesz, whose company, GS Publishing, operates seven weekly newspapers across the southwestern part of the state. . .”

“The problem, according to Friesz and a half dozen other newspaper publishers, editors, and trade association members who spoke to CJR, is significant delays by the US Postal Service, leading to weekly papers arriving at the homes of subscribers as late as nine weeks. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/postal-service-delays-newspapers.php

Student Journalists Polarized?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvao, 10/13/25

Headline:  “Student Journalism Is Fraught, Too”

Subhead:  “The dispute over plans for MediaFest, the nation’s largest conference of student journalists, reflects the polarization of the news industry that awaits them.”

“In late July, a group of student-journalism advisers convened on Zoom to discuss a brewing controversy over opinion, reporting, and religion. They were preparing for MediaFest—the nation’s largest conference of student reporters and their mentors, which will take place in Washington, DC, this week. Steven Sandberg, a student media adviser at Oregon State University, had been browsing the event schedule when he came upon a list of speakers slated for a portion of the conference called the “faith track.” “I saw pretty far-right, anti-LGBTQ language,” he said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/student-journalism-mediafest-fraught-religion-faith-reporting.php