Media News

News about the media.

Alligators Can Bite in Undrained Swamp

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Article in AlterNet by Carl Gibson, 7/17/25

Headline: ” ‘Worse by the day’: Analyst reveals how Trump is rapidly losing backing of far-right media”

“President Donald Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case has resulted in a vast multitude of far-right media figures turning on the person they helped elect, according to a new analysis.

“In a Thursday article in anti-Trump conservative outlet The Bulwark, author Will Sommer detailed how some of the biggest names in the MAGA media sphere have deemed Trump a heretic over the administration’s insistence that the Epstein matter is closed and that the rumored ‘client list’ purportedly including contact information for Epstein’s criminal associates never existed. He listed multiple examples suggesting that Trump’s biggest online advocates may not forgive him over the Epstein issue. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/trump-right-wing-media/

Legacy Media See the King’s Clothes

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs, 7/16/25

Headline:  “Media gives crazy legitimacy to Trump’s ‘assurances’ “

Subhead:  “Here’s an idea, journalists: How about reporting his track record?”

“To understand what the legacy media has been up to in recent days, it helps to think of The Emperor’s New Clothes, but with an added element. In this case, picture reporters running around the crowd, interviewing people about how lovely the emperor’s (non-existent) clothes are.

“That’s what we’re seeing as big news agencies come together to form a narrative: that GOP lawmakers decided to support the ‘One Big Beautiful Act’ after President Donald Trump gave them ‘assurances’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/media-gives-crazy-legitimacy-to-trumps

Reporters Defeat Themselves

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Article in Poynter by Kelly McBride, 7/15/25

Headline:  “Reporters, stop with the double-barreled questions”

Subhead:  “Asking two questions at a time reduces your chances of getting either of them answered”

“The first question from the press pool to President Donald Trump and NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte was a great one: ‘What was the tipping point for you in making this decision, was it a conversation with President Putin, was it a piece of intelligence?’ . . .”

Trump was just about to answer that question when the reporter, Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News, tacked on a second question: ‘And why are you giving them 50 more days?’ she said, referring to the secondary tariffs that Trump is threatening as a punishment if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t broker a peace within 50 days.

They are both good questions. But when reporters ask two questions at the same time, they weaken their chances of getting either of them answered. It gives the respondent the opportunity to choose either or neither question. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/reporters-stop-with-the-double-barreled-questions-donald-trump-nato-ukraine/

Tribally-Licensed radio in Jeopardy

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Article in Indian Country Today by Kolby KickingWoman, 7/14/25

Headline:  “Impending legislation could gut tribal media funding”

Subhead:  “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds more than 1,500 public radio and television stations, and of these, 36 tribally-licensed radio stations would be affected”

“The funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting affect the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years that worries many in Indian Country.

“Without the funding, many communities, especially rural communities, could become isolated as public media stations and radio may go off the air. Of the federal funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives, more than 70 percent goes directly to local public media stations, according to its website. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/news/impending-legislation-could-gut-tribal-media-funding/

Media Make Frank Unhappy

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Article in Raw Story by Robert Davis, 7/14/25

Headline:  ” ‘They’re pissed’: CNN hosts slam Trump for losing control of ‘MAGA Frankenstein’ “

“CNN host Abby Phillip and reporter Donie O’Sullivan slammed President Donald Trump on Monday night over his inability to speak to his base following the latest scandal.

“Last week, Justice Department officials issued an unsigned memo contradicting many points of the Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory that Trump and his surrogates have parroted for multiple years. The move set off a firestorm within the MAGA base and has become a political liability for the Trump administration.

” ‘Perhaps it’s not surprising that his ‘MAGA Frankenstein’ doesn’t believe him,’ Phillip said. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2673207755/

Mr. Fixit and Wapo

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 7/14/25

Headline:  “WaPo’s Looming Opinion Overhaul”

Subhead:  “Adam O’Neal was appointed last month to lead the Washington Post’s opinion section – on Monday, he officially started and introduced himself to staffers, promising ‘ambitions and thorough’ change on the horizon”

“On Monday morning, just a few minutes past 9 a.m., staffers on The Washington Post’s opinion desk saw an email slip into their inbox. It was from Adam O’Neal, the little-known editor recently named to take over the prestigious and politically influential section. Staffers didn’t know much about him. They didn’t even know when he was supposed to start. So when his note arrived, simply titled ‘Looking forward,’ they opened it with curiosity—and a fair dose of apprehension.

