Media News

News about the media.

New CBS News Head Faces Right

by

Article in The Guardian by J. Oliver Conroy, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Bari Weiss’s ascension to top of CBS News highlights the political winds”

Subhead:  “US media giants have bowed before Maga after Trump’s many lawsuits and the Jimmy Kimmel firestorm”

“Paramount Skydance, the newly merged conglomerate which owns CBS News, has hired the journalist Bari Weiss as the network’s editor-in-chief – and acquired the Free Press, the publication Weiss co-founded in 2021 as a challenger to the establishment media, for a reported $150m.

“Weiss has made her career as a center-right critic of progressivism, and the Free Press is a contrarian, loosely conservative and ardently Zionist publication that views itself as a speaker of hard truths and protector of free discourse. . .”

(More articles below) – Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/06/bari-weisss-cbs-news-analysis

Hiding From Cameras?

by

Article in Huff Post by Corey Townsend, 10/3/25

Headline:  “Maggie Haberman Says Why She Thinks Trump Has Avoided Cameras During The Shutdown”

“On Wednesday, the federal government shut down after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a consensus on health care.line ”

“Maggie Haberman offered a theory on CNN Thursday as to why President Donald Trump has been relatively elusive during the government shutdown.

“During the segment, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the New York Times journalist why she believed Trump “has not been in front of the cameras. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-avoid-cameras-why-haberman_n_68dff2e0e4b0dbcd325f3c16?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Media Resistance?

by

Article in The Guardian by Rachel Leingang, 10/5/25

Headline:   “How two blond suburban moms gave Democrats an answer to the rightwing media ecosystem”

“. . .Jennifer Welch and Angie ‘Pumps’ Sullivan have risen up the podcast charts, buoyed by Democrats looking to commiserate and find their party’s answer to the bro-filled atmosphere that helped propel Trump’s victory in 2024. . .”

“In early episodes, listeners wrote in to tell them to stay out of politics and use fewer swear words .  . .In turn, they started talking about politics more and more. They dropped the ‘dead weight’ of people who only came for entertainment, Welch said.

“ ‘And it turns out, when you believe in something and you defend it vigorously, some people are going to dislike you for your beliefs, and that’s fine, but the people who like you, that turns into love, and you create a community,’ she said.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/oct/05/ive-had-it-podcast-democrats-liberals

Imperial Media

by

Article in The Washington Post by Caroline O’Donovan and Will Oremus, 10/4/25

Headline:  “This billionaire Trump ally and his son are building an unprecedented media empire”

Subhead:  “Larry and David Ellison’s holdings span movies, TV networks, CBS and soon a stake in TikTok, in a paradigm-shifting portfolio with huge influence.”

“Journalists at CBS News reeled on Friday as they digested news reports that opinion journalist Bari Weiss, a fierce critic of the mainstream media, would become the editor in chief of the straitlaced legacy brand. . .”

Two months earlier, there had been cautious optimism in the Midtown Manhattan newsroom, according to two CBS News staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private information. . .”

“But the newsroom hasn’t heard directly from Ellison since that day, leaving many apprehensive about plans for the network, the two staffers said. The anxiety has been reinforced in recent weeks . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/04/larry-david-ellison-media-trump/

 

 

CNN Faces Reality

by


Article in Daily Beast by Janna Brancolini, 10/1/25

Headline:  “CNN Host Blows Up Republican’s Wild Trump Defense With President’s Own Words”
”
“. . . CNN exchange began when Collins [from CNN] asked if Turner [rep from Ohio] ‘took issue’ with the president saying that American cities should be used as training grounds for the military for future wars.

“Turner sputtered and tried to put a more positive spin on Trump’s remarks.

