Media News

News about the media.

The Ends Meet

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 7/21/25

Headline: “The Epstein Effect”

Subhead:  “Has the mainstream press gone QAnon?”

“In Thursday’s edition of this newsletter, Emily Bell wrote about the increasingly curious right-wing-media dynamics surrounding the biggest political story of the moment: the Trump administration’s frantic, yet seemingly doomed, attempts to move its base on from conspiracy theories related to Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile who killed himself in jail in 2019, and the base’s refusal to be moved. ‘Trump is now confronting the outcome of a media ecosystem he invented, one based on panicky, consensus-squashing conspiracy theories,’ Bell observed. . .”

“. . .I’d argue that the MSM, on the whole, has never sounded as much like MAGA media as it has this past fortnight; as one unnamed reporter put it to New York’s Charlotte Klein last week, ‘Perhaps for the first time, the mainstream media and far-right media are sort of rowing in the same direction,’ at least when it comes to calling for Trump to release more records. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/epstein-effect-mainstream-media-press-qanon-conspiracy.php

Outfoxed by Epstein?

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Article in The Washington Post by Jeremy Barr, 7/21/25

Headline: “As Trump comes for Murdoch media, Fox News faces a bind”

Subhead: “The network has sparingly covered the defamation lawsuit the president filed against its corporate sibling News Corp. and the Wall Street Journal.”

“On Fox News, the network’s pro-Trump opinion hosts often trumpet the president’s latest attack on the mainstream media. That got a bit more complicated on Friday, when the president sued the Wall Street Journal, another part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

“President Donald Trump filed suit in federal court in Florida, arguing that he was defamed by a July 17 story in the Wall Street Journal reporting that he sent a “bawdy” letter to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 to mark his 50th birthday. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/21/fox-wall-street-journal-lawsuit-trump/

A Dirge for Public Media?

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Public media is not state-controlled media

Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 7/18/25

Headline: “Congress signs off on Trump’s request to rescind $1 billion in funding for public broadcasting”

Subhead: “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will lose its funding starting in October — a first in its history”

“For the first time in its 58-year history, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the organization responsible for distributing federal dollars to NPR, PBS and other public broadcasters — will lose its funding.

“The loss is a result of Congress’ striking deference to President Donald Trump. Under the Constitution, Congress holds the power to control government spending. But early Friday morning, at Trump’s request, the House joined the Senate in agreeing to take back $9 billion in funds it had already appropriated. That money included $1.07 billion for CPB and nearly $8 billion in foreign aid. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/trump-defunds-npr-pbs-cpb-public-broadcasting/

Davros Gets Served

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Article in AP by Anna Durkin et. al., 7/18/25

Headline:  “Trump sues Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over reporting on Epstein ties”

” . . .President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch Friday, a day after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein. . .”

“Trump had promised to sue the Wall Street Journal almost immediately after the paper put a new spotlight on his well-documented relationship with Epstein by publishing an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. . .”

read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-jeffrey-epstein-grand-jury-justice-department-ece8a837f9bd179771f801a765e242e4

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