Media News

News about the media.

Hegseth Winger Media-Support

by


Article from Media Matters by Starr, 12/5/24

Headline: Matt Gertz on right-wing media support for Pete Hegseth: “They’re trying to move someone from Fox & Friends’ weekend show to sixth in line for the presidency”

Subhead: “Gertz: “Donald Trump has repeatedly sought out people that he likes from his television, likes from Fox News, for big roles in his administration”

“I think there is. I think what we’re seeing right now is a test of the power that the right-wing media has within the MAGA movement. Some sort of flare clearly went up over the last 24 hours because after largely remaining passive and backing off from the nomination as all of these damning reports came out, people at Fox and throughout the right-wing media have started rallying to Hegseth’s defense.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/pete-hegseth/matt-gertz-right-wing-media-support-pete-hegseth-theyre-trying-move-someone-fox

All the News That’s Fit to Buy

by

Article in IPS by Omar Ocampo, 12/3/24

Headline:  “Twelve U.S. Billionaires Now Have a Combined $2 Trillion”

Subhead: “Nvidia’s Jensen Huang joins the oligarchic dozen, which have more influence over media and politics than ever. “

“The collective net worth of America’s top twelve billionaires has surpassed $2 trillion as of December 3.”

“. . . Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with others in the billionaire class, have unsurprisingly used the power of their wealth to expand their political and economic influence. They have both purchased large media platforms, which has granted them the ability to set the terms of public debate with the hopes of influencing public opinion in their favor. ”

https://ips-dc.org/twelve-u-s-billionaires-now-have-a-combined-2-trillion/

Surrender to the Liberal Media?

by


Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargeant, 12/5/24

Headline:  “MAGA Rages as GOPers Deliver Trump Bad News: Pete Hegseth May Be Toast”

Subhead:  “As Republican senators signal that Trump’s pick for defense secretary may not survive, a leading observer of right-wing media explains how MAGA is turning Hegseth into a disturbing litmus test for the GOP.”

“Matt Gertz of Media Matters, who has a good new piece reporting on Fox News’s efforts to save Hegseth. Gertz explains how MAGA is turning this into a test for GOP senators: Will they surrender to the “liberal media” when it reports facts about Trump, or will they side with Trump and MAGA? If GOP senators fail now, it bodes badly for what’s coming. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/189052/maga-rages-gopers-deliver-trump-bad-news-pete-hegseth-may-toast

Media Pigeon

by

Article in Raw Story by Travis Gettys, 12/6/24

Headline:  “Russian media claims Tucker Carlson acting as ‘carrier pigeon’ between Putin and Trump “

“The former Fox News host returned to Moscow this week for a second time to interview Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and pushed the Kremlin narrative that the U.S. should stay out of the war in Ukraine to avoid setting off a global nuclear crisis, but some Kremlin insiders believe Carlson had other business, reported The Daily Beast.

“While the former Fox host is positioning himself as a dove of peace, toiling to prevent a nuclear war, Putin’s acolytes say he is also acting as a carrier pigeon for the Russian president and privately delivering his messages to Trump,” wrote Julia Davis, who monitors Russian state-run media.

https://www.rawstory.com/tucker-carlson-russia-2670348682/

Biased About Media Bias?

by

Article in The Guardian by Anna Betts, 12/6/24

Headline:  “Owner of Los Angeles Times says paper will employ AI-powered ‘bias meter’

Subhead:  “Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong also wants to include more conservative voices in paper’s opinion section”

“Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, has announced plans to incorporate an artificial intelligence-powered “bias meter” into the newspaper’s coverage.

“Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire who bought the Los Angeles Times in 2018, made the comments on a podcast hosted by conservative commentator Scott Jennings, who is soon joining the LA Times editorial board.

The proposed move is the latest controversy to rock the newspaper which has suffered a wave of resignations and layoffs under Soon-Shiong’s ownership. Most recently, Soon-Shiong blocked the paper from endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris in last month’s presidential election, sparking outrage from many staff.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/06/la-times-ai-bias-meter-owner

 

Media Over the Falls

by

 

Article in The Atlantic by Helen Lewis, 12/5/24

Headline:  “The ‘Mainstream Media’ Has Already Lost”

Subhead:  “The newspapers and networks of the 20th century are ceding ground. And the people taking their place aren’t playing by the same rules.”

