Media News

News about the media.

Hegseth says, “Who me?”

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Article in the Raw Story by Jennifer Bowers Bahney, 1/14/25

Headline:  “Pete Hegseth gripes that he’s victim of ‘smear campaign’ from ‘liberal media’ “

“Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth slammed the “liberal media” during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, blaming it for a ‘coordinated smear campaign’ against him.

” ‘What became very evident to us from the beginning, there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us that was clear from moment one,’ Hegseth said.

“He continued, ‘What we knew is that it wasn’t about me. Most of it was about President Donald Trump, who’s had to endure the very same thing for much longer amounts of time and he endured it in incredibly strong ways. So we, in some ways, knew it was coming.’ ”

https://www.rawstory.com/pete-hegseth-blames-liberal-media/

Some Leaks to Media OK

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Article in The Intercept by Shawn Musgrave, 1/12/25

Headline:  “The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers”

Subhead:  “The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.”

“The first Trump administration launched a sprawling campaign to ferret out leakers, which targeted reporters at CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, plus members of Congress and their staff. But a watchdog report released to The Intercept shows that just days before the 2020 presidential election, senior Justice Department officials signed off on leaks to two favored newspapers with conservative reputations, both owned by the biggest name in right-wing media.”

https://theintercept.com/2025/01/12/trump-justice-department-new-york-post-wsj-leak/

Grieving for the Media

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Article in Common Dreams by David Helvarg, 1/13/25

Headline:  “Dying in Broad Daylight: Media Outlets That Self-Censor for Trump”

Subhead: “What we are witnessing is not simply right-wing ascendency in national politics but a long-term decline and corporate consolidation of American journalism.”

“Two billionaire publishers, the Washington Post’s Jeff Bezos and the LA Times Patrick Soon-Shiong, blocked their editorial page editors from endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election (a Washington Post editorial cartoonist than quit when her cartoon depicting Jeff Bezos, Son-Shiong and other billionaires abasing themselves in front of Trump was killed). If you believe the Washington Post’s slogan that ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness,’ their owner was the first to switch off the light.”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/media-outlets-pandering-trump

Using Disaster for Media

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Article in Media Matters by Allison Fisher, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media push Trump’s false claim that California water policies are hurting efforts to suppress LA fires”

Subhead:  “Casting blame on environmental policies in an attempt to distract from increasingly deadly climate impacts is core to right-wing media’s extreme weather playboo”

“Right-wing media are falsely blaming the reports of low water pressure or dry hydrants in Los Angeles on state and local mismanagement – including suggesting that local authorities refused to fill the reservoirs – and conflating the hydrant issue with the false claim that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies are to blame.

“On January 8, the Los Angeles Times reported that “as wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.” Later that day, President-elect Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social falsely claimed that Newsom had deprived Southern California of water in order to protect the smelt fish.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-push-trumps-false-claim-california-water-policies-are-hurting-

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Article in Huff Post by Lee Moran, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Donald Trump’s Disaster-Hijacking Playbook Exposed By Expert On Right-Wing Media”

Subhead:  “Nicole Hemmer also explored the potent cocktail — involving the president-elect — that means ‘everything just feels worse all the time.’ “

“Nicole Hemmer — an expert on conservative and right-wing media, and the effect they have had on American politics — this week explained Donald Trump’s penchant for whipping up anger and causing division amid tragedies and disasters.

“ ‘It definitely is the case that this is something Trump does, right?’ Hemmer, an associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University, asked The New Republic’s Greg Sargent in the latest episode of his podcast, ‘The Daily Blast,’ which was released Thursday.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nicole-hemmer-donald-trump-talent_n_6780e6cde4b01ffef2482ddd

Get the Paddles!

