Media News

Article in The Guardian by Mark Hrtsgaard and Kyle Pope, 1/16/25

Headline:  “The media needs to show how the climate crisis is fueling the LA wildfires”

Subhead:  “With few exceptions, the news has shied away from showing how the unfolding climate crisis plays a large role in the disaster”

“Last week, as the Sunset fire was bearing down on her Los Angeles home, Allison Agsten approached a group of television news crews gathering in her neighborhood. Did any of them plan to mention the role of the climate crisis in their reporting?”

“. . .Alas, these mega-fires have called forth a mega-failure by much of the news media. A review of coverage to date shows that most journalism is still not accurately representing how the climate crisis is upending our civilization by driving increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/16/climate-crisis-la-california-wildfires

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Article in Media Matters by Ilana Berger, 1/15/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media insist climate change has nothing to do with LA wildfires despite a clear connection”

Subhead:  “Research consistently shows that droughts in the Western US have been exacerbated by climate change”

“Right-wing media are trying to de legitimize climate change as a real and growing threat to the West Coast, just as that threat becomes most evident.

“Several unusual January wildfires have been burning in Los Angeles County since January 7. Despite the clear connection between global warming and the increasingly dry conditions that lead to fire hazards, right-wing media are following their familiar playbook and blaming what they call California’s ‘failed’ policies for the ongoing crisis.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-media-insist-climate-change-has-nothing-do-la-wildfires-despite-clear

Article in Common Dreams by Norman Solomon, 1/15/25

Headline:  “How US Media Hide Truths About the Gaza War”

Subhead:  “Despite exceptional coverage at times, what was most profoundly important about war in Gaza—what it was like to be terrorized, massacred, maimed, and traumatized—remained almost entirely out of view.”

“A few days before the end of 2024, the independent magazine +972 reported that “Israeli army forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital compound in Beit Lahiya, culminating a nearly week-long siege of the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza.” While fire spread through the hospital, its staff issued a statement saying that “surgical departments, laboratory, maintenance, and emergency units have been completely burned,” and patients were “at risk of dying at any moment.”

“The magazine explained that “the assault on medical facilities in Beit Lahiya is the latest escalation in Israel’s brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, which over the last three months forcibly displaced the vast majority of Palestinians living in the area.” The journalism from +972—in sharp contrast to the dominant coverage of the Gaza war from U.S. media—has provided clarity about real-time events, putting them in overall context rather than episodic snippets.”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-media-obscure-gaza-war

Article on “NPR On the Media” by Staff, 1/15/25

Headline:  “A Shake Up In The Briefing Room? “

“There have been hints dropped that the incoming administration intends to shake up the White House briefing room to potentially allow in more podcasters and outlets friendly to Trump. Whether or not it happens, the threats set the tone for another period of bad relations with the press corps. Time Magazine’s Olivia Waxman told Brooke back in 2017 that it was ever thus.”

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

Article in the Daily Beast by Emell Dera Adolphus, 1/15/25

Headline:  “Jay Leno Schools Fox News About ‘Blame Game’”

Subhead:  “Leno ironically hit back against the politicizing of the L.A. fires following the network’s attempts to stoke blame.”

“Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno ironically hit back against the politicizing of the ongoing L.A. fires in a Wednesday Fox News interview following the network’s repeated attempts to fan the flames of blame.

“Leno told host Sandra Smith that he volunteered to serve meals to the firefighters responding to the emergency affecting the greater Los Angeles area because he didn’t want to be a part of the ‘blame game.’

“ ‘The great thing is I haven’t heard a political discussion for the last four days. Nobody’s blaming this, that,’ said Leno. ‘They’re fighting a fire. These guys have no opinion. I’m sure they have opinions, but it’s not a blame game at this point at play, but it’s just a matter of what we’ve got to do to fix this.’ ”

“. . . Last week on Fox News, host Laura Ingraham pointed fingers at “California liberals” for “their environmental fanaticism,” claiming it has affected the emergency response to the fires and ‘shoved common sense thinking out the door.’ ”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-tonight-show-host-jay-leno-schools-fox-news-about-blame-game/

Article in The Guardian by Marina Dunnbar, 1/15/25

Headline:  ” ‘Deeply alarmed’: Washington Post staff request meeting with Jeff Bezos”

Subhead:  “Journalists say in letter ‘trust has been lost’ and seek in-person meeting with billionaire owner over paper’s future”

“‘Deeply alarmed’: Washington Post staff request meeting with Jeff Bezos

Journalists say in letter ‘trust has been lost’ and seek in-person meeting with billionaire owner over paper’s future

Over 400 staff members at the Washington Post have sent a letter to Jeff Bezos asking for a meeting with him during a time of widespread concern about the future of the newspaper.

The letter, signed by top journalists and correspondents and sent on Tuesday evening, pleads for Bezos, who is known to rarely visit the Post’s office in Washington, to meet in person with leaders at the office.

“We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent,” the letter reads. NPR first reported the letter.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/15/washington-post-jeff-bezos

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Article in the Daily Beast by Corbin Boles, 1/15/25

Headlline: “Washington Post Staffers Beg New Trump Bestie Jeff Bezos to Save Paper”

“Washington Post staffers delivered an impassioned missive to their paper’s owner Jeff Bezos on Wednesday, urging the billionaire to “stand with us” and articulate “a clear vision” for the Post’s future.

The letter, signed by more than 400 reporters and editors, urged Bezos to come to the Post‘s D.C. office and meet with newsroom leaders. The letter was first reported by NPR and The New York Times.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/washington-post-staffers-beg-new-trump-bestie-jeff-bezos-to-save-paper/

 

 

Article in Axios by Sara Flescher, 1/14/25

Headline: “Media’s billionaire backlash – Once seen as saviors to a dying industry, some billionaire media owners are now facing a backlash from their newsrooms.”

Subhead:  “Why it matters: President-elect Trump’s victory has prompted wealthy executives to reconsider their resistance to the MAGA movement. Journalists say they’re pandering to power by meddling with important work.”

“Driving the news: Longtime Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin said she is leaving the paper to launch a new publication called The Contrarian with former Obama White House ethics czar Norm Eisen.”

” ‘Jeff Bezos and his cronies accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy —Donald Trump—at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive,’ Rubin wrote in a resignation memo, calling out the Post’s owner. ”

https://www.axios.com/2025/01/14/media-owners-bezos-trump