“This October, in the closing days of the presidential election, the podcaster Joe Rogan said something extraordinary. He had just hosted Donald Trump for a three-hour conversation in his studio in Austin, Texas, and wanted to make clear that he had discussed a similar arrangement with Kamala Harris’s campaign. “They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour,” he posted on X. “I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin.” And so Rogan declined to interview the vice president..

“What a diva, some people said. If you’re offered an interview with a presidential candidate, get off your ass and get on a plane! But Rogan could dictate his own terms. He is not competing in the snake pit of D.C. journalism, where sitting opposite a major candidate delivers an instant status bump. He is the most popular podcaster alive, with a dedicated audience of right-leaning men who enjoy mixed martial arts, stand-up comedy, and wild speculation about aliens”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/01/joe-rogan-political-right-media-mainstream/680755/

Crusader Against Media

by

Podcast on NPR by Plott Calabro, 12/4/24

Headline:  “Kash Patel’s Crusade Against the Media”

“. . . Atlantic staff writer Elaina Plott Calabro, profiled Kash Patel in August, charting his rise to power, starting at the very beginning of his legal career. She explains how he came to loathe the media, and love Trump. Further reading: “The Man Who Will Do Anything For Trump,” by Elaina Plott Calabro “What the FBI Has Done, and Kash Patel Could Do,” by Jon Allsop On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today . Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

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

Media Stand Firm

by


Article in the New York Times by Daisuke Wakabayashi and Su-Hyun Lee, 12/4/24

Headline:  “Martial Law Didn’t Silence South Korea’s Media. It Empowered Them.”

“Journalists criticized the president’s attempt to place the press under military control, hardened by years of challenges to press freedoms by the country’s political leaders.

“When President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea shocked the nation by declaring martial law, he placed news organizations under the rule of military command and outlawed “fake news.” It was a striking escalation of his long-running feud with media critical of his administration.

“But when faced with censorship by the military, the Korean press did not acquiesce. News organizations spanning the political spectrum — even right-leaning publications more aligned with Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party — stood united in criticism of his actions and any efforts to limit a free press.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/business/south-korea-news-media-martial-law.html

Newsrooms Emptying Out

by

Article in Mother Jones by Abby Vesoulis, 12/4/24

Headline:  “Watching the Media Reckoning Unfold in a Now-Shuttered Broadcast Newsroom”

“In about two weeks, nearly everyone in this Atlanta conference room will be out of a job. But tonight, on November 5, the Scripps News team has an election to cover.

“Nothing goes on the air unless it gets vetted through the control room, okay?” says Brian Donlon, a New Yorker who tempers his gruff side with wisecracks. ”

“. . . Like other newsrooms across the country, Scripps News was bracing for the worst—potential violence, claims of rigged voting, a deluge of disinformation. But it was also wrestling with its own reckoning: the unraveling of its national broadcast news operation and the imminent unemployment of roughly 200 colleagues”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/scripps-news-election-broadcast-media-layoffs/

Throwing the Media Away

by

Article in Meditite by Joe DePaolo. 12/4/24

Headline:  “Pete Hegseth Trashes the Media With His SecDef Candidacy On the Ropes: ‘They Smear’ With ‘BS Stories’”

“President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled pick to be the next Secretary of Defense — is going after the media, following a series of unflattering reports which have put his candidacy in jeopardy.”

“In a Wednesday morning post to X, Hegseth — a former Fox News host — attacked what he called the “BS stories” which have come out about him in recent days.

“ ‘I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers,’ Hegseth wrote. ‘The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents. They are afraid of @realDonaldTrump — and me. So they smear w/fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth. Our warriors never back down, & neither will I.’ ”

https://www.mediaite.com/news/pete-hegseth-trashes-the-media-with-his-secdef-candidacy-on-the-ropes-they-smear-with-bs-stories/