Media News

News about the media.

Journalism in U.S. Now Dangerous

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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?

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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

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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.

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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

Media Not Scoping it Out Right?

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Article in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 9/12/25

Headline:  “The Media Is Totally Blowing Its Coverage of Charlie Kirk”

Subhead:  “Some pundits are arguing that Charlie Kirk practiced politics ‘the right way.’ This only serves to whitewash the ideas that he promulgated. “

“. . .TNR contributors Ana Marie Cox and Meredith Shiner say that the press is largely whitewashing Kirk’s actual politics, citing a column by The New York Times’ Ezra Klein as a prime example. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/200411/media-blowing-coverage-charlie-kirk

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Yona TR Golding, 9/12/25

Headline:  “How News Streamers Covered the Killing of Charlie Kirk”

Subhead:  “The hugely popular world of online news and commentary offers a window into how young people consume current events.”

“. . .network television was struggling to find the right words to respond to the horrific events, falling into predictable patterns. Fox News held Kirk up as a martyr. . .”

“. . .The streamers carry none of that burden. Their audiences know Kirk well—Kirk, too, was a product of this world, with a popular podcast and a social media presence wherein he posted prolifically, offering often extreme right-wing takes on political hot topics . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/charlie-kirk-twitch-streamers-reaction.php

Media Monopolies?

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Article in The New York Times, 9/11/25

Headline: “Paramount Plans Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery”

Subhead: “Any deal would further reshape the media industry, putting CBS News, CNN and two major movie studios under the same corporate umbrella.”

“. . .A merger of the two Hollywood giants would reshape the media industry, putting some of the most renowned news and entertainment brands under the same roof. It would unite two of the biggest movie studios and two of the most influential news networks, CBS News and CNN. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/business/media/paramount-warner-bros-discovery-bid.html

Conservative Media-Empire Battle is Over

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Article in The New York Times byJim Rutenberg & Jonathan Mahler, 9/8/25

Headline:  “Inside the Deal Ending the Murdoch Succession Fight”

Subhead: “Lachlan Murdoch will take control of a new family trust in a deal worth $3.3 billion, ensuring that his father’s media empire will retain its conservative slant.”

Read the article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/business/media/murdoch-family-trust-succession-deal.html

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Article in The Guardian by Lauren Aratini, 9/8/25

Headline:  “Murdoch family reaches deal to resolve succession fight over media empire”

Subhead: “Family announces Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, will secure control of business”

“The succession battle at Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has ended.

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/08/rupert-murdoch-lachlan-family-succession-deal

Reporters Time for Life Jackets?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/5/24

Headline: “The Bezos Briefing”

Subhead:  “As The Post bleeds reporters, its top editor Matt Murray sat down for a meeting with Jeff Bezos in Miami, Status has learned”

“Late last month, just before the Labor Day holiday weekend, The Washington Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, found himself face to face with the newspaper’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos. . .”

“The meeting came against the backdrop of a wave of newsroom departures, this one triggered by buyout offers that sent some of The Post’s best-known bylines toward the exits. That exodus followed yet another round of defections earlier this year, when star talent left for rivals such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/jeff-bezos-washington-post-matt-murray-meeting

Newspaper Sitcom

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Article in The Contrarian by Meredeth Blake, 9/4/25

Headline:  “Culture recs: The Paper Satirizes the Sorry State of Journalism in 2025”

“On most days I’m more likely to cry about the current state of journalism than I am to laugh. But this very loose spinoff of The Office manages to find the (extremely dark) humor in the story of Ned Sampson (Domnhall Gleason, doing a seamless American accent) the idealistic new editor-in-chief of a struggling Midwestern newspaper called the Toledo Truth Teller . . . a nepotism hire who nevertheless believes in the importance of local journalism, Ned immediately attempts to revitalize the publication . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/culture-recs-the-paper-satirizes

Reporters Trust Political Doctors?

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Article in AP by David Bauder, 9/3/25

Headline: “US media quickly forced to revisit a thorny question: How should a president’s health be covered?”

“. . .Beyond punditry, however, news outlets face serious questions about how to handle the story, much like they did with Biden. The physical signs that have been pointed out online should trigger serious probes into the president’s health. Some critics, like historian Garrett Graff, said it was puzzling that many in the media hadn’t treated it like a news story — although the timing over a holiday weekend surely made it more challenging.. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-health-media-coverage-1541184240d9092f08159fa36a05a955

 

First Newspapers, Now Local TV

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Article in Poynter by Rick Edmonds, 9/2/25

Headline:  “Inescapable technology changes and a migrating audience have local broadcast news in trouble”

Subhead: “For years, local TV looked steady while newspapers flailed. Now the business model creaks, and the challenges feel uncomfortably familiar.”

“The scenario is familiar to any journalist who has worked at a newspaper in the last 15 years. The audience is moving away from the profitable old platform to a hot, new one. The outlet must adapt or at least try to. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/is-business-broadcast-journalism-in-trouble/