Media Turmoil

Media Decimation

by


Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/10/25

Headline:  “Media’s Unhappy Holidays”

Subhead:  “Penske Media cuts mark the latest tremors in a brutal year for media jjobs, as rolling layoffs and mergers leave newsrooms across the country in an anxious holding pattern.

“Barely a few months after imposing a new return-to-office mandate—a move seen internally as an effort to thin the ranks—Jay Penske has quietly moved to initiate another round of cuts within his Hollywood media empire, Status has learned. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/media-layoffs-penske-washington-post-cbs-news

MAGA Media and Women

by

Article in Media Matters by John Knefel, 12/10/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media are poised to escalate attacks on women as MAGA cracks emerge”

Subhead:  “As MAGA begins to fracture, elements of the coalition may seek to rally behind anti-feminism”

“The right-wing media and policy ecosystem appears poised to escalate its attacks on the basic rights of women as a weakened President Donald Trump lurches toward the end of the first year of his second term. The campaign to roll back decades of material gains for women is coming from both the gutter sexists and the would-be high-brow elements of the conservative media world, and it could serve as a rallying point for an increasingly fractured MAGA movement. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/right-wing-media-are-poised-escalate-attacks-women-maga-cracks-emerge

Mega-Media Monsters Good?

by


Article in Democracy Now! by Staff, 12/9/25

Headline:  ” ‘Merger Madness’: Trump at Center of Rival Netflix-Paramount Bids for Warner Bros.”

“President Donald Trump says he will be personally involved in the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, with two enormous buyout offers on the table that risk further exacerbating U.S. media concentration. Netflix announced an $83 billion deal last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, which would give the tech giant control of the Warner Bros. movie studio and rival streaming service HBO Max. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/9/warner_bros_discovery_sale

– – – – –

Article in Business Insider by Paige Bruton, Sarah Jackson, and Henry Chandonnet; 12/9/25

Headline: “Meet David Ellison, the 42-year-old Paramount Skydance CEO trying to throw a monkey wrench in Netflix’s plan”

“David Ellison is officially the CEO of Paramount Skydance. After a successful Paramount merger, next on his wish list is Warner Bros. Discovery — and he’s launched a hostile takeover bid in an effort to scoop it out from Netflix’s hands. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-david-ellison-paramount-skydance-ceo-2025-12?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=BusinessInsider-post-rentertainment

– – – – –

Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 12/8/25

Headline: “Ellison’s Endgame”

“What began as quiet courtship by David Ellison has morphed into a hostile takeover attempt of Warner Bros. Discover – with the battle only likely to get messier in the days ahead. . .”

Read the article at:

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-david-zaslav-warner-bros-paramount-bids

No Room in the Basket?

by

Article in New York Times by John Koblin, 12/25/25

Headline:  “CNN, Unwanted by Netflix, Is Excluded From a Sale, for Now”

Subhead:  “The prospect of Paramount buying Warner Bros. Discovery had led CNN journalists to wonder if the channel might be combined with CBS News. Instead, CNN will remain in a separate corporate entity.”

“Netflix’s mega $83 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery has major implications for the entertainment industry, as well as the Warner Bros. film and TV studios and HBO.

“The fallout, at least for now, will be far less significant for CNN.

“The 24-hour news channel is conspicuously absent from the media entities that Netflix said on Friday it planned to acquire in its proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. . . ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/business/media/cnn-netflix-warner-bros-discovery-deal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U8.DPP4.1A8q34iR9fB9&smid=url-share

Lack of Accurate News Bites Back?

by

Article in The Washington Post by the editorial board, 12/5/25

Headline:  “Trump’s closure of Voice of America is coming back to bite him”

Subhead:  “As the president threatens Venezuela, Russia and China are filling the information vacuum.”

“President Donald Trump has said he won’t rule out anything when it comes to removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro from power. Yet he is missing an important tool from the arsenal: the Voice of America.

“Since Trump’s March executive order dismantling the news agency, most of VOA’s 1,300 staff members and contractors have been fired or placed on administrative leave, its website has been frozen and the 83-year-old broadcaster has gone dark for the first time since its founding during World War II. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/05/venezuela-voa-voice-of-america-maduro-trump/

Documenting Frivolous Press Lawsuits

by

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 12/4/25

Headline:  “The SLAPP Problem Is Worse Than We Thought”

Subhead:  “As Donald Trump tests the limits of anti-press litigation, a new initiative aims to document the wave of nuisance suits.”

Press freedom advocates and media lawyers in the United States have long warned about the rise of frivolous lawsuits intended to intimidate and silence journalists through expensive legal battles. But despite anecdotal evidence, the problem has remained amorphous. No one has been able to say just how bad it is because no one has closely tracked the filings, known as strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs.

“A free speech group at New York University is trying to change that. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/slapp-lawsuit-problem-worse-trump-test-nuisance-limits-litigation.php

Buying All The Media?

by

Article in Common Dreams by Robert Reich, 11/26/25

Headline:  “The Billionaires Destroying Our Media System and What To Do About It”

Subhead: “In an era when wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals who have bought up key media, there is a growing danger that the public will not be getting the truth it needs to function in this democracy”

“The third-richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

“The fourth-richest man owns The Washington Post and Amazon MGM Studios.

“Another billionaire owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.

“Why are the ultra-rich buying up so much of the media? Vanity may play a part, but there’s a more pragmatic — some might say sinister — reason. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/billionaire-ownership-media

Control All Media

by

Article in The Nation by Ben Schwartz, 11/21/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Quest for Total Media Control”

Subhead:  “Look beyond the petty celebrity feuds, and you’ll see a plan to transform American media companies into outlets for MAGA agitprop.”

“. . .Colbert, Kimmel, and Meyers are just comedy collateral damage in Trump’s pursuit of his bigger goals. Trump’s brain operates simultaneously at the pettiest and grandest levels of venality and scheming. He could have Brendan Carr make private calls to Comcast executives to let them know what’s coming. Instead, Trump went after Meyers to show he’s always in there slugging—but also to remind Comcast of what he’d already done to Colbert and Kimmel.

“It’s easy to get distracted by Trump’s celebrity feuds, but we should never lose sight of Trump’s master plan: to push our media world so far to the far right that he’s never again asked about his sexually predatory or homicidal friends.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/trump-skydance-comcast-wbd/

TV Anchors’ Pink Slips?

by

Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 11/20/25

Headline:  “Is CNN next on Trump’s media hit list?”

“Billionaire Larry Ellison, whose company Paramount Skydance is considering acquiring the parent company of CNN, reportedly discussed firing anchors at the network with the Trump administration. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/11/20/2354770/-Is-CNN-next-on-Trump-s-media-hit-list?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_recent_news&pm_medium=web

Some Media: Selective Treason

by

Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffe & Jack Winstanley, 11/20/25

Headline: “Right-wing media figures are calling a recent video from Democratic lawmakers ‘treason’ and ‘sedition’ ”

“Sean Hannity: “The video that encourages military members to defy illegal orders ‘is unlawful, a brazen act of subversion against our country’ ”

“After six Democratic lawmakers released a video encouraging active members of the military and intelligence community to ‘refuse illegal orders,’ as they are required by law, many right-wing media figures claimed that they are committing ‘treason,’ fomenting ‘sedition or insurrection,’ and trying to “trigger a military coup.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-figures-are-calling-recent-video-democratic-lawmakers-treason-and