Media News

News about the media.

Old Media Blowing in the Wind?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop 6/24/25

Headline:  “Old Media Meets New on Primary Day in New York”

Subhead:  “Is the race between Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani a proxy for changes in our media environment?”

“. . . If old media is now irrelevant in shaping voter perceptions, someone seemingly forgot to tell the Mamdani supporters (and others) who have criticized coverage of the candidate in major outlets, particularly when it comes to his positions on Israel. (Writing for In These Times earlier this month, Adam Johnson accused the Times of trying to manufacture tension between Mamdani and Jewish voters when he was not polling notably badly with that group; Lach, of The New Yorker, wrote yesterday that ‘outlets like the New York Post and the Free Press have tried to make him a bogeyman,’ though Lach allowed that ‘part of the reason that reporters have kept asking Mamdani about Israel is because his answer isn’t very convincing.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/old-new-media-new-york-primary-cuomo-mamdani-brad-lander.php

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Article in AP by David Bauder, 6/24/25

Headline:  “Life on the other side: Refugees from ‘old media’ flock to the promise of working for themselves”

“Six months ago, Jennifer Rubin had no idea whether she’d make it in a new media world. She just knew it was time to leave The Washington Post, where she’d been a political columnist for 15 years.

“The Contrarian, the democracy-focused website that Rubin founded with partner Norm Eisen in January, now has 10 employees and contributors like humorist Andy Borowitz and White House reporter April Ryan. Its 558,000 subscribers also get recipes and culture dispatches.

“In the blink of an eye, Rubin became a independent news entrepreneur. ‘I think we hit a moment, just after inauguration, when people were looking for something different and it has captured people’s imaginations,’ she says. ‘We’ve been having a ball with it.’

“YouTube, Substack, TikTok and others are spearheading a full-scale democratization of media and a generation of new voices and influencers . . .”

read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/new-media-mainstream-substack-youtube-influencers-076dfb132475aa42c3e4ebe81f63eb9a

Media Caught Off-Guard

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 5/23/25

Headline:  “Opinion | ‘Extraordinary and unprecedented’: The media reaction to Trump’s Iran attack”

Subhead:  “Trump’s order to bomb Iran drew sharp media scrutiny over its timing, global risks and potential to drag the US into war”

“Stunning news broke Saturday night when it was learned the United States, under the orders of President Donald Trump, bombed three sites in Iran in an effort to dismantle that country’s nuclear program. . .”

“So, what has been some of the media reaction?. . .”

“Speaking on MSNBC, host Rachel Maddow said, ‘There have been factions within U.S. politics who have advocated for the United States to go to war with Iran for decades. President Trump is generally politically credited with standing in opposition to those kinds of factions in U.S. politics. But he has now made their dreams come true without really making a case to the U.S. public that there is a need to urgently act right now, to have done this — and that has a few different consequences’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/trump-iran-airstrikes-media-reaction/

Sinking Media Outlet?

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Article in AP by Staff, 6/23/25

Headline:  “With its stock in sharp decline, Trump’s media company will buy $400 million of its own shares”

“President Donald Trump’s media company plans to buy back up to $400 million of its stock, which have lost 46% of their value this year. . .”

“The company said early this year that it lost $400.9 million in 2024 and its annual revenue declined 12% to $3.6 million.

“After winning the U.S. presidential election in November, Trump transferred all of his shares in the company — worth around $4 billion on paper — as a gift to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Trump’s shares amounted to more than half of the company’s stock. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-buyback-stock-truth-social-385a1389bbc8508477fb272a4bfcf179

Run or Collaborate?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 6/18/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Should journalism embrace AI? Or run from it?”

Subhead:  “In the latest episode of ‘The Poynter Report Podcast,’ Alex Mahadevan explores what AI means for journalism and why reporters may not need to panic”

“. . .Should journalism run from AI? Or embrace it? Why are we scared of it? How can we put AI to good use? And how can we avoid the dangers of AI?

“And, what I wanted to know most of all: Are journalists someday going to become obsolete b . . .”cause some AI tool is going to produce its own newspaper? (And, gulp, newsletter?). . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/should-journalism-embrace-ai-or-run-from-it/

Media History Repeated?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by John Alsop, 6/16/25

Headline:  “The Other Echoes of 2020”

Subhead:  “How this media moment mirrors the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing, beyond police attacks on the press.”

