Media News

News about the media.

Rt. Wing Media has Pregnant Pause

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Article in Media Matters by Reed McMaster & Torri Lonergan 7/2/26

Headline:  “Right-wing media target pregnant and female travelers following SCOTUS birthright citizenship ruling”

Subhead:  “Pundits suggested refusing pregnant travelers visas, deporting “birthing-aged” women, and even sterilizing travelers entering the United States”

“After the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, right-wing media proposed draconian policies to prevent travelers potentially giving birth in the United States. The policies demanded by right-wing media — which almost exclusively target female migrants — were often proposed under the guise of combating birth tourism, which the U.S. already has enforcement tools in place to prevent. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/supreme-court/right-wing-media-target-pregnant-and-female-travelers-following-scotus-birthright

Justice With Satire

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Article in AP by Frey Collins, 7/1/26

Headline:   “The Onion’s new parody of Alex Jones’ Infowars starts with $100,000 to Sandy Hook families”

“The satirical news site The Onion isn’t waiting to take possession of Infowars to launch a parody of Alex Jones ’ conspiracy platform.

“More than a year after first trying to buy Infowars, The Onion on Thursday will debut a send-up under its own website with plans to give some of the revenue to families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

“The families have still received no money from Jones since courts ordered him to pay more than $1 billion for falsely calling the 2012 shooting a hoax. . .’

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/infowars-alex-jones-newtown-shooting-onion-e38e5447435e6dc117e1ce996a58ac5c

Mega-Media Manipulation

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Article in UPI by Joe Fisher, 6/29/26

Headline: “Comcast, NBCUniversal splitting into separate companies”

“. . .Comcast announced Monday that it is planning to split into separate media and technology companies over the coming year.

“Comcast will split into two independent publicly traded companies in what it said is a “tax-free spin-off” of NBCUniversal and Sky. The companies will be NBCUniversal and Comcast. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/06/29/comcast-nbcuniversal-publicly-traded-spin-off/6931782742823/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 6/29/26

Headline: “Carving Up Comcast“

“Brian Roberts insisted the seismic breakup of Comcast’s media and broadband business is about creating two stronger companies – but no one in the industry is buying it, with insiders telling Status they believe Roberts has other intentions in mind. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/comcast-nbcuniversal-spin-off-plan-brian-roberts

No Source Reveal – Get Fined

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 6/26/26

Headline: “US reporter urges supreme court to halt ruling forcing her to reveal sources or pay $800-a-day fine”

Subhead:  “Catherine Herrridge makes final bid to stave off penalty related to series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News“

“More than two years ago, a US district court judge took the extraordinary step of holding the veteran investigative journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt, ordering her to pay a steep daily fine of $800 per day unless she reveals her sources for a series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News.

“Since then, the case has slowly moved through the appeals process, with Herridge dealt a series of defeats. On Tuesday, the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit issued a one-sentence ruling denying Herridge’s plea to stay the February 2024 ruling holding her in contempt, an order made by district court judge Christopher R Cooper. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/26/us-reporter-supreme-court-sources-fine

Reporters too Close to Sources?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 6/25/26

Headline: “Opinion | The Dianna Russini story isn’t over — and neither are the ethics questions”

Subhead:  “A New York Times deep dive revisits the former Athletic reporter’s relationship with sources and a revealing dispute over what’s ‘off the record’ “

“Not that long ago, Dianna Russini was at the top of her profession as an NFL insider for The Athletic. She was reportedly making nearly $800,000 and was considered one of the faces of the company, which is owned by The New York Times.

That all came crashing down with a series of photos that appeared in the New York Post in early “April. The photos showed Russini hanging out at an Arizona resort with Mike Vrabel, head coach of the New England Patriots. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/the-athletic-new-york-times-dianna-russini-story-off-record/

Better Media in the Past?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Alex Wright, 6/25/26

Headline:  “What 19th-Century Media Can Teach Us About the Future”

Subhead:  “In an era of change and fragmentation, the history of the early American press shows that media is shaped not only by technology, but by infrastructure, law, and society.”

“Stories about the crisis of journalism almost always begin with a now-familiar tale of technological disruption. First the internet shattered the traditional newspaper ‘bundle.’ Then social media came along and further balkanized the audience. Now artificial intelligence threatens yet more upheaval. Yet we are hardly the first generation of journalists to confront this degree of change.

“Before the rise of modern mass media, around the turn of the twentieth century, the United States supported a sprawling and wildly prolific newspaper culture. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/what-19th-century-media-can-teach-us-about-the-future.php

Sometimes, Media Admit Error

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Article in Daily Kos by Staff, 6/23/26

Headline:  “Conservative writer learns the hard truth about Trump”

” ‘CNN was right about the war, and I was wrong,’ reads The Hill headline of a column by Becket Adams.

“When it comes to President [Donald] Trump’s disastrous attempt this year at playing war chief, a whole lot of conservatives got it wrong, this author included,” Adams writes. . .”

“In fact, Adams deserves more credit than most conservatives simply for acknowledging the mistake instead of pretending it never happened or screaming, ‘Fake news!’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/23/800059611/media-and-culture/conservative-writer-learns-hard-truth-about-trump/

Posterior Reporting

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Article in Raw Story by Thom Hartman, 6/22/26

Headline:  “Opinion | The truth about Trump was finally blared across this newspaper’s front page “

“This weekend, the right-wing Italian daily Libero, a major conservative newspaper that shares a fair amount of Donald Trump’s politics, ran a one-word verdict on the President of the United States across its front page. The Italian word is coglione. The polite translation is ‘idiot.’ The translation that George Conway and half of social media reached for, and the one the paper plainly intended, is a good deal blunter than that and more dictionary accurate: ‘a–hole.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-meloni/

Did Press Cover Iraq or Iran Better?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 6/22/26

Headline:  “How’d We Do?”

Subhead:  “The press corps failed badly in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq. Was coverage of the Iran war any better?

“. . .’Does this mean—whisper it—that overall the press has had a ‘good’ war, at least compared with the debacle of the run-up to Iraq? I’m still making up my mind. And I’m curious what CJR’s readers think about this—so do respond to this email or send me a note if you’d like to share your thoughts. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/howd-we-do-iran-war-press-corps-iraq-invasion-trump-bush-netanyahu-new-york-times-haberman-swan.php

Media Hawks are Angry

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz. 6/17/26

Headline:  “Right-wing hawks absolve Trump of Iran MOU responsibility, blame Vance instead”

“The right-wing media’s hawks recognize the reported memorandum of understanding that President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance signed with Iran on Sunday is a dog’s breakfast that fails to achieve the administration’s stated war goals and leaves the U.S. in a weaker geostrategic position than before it began. But they also understand that the cult-like structure of the MAGA movement means that criticizing Trump directly could trigger an audience revolt . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/right-wing-hawks-absolve-trump-iran-mou-responsibility-blame-vance-instead.