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Article in NPR On the Media by Staff, 10/10/25

Headline:   “Public Broadcasting Is In Danger (Again)”

“NPR and PBS stations are bracing for war with the incoming Trump administration. On this week’s On the Media, the long history of efforts to save—and snuff out—public broadcasting. Plus, the role of public radio across the country, from keeping local governments in check to providing life-saving information during times of crisis. [01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and break down the funding with Karen Everhart, managing editor of Current. [06:59] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, which oversees the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, on his decades-long fight with Republican lawmakers to keep NPR and PBS alive.”

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

Fact Checking? Blame Liberal Media

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Article in Mediaite by Phillip Nieto, 10/1//25

Headline:  ” ‘I Was Ill-Prepared’: Zuckerberg Blames Anti-Trump Media For Facebook Fact-Checking Measures in Marathon Joe Rogan Interview”

“Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed he was “ill-prepared” to face anti-Trump media pressuring him to fact-check misinformation on social media.

“During a nearly three-hour-long podcast interview with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg said he received pressure over the last decade to start censoring material on Facebook based on political ideology. He cited Trump’s 2016 victory and BREXIT for the increase in political censorship.”

https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/i-was-ill-prepared-zuckerberg-blames-anti-trump-media-for-facebook-fact-checking-measures-in-marathon-joe-rogan-interview/

Diversity – It’s Just Not for Meta Anymore

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Article in UPI by Don Jacobson, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Company memo reveals social media giant Meta rolling back DEI program”

“Jan. 10 (UPI) — Citing a changing “legal and policy landscape,” social media giant Meta is ending its corporate diversity, equity and inclusion program, according to a leaked internal company memo published on Friday.

“In the memo, first obtained by Axios, Meta vice president of human resources Janelle Gale tells employees the platform is ending its DEI program in the face of shifting political realities.

“The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” Gale writes. “The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. It reaffirms longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics.”

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/01/10/memo-social-media-giant-Meta-rolling-back-DEI-program/9981736542754/

Tracking the Right-Wing Press

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Howard Polskin, 1/9/25

Headline:  “Will Progressive and Mainstream Audiences Keep Switching off the News?”

Subhead:  “Post-election, my newsletter saw a big dip. It is not alone.”

“For the past seven years, I’ve been publishing TheRighting, a free newsletter for mainstreamers and progressives that informs them about thinking from the right. A daily collection of headlines from right-wing sources forms the beating heart of my enterprise. My modest subscription list has grown over the years from a handful of friends and family in year one to thousands of faithful readers scattered around the country. The growth trajectory has almost always pointed north.

“Readers subscribe because they want to know what the right is saying by scanning the seventeen headlines I aggregate every morning. For them, it’s like a polar-bear swim in the chilly waters of right-wing media. A quick dip—two minutes to scan the headlines and absorb a sentence or two, and then it’s back to the warm welcome of MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, or wherever they get the news that affirms their political beliefs.”

https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/progressive-mainstream-righting-news-deserters-avoidance-trump-bump.php

 

So Media – No Reporting Illegal Activities?

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Article in Reuters by Staff, 1/8/25

Headline:  “Israeli military tightens media rules over war crimes prosecution concern”

“The Israeli military placed new restrictions on media coverage of soldiers on active combat duty amid growing concern at the risk of legal action against reservists travelling abroad over allegations of involvement in war crimes in Gaza.

The move came after an Israeli reservist vacationing in Brazil left the country abruptly when a Brazilian judge ordered federal police to open an investigation following allegations from a pro-Palestinian group that he had committed war crimes while serving in Gaza.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-tightens-media-rules-over-war-crimes-prosecution-concern-2025-01-08/

Social Media “Free Expression” or Outright lies?

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Article in The Washington Post by Heather Kelley 1/8/25

Headline:  “Meta ends fact-checking. Here’s how to find the truth on social media.”

“Facebook, Instagram and Threads will no longer have fact-checking in the United States. Here’s what that means for your feeds and how you can avoid falling for misinformation.”

“A massive reversal on fact-checking could soon change what you see on social media. Meta on Tuesday announced that it is discontinuing its fact-checking program in the United States to allow for more “free expression.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/08/meta-fact-checking-facebook-instagram-users/