Last week, I wrote in this newsletter about attacks, mostly perpetrated by law enforcement, on journalists covering the protests that followed the recent immigration raids in Los Angeles, and how they echoed the summer of 2020, when police assaulted journalists covering the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd: an Australian TV reporter was hit while talking to camera, which also happened in 2020; ditto the on-air detention of a CNN correspondent; as of last Monday, the US Press Freedom Tracker was working to document at least twenty-six anti-press incidents in LA . . . As last week progressed, the echoes continued: the confirmed number of injured Australian journalists alone jumped to three; an LA police officer was caught on camera shoving and screaming at an ABC journalist; as of Friday, the Press Freedom Tracker was working to document at least fifty anti-press incidents.  . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/other-echoes-2020-floyd-padilla-australia.php

No Coverage for Disasters?

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Article in Indian Country Today by Annie Rosenthal and Chad Bradley, 6/16/25

Headline:  “What defunding public media would mean for the West”

Subhead: “Data show that rural, tribal and Western stations would be most impacted by the Trump administration’s attempt to cut funding for the Center for Public Broadcasting. “

“Late last fall, members of Bethel, Alaska’s search and rescue team met at the local public radio station, KYUK, for a program called River Watch. Over an hour and a half, they took calls from listeners around the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, comparing notes on the safety of the ice at different points along the Kuskokwim River. . .”

“He wanted to warn listeners in other towns: “There is no trail right now. None of the open water is marked. So it’s advised not to be traveling back and forth from Aniak.”

KYUK is the only daily news source for the region, which is roughly the size of Oregon, and River Watch is a staple of its programming. . .”

Read the full article at:  

https://ictnews.org/news/what-defunding-public-media-would-mean-for-the-west/

VOA Back to Iran?

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Article in Raw Story by Daniel Hampton, 6/13/25

Headline: “Voice of America service airing to Iran ‘urgently called back’ amid airstrikes “

“A government-funded international broadcaster that provides news in Persian and which primarily targets audiences in Iran has been ‘urgently called back,’ according to reports.

“The Voice of America Persian Service was cut by President Donald Trump in a March 15 executive order that shut down VOA Persian TV, along with other U.S.-funded international broadcasters. The service’s funding was cut and nearly all staff were placed on administrative leave.

“But VOA Persian is widely regarded as a vital channel to reach Iranian audiences with independent news and United States viewpoints, as Iran wields tight control over the media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/voice-of-america-2672366377/

Journalism and Honor?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Margaret Sullivan, 6/12/25

Headline:  “It’s Time for a New Look at Journalism Ethics”

Subhead:  “The first part in a series on the challenges facing the media industry today.”

“It might seem like conventional wisdom among journalists that while the world around us may change, our standards do not. And certainly our ethics should not change.

“We believe in accuracy. In being honest with the public. In declining favors or gifts intended to bring more favorable coverage. In protecting our sources. . .”

“Yet a fresh look at journalism’s standards and practices—yes, its ethics—seemed a worthwhile pursuit in this moment. Trust in the press has declined. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/new-journalism-ethics-today.php

Community Media Saved!

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Article in Poynter by Sopie Endrud, 6/11/25

Headline: “Facing severe budget cuts, a local television station leaned on its community — and succeeded”

Subhead:  “Prince George’s Community Television in Maryland saw an impending 75% budget slash. Instead of capitulating, the station made its value known”

“The campaign to save Prince George’s Community Television culminated at a two-hour-long county budget hearing, where 37 people wearing ‘Save CTV’ pins implored their county council to save the station.

“Jaylan Sims stood at the lectern on April 28, his voice cracking as he held up his volunteer ID card from nine years ago.

“ ‘I kept it in my room because CTV meant that much to me,’ he told the council.

“ ‘They taught me things that no other news station teaches,’ he continued. He had been allowed to use CTV’s camera and teleprompter to complete class assignments at Bowie State University. Now, a recent graduate, he credited CTV for making that achievement possible. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/prince-georges-community-tv-saved-budget-hearing/

Rt. Wing Calls Protestors “Invaders”?

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Article in The Guardian by Adam Gabbatt, 6/11/25

Headline:  “As military is deployed to LA, rightwing media decry protesters as ‘invaders’”

Subhead:  “From Newsmax to Charlie Kirk, outlets and podcasts are calling for ‘hard actions’, arrests and the Insurrection Act”

“There were unsavory scenes in Los Angeles over the weekend, as police used teargas and ‘less-lethal munitions’ on thousands of people gathered to protest against the arrest of undocumented immigrants.

The events playing out on rightwing TV channels and in the conservative podcasting realm were almost as miserable, as excitable media figures decried protesters as “invaders”, called for both the mass arrest of elected officials and the invocation of a two-century old laws and used the chaos to push racist conspiracy theories.

It came as the Trump administration said the military will remain on the ground in LA for two months . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/11/la-ice-protests-trump-rightwing-fox-charlie-kirk