Media Turmoil

Near Monopoly Threat to Press?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 10/1/26

Headline:  “Free Press: Judge’s Approval of the Paramount Mega-Merger Is a Call to Action Against Billionaire Control of the Media”

“On Wednesday, Federal Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved the proposed consent decree that Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery struck with 12 state attorneys general to settle their case against the companies’ $111 billion mega-merger.

“Last week, Free Press and other core partners in the coalition had filed an amicus brief calling for the federal court to reject the consent decree and prevent the merger from going forward, citing its failure to remedy harms to competition and to the very people that state attorneys general are supposed to represent. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-judges-approval-paramount-mega-merger-call-action-against-billionaire-control-media

Citizens Worried About Press Freedom

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Article in UPI by By Jill Keppeler, 9/29/26

Headline: “Percentage who say U.S. media have ‘a lot’ of freedom hits new low”

“. . .Slightly more than two in three Americans now say that U.S. news media have “a lot” of freedom, a new low, a Gallup poll released Tuesday said.

“The percentage shows a marked political divide. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/09/29/perception-of-press-freedom-hits-new-low/5151790716634/

 

Carr Accident

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Article in Status, by Oliver Darcy, 9/29/26

Headline: “Comcast’s Carr Calculation”

Subhead: “While the company announced plans to spin off NBCUniversal, Status has learned executives are weighing whether to hang on to their local television stations rather than risk a fight with Trump’s FCC.”

“Earlier this summer, when Comcast announced that it would spin off its NBCUniversal assets into a separate company, most of the industry assumed that the conglomerate’s owned-and-operated television stations would be divested with the rest of the media portfolio. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/comcast-nbc-stations-spinoff-fcc-brendan-carr

No Coverage? Why Would That Be?

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Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargeant, 9/28/26

Headline: “Trump’s Rage Over Failing Press Ban Goes Off Rails in Epic Self-Own”

Subhead:  “As Trump’s fury at news organizations grows after he loses in court, the writer of a piece on Trump’s shrinking stature explains how the media can collectively resist his abuses of power.”

“A few days ago, Donald Trump exploded in an extended tirade at news organizations. Why? Because they had suspended TV pool coverage of him to show solidarity with three news outlets he’d banned from the White House. This resulted in no TV footage of his reception of Xi Jinping at the White House. Trump absurdly raged that news orgs were trying to deny him coverage of a major success. But in saying this, he actually revealed that he badly needs the attention of news outlets. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/215898/trump-rage-failing-press-ban-goes-off-rails-epic-self-own

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Article in Status by Natalie Korvach, 9/27/26

Headline: “The Press Pool Whiplash”

Subhead:  “Just as major networks thought their standoff with the White House was cooling, CNN was blocked from pool duty again, forcing the group into a day-by-day battle over coverage.”

Read the article at:

https://www.status.news/p/trump-cnn-msnow-white-house-press-pool-fight

Media Havoc Likely to Continue

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Article in AP by Jocelyn Noveck, 9/28/26

Headline: “After a chaotic weekend in the Trump-media standoff, it’s now a wait-and-see game for networks”

“Is the standoff over between the White House and the nation’s main broadcast networks? Not exactly.

“Are we back to Square One? Also not exactly.

“One week after three news outlets filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his abrupt ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from White House grounds, the extraordinary First Amendment showdown has morphed into a wait-and-see game. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-networks-pool-ea7fbf9c0a0506dde6f95738922640d4

Something Not Smelling Right?

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 9/23/26

Headline: “A foul Musk lingers over the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger”

“The conservative owners of the Paramount media empire are reportedly considering approaching billionaire Elon Musk for an investment.

“If a deal is made, it would give the GOP donor influence over Paramount—as well as Warner Bros. Discovery, which Paramount is set to acquire.

“Musk is a longtime friend of billionaire Larry Ellison, who owns Paramount alongside his son, David Ellison. Larry was an investor in Musk’s bid to buy Twitter. Now called X, its algorithms have been changed by Musk to promote hateful, bigoted, and conspiratorial content. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/23/800102363/media/musk-lingers-over-paramount-warner-bros-merger/

Coming Storm in the Media

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review By Carolina Abbott Galvão, Ivan L. Nagy and Riddhi Setty, 9/23/26

Headline: “How Should We Cover the Climate Story?”

Subhead:  “Speaking with climate reporters about staying on the beat—because, as Bill McKibben put it, ‘for better or for worse, by this time next year, there’s no doubt in my mind that climate coverage will be at the forefront.’”

“. . .Climate journalism can feel like a series of devastating yet foreseeable tragedies, all happening against a drumbeat of bad news—like the United Nations report this month that global temperatures will rise past a dangerous threshold. Meanwhile, climate desks at legacy organizations have shrunk or disbanded, including at NPR. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/how-should-we-cover-the-climate-story.php

Punish Others for Your Own Leaks?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/23/26

Headline: “The Source Behind the Ban”

Subhead: “The anonymous source behind one of the stories the White House cited to justify banning POLITICO was none other than Vice President JD Vance, Status has learned.”

“. . .The White House singled out six stories published by POLITICO, including a June 2026 article that cited a ‘senior administration official’ who put the odds of the U.S. striking a deal with Iran to end the war at between 80 and 85 percent. That senior administration official, Status has learned, was none other than Vice President JD Vance. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/white-house-press-ban-jd-vance-source-iran

CNN in quicksand After Paramount?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Amos Barshad, 9/22/26

Headline:  “Done and Dusted”

Subhead:  “With the collapse of the California-led challenge to Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros., the future of an independent CNN hangs in the balance.”

“William Tong is the attorney general of Connecticut, a member of a coalition of states that, up until this weekend, was suing to stop Paramount’s 111-billion-dollar merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. . . Deep into Sunday night, Tong told me, ‘I was fighting. I wasn’t willing to concede until late into the evening.’ That fight is now officially over: a consent decree has laid out Paramount’s legally obligated concessions, allowing the merger to go forward. A string of major entertainment and news entities—including CNN and CBS—will be under the control of one corporate behemoth controlled by the Ellison family. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/done-and-dusted-paramount-warner-bros-discovery-takeover-california-states-challenge-collapse-attorneys-general-independent-cnn-consent-decree.php

Paramount Smiling – Sketchy Deal?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/21/26

Headline:  “Ellison’s Bonta Blowout”

Subhead: “David Ellison worked the phones over the weekend to secure a settlement for his Warners takeover—but the deal’s supposed safeguard for CNN is already drawing skepticism from inside the network as staffers brace for what’s next.”

“On Monday afternoon, Paramount boss David Ellison and California Attorney General Rob Bonta formally announced that they had struck a deal to resolve the major antitrust lawsuit threatening the company’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. In announcing the settlement, ending a lawsuit brought by a dozen states and led by California, Ellison reiterated his belief that uniting the two companies through the mega-deal will ‘build’ a ‘stronger Hollywood.’

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-paramount-cnn-board-bonta-settlement