“Indeed, staffers have been on edge ever since O’Neal was abruptly introduced as their new editor in an unconventional, selfie-style video posted to The Post’s communications account on X. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/adam-oneal-washington-post-introduction-memo-opinion

Spreading the Right Word

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Article in The Washington Post by Sarah Ellison, 7/9/25

Headline:  “Trump’s social media company strikes deal with friendly news outlet”

Subhead:  “Truth+, a new streaming service attached to the Truth Social platform, will expand globally, featuring Trump-friendly Newsmax.“

“The company that owns the social media platform Truth Social and counts President Donald Trump as its largest shareholder said Monday that it had reached a deal with Newsmax, which its founder has described as “supportive of the President and his policies,” to stream Newsmax content globally.

“The unprecedented deal links a company whose largest shareholder is the sitting president with a conservative media ally, in a deal that could benefit both parties financially. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/09/trump-truth-social-newsmax-streaming-deal/

Selective News Coverage?

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Article in FAIR by Belen Fernandez, 7/9/25

Headline:  “Massive Expansion of Trump’s Deportation Machine Passes With Little Press Notice”

“And so it has come to pass: US President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has set the stage for tax cuts for the rich, slashed services for the poor, and a host of other things that qualify as ‘beautiful’ in the present dystopia. Some cuts, like those to Medicaid, have been heavily covered by the corporate media. But one key piece of the bill has gotten much less media scrutiny: The preposterous sum of $175 billion has been allocated to fund Trump’s signature mass deportation campaign, which, as a Salon article (7/3/25) points out, exceeds the military budget for every single country in the world aside from the US and China. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/massive-expansion-of-trumps-deportation-machine-passes-with-little-press-notice/

End of Political Broadcasting Humor?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 7/8/25

Headline:  “Ellison’s Late Night Limbo

“Subhead:  “As the Ellisons Prepare to Take Over Paramount,  the Future of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and CBS’ Appetite for Political Comedy Hangs in the Balance”

“Jon Stewart opened Monday’s episode of ”The Daily Show’ not mincing words, calling Paramount’s settlement with Donald Trump ‘shameful.’ Just as he was digging in, a fake Arby’s ad suddenly appeared on screen, as if to cut him off mid-rant for criticizing Comedy Central’s parent company. ‘Did they? Son of a bitch!’ Stewart exclaimed, playing along with the bit—yet nodding to a deeper fear that his commentary might soon be silenced amid all the corporate upheaval.

“Later in the episode, Stewart continued to needle Paramount, sitting down with former ’60 Minutes’ correspondent Steve Kroft for a candid and unsparing conversation. Kroft described the settlement in clear terms: ‘It was a shakedown.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

Media in the Cauldron?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 6/30/35

Headline:  “Boiling Frogs”

Subhead:   “How the press is faring halfway through a turbulent year.”

“Around a year ago, I tried, in this newsletter, to zoom out and take stock of what sort of media moment we were then in, roughly halfway through a hugely consequential year. I concluded that the moment felt muddled. At the time, a variety of right-wing media grifters and conspiracy theorists appeared to be facing long-awaited accountability for blatant lies, leading some observers to conclude that it was a good moment for the truth. And yet mainstream news organizations often seen as guarantors of the truth appeared to be in a state of malaise, too, at least compared with the energy and purpose they exhibited in the early part of Donald Trump’s first term. . .”

“. . . I’m not seeing a complacent journalistic corps failing to understand the stakes of this moment. I just wish those had been more universally understood earlier. Around this time last year, say.

“Fortunately for us all, the old saw about boiling frogs is a myth. When the water around them gets hot enough, they tend to jump out of it.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/boiling-frogs-how-press-doing-halfway-year-2025.php