“ ‘Well, you know, the president, you know, and the manner in which he talks in his own motivational conversations, you know, I think in application—I don’t think he’s actually meaning that that our cities are going to be training grounds,’ he told Collins. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-host-blows-up-republicans-wild-trump-defense-with-presidents-own-words/

More Wapo News

by


Article in Daily Beast by Ewan Palmer, 10/2/25

Headline:  “Bezos’ Washington Post Hires New MAGA-Friendly Columnists”

“Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post has take a massive stride in its turn to the right by hiring three new conservative writers after losing high-profile liberal columnists.

“The Post is bringing in Kate Andrews, Spectator magazine’s U.S. deputy editor; Dominic Pino, economics editor at National Review; and Carine Hajjar, a Boston Globe Editorial Board member and frequent Fox News talking head, as opinion writers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeff-bezos-washington-post-hires-new-maga-friendly-columnists-kate-andrews-dominic-pino-carine-hajjar/

Some Media Skeptical

by

Article in Media Matters by Staff, 9/28/25

Headline: “The Comey indictment is so weak even some in right-wing media aren’t buying it”

Subhead: Fox contributor Andrew McCarthy: “It seems to be premised on something that is not true”

“Prominent right-wing media figures reacted to the Department of Justice’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey by calling it weak, underwhelming, and unlikely to survive in court. . . ”

“It also comes after Trump forced out the U.S. attorney overseeing the Comey investigations for ‘raising concerns that there was insufficient evidence to indict’; his replacement signed the indictment. But for all of MAGA world’s fantasies about punishing their enemies, Trump’s broadside against Comey has landed with a thud. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/james-comey/comey-indictment-so-weak-even-some-right-wing-media-arent-buying-it

Journalism in U.S. Now Dangerous

by


Article in The Hill by Michael R.Sisak, 9/30/25

Headline: “Federal agents grab and shove journalists outside NYC immigration court, sending one to hospital”

“Federal agents grabbed and shoved journalists in a hallway outside a NewYork City immigration court on Tuesday, sending one to the hospital in the latest clash between authorities enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and members of the public seeking to observe and document their actions. . . ”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/federal-agents-shove-journalists-immigration-court/

Free Speech – or No Speech?

by

Mario Savio Free Speech Movement – Bettman via Getty Images

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 9/22/25

Headline:  “Freedom And/or Speech”

Subhead:  “The boundaries of free speech have always been contested. That’s not what’s going on this time.”

“. . .Trump’s recent rhetoric about ‘illegal’ coverage and all the rest is, on one level, very scary. But for those interested in protecting their First Amendment rights—including, hopefully, the entirety of the press—it might also be preferable to the alternative: namely, the arbitrary and opaque cranking of oppressive bureaucratic machinery. Trump’s threats are so explicit that news organizations have no excuse but to identify them for what they are. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/freedom-andor-speech-douthat-kilroy-disney-kimmel-censor-abc-trump.php

– – – – –

Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 9/22/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Trump’s escalating war on speech raises a chilling question: Where does it end?”‘

“. . . CNN’s Brian Stelter summed it up really well in his ‘Reliable Sources’ newsletter by writing, “Imagine we’re all stuck in an elevator together. The elevator is only moving in one direction — downward. Every time the doors open, we’re at some new, lower level. No one knows how to reverse course. No one knows what awaits us at the very bottom.’

“I’ll add this: No one knows where the very bottom is. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/trump-attacks-free-speech-jimmy-kimmel-abc-fcc-press-freedom/

Falling Media, Not Just in U.S.

by

Article in The Guardian by Jason Burke, 9/10/25

Headline:  “Global press freedom suffers sharpest fall in 50 years, report finds”

Subhead: “The International IDEA’s survey of democratic markers finds US is offering ‘encouragement’ to populist leaders”

“The International IDEA’s survey – the Global State of Democracy Report 2025 – is published every five years and considered the most comprehensive of its kind, covering 174 countries and measuring democratic performance from 1975.

“The survey found that the freedom of the press had worsened in a quarter of the countries, marking the broadest deterioration since the beginning of the dataset. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/sep/11/global-press-freedom-suffers-sharpest-fall-in-50-years-report-finds