Press Freedom

Domino Effect on Journalism

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Article in Poynter by Angla Fu, 5/29/25

Headline:  “America’s top journalism schools may lose a generation of international talent”

Subhead:  “The Trump administration is pausing visa interviews for students and fellows while it drafts new vetting rules”

“Foreign media workers and students coming to the United States for journalism schools and fellowships could get caught up in the Trump administration’s pause on certain visa interviews.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed all American embassies and consulates Tuesday to stop scheduling student and exchange visitor visa interviews, Politico reported. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/educators-students/2025/foreign-journalism-students-visa-pause/

Can Student Journalists do Their Jobs?

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Article in Poynter by Adelina Yankova, 5/27/25

Headline:  “Student reporters are under pressure to protect sources — and still tell the truth”

Subhead:  “As fear spreads on campuses, journalists face a new dilemma: How do you build trust when few are willing to be named?”

“Last December, Andrew Massie got a text from his roommate: He thought he had story for him. An hour later, Massie, who is a journalist at The Fordham Ram student newspaper, returned home to find several people waiting to talk. The ensuing three-month reporting journey led Massie to sift through documents and interview 26 people about alleged administrative negligence by a Fordham dean.

“Still, when the story was published in the Ram on March 5, it featured only two named sources.

“Most of the interviewees, who feared for their current jobs and future employment prospects, would only speak to Massie, the features editor of the Ram, under the condition of anonymity. In some cases, the interviews were fully off the record, meaning Massie had to confirm their testimony with others.

“Massie’s experience is increasingly common for student journalists across the country as they reckon with people’s hesitance to be named in stories. . .”

Read the full story here:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/student-journalism-challenges-anonymous-sources-off-record/

Reporting a Hidden War

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Nalova Akua, 5/27/25

Headline:  “The Hidden Toll of Reporting on the Sudanese Civil War”

Subhead:  “Local journalists say it often feels like belligerents are waging an undeclared war against the press.”

“In June 2023, Nader Shilkawi, a thirty-four-year-old journalist working with the Sudan Radio and Television Corporation, was returning home from a reporting trip when he was seized by members of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces. The group—a party in a brutal civil war that has torn the country apart since April 2023—accused the reporter of working with the Sudanese army to monitor its movements. ‘I was subjected to torture in detention,’ Shilkawi said recently via a WhatsApp message. ‘I was beaten. I received threats.’

“He was eventually released, after three days of detention. But Shilkawi’s story is not so uncommon. The Sudanese civil war, now in its third year, has left more than 150,000 people dead and an estimated fourteen million more displaced. It has also quietly become one of the most dangerous conflicts in the world for journalists. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/journalism-reporters-sudan-civil-war.php

NPR Tuning Out Trump?

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Article in Status News by Oliver Darch, 5/27/25

Headline: “NPR Flips the Dial on Trump”

Subhead: “When Trump signed an order to defund NPR, the network faced a choice over how it would respond—but CEO Katherine Maher made one thing clear from the start: there would be no backroom negotiations.

“In the days following Donald Trump’s May 1 executive order to strip NPR of all federal funding, leaders at the public broadcaster began deliberating their options. But even before the network’s legal team got to work on the litigation, one decision had already been made. NPR chief executive Katherine Maher made clear that the outlet would not quietly negotiate with the White House—an approach other media companies have recently taken under immense political pressure.

“As an independent media organization,” Maher told me by phone Tuesday, “we wouldn’t go ahead and have that conversation because that would be negotiating on editorial principle.” . . .”

Read the full story here:

https://www.status.news/p/npr-sues-trump-funding-katherine-maher-interview

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Article in AP by David Bauder, 5/27/25

Headline:  “NPR sues Trump administration over executive order to cut federal funding to public media”

“National Public Radio and three of its local stations sued President Donald Trump on Tuesday, arguing that his executive order cutting funding to the 246-station network violates their free speech and relies on an authority that he does not have.

Earlier this month, Trump instructed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to cease funding for NPR and PBS, either directly or indirectly. The president and his supporters argue their news reporting promotes liberal bias and shouldn’t be supported by taxpayers.

Retaliation is Trump’s plain purpose, the lawsuit argues. It was filed in federal court in Washington by NPR and three Colorado entities — Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KUTE, Inc., chosen to show the system’s diversity in urban and rural areas.

“By basing its directives on the substance of NPR’s programming, the executive order seeks to force NPR to adapt its journalistic standards and editorial choices to the preferences of the government if it is to continue to receive federal funding,” Katherine Maher, NPR’s CEO, said Tuesday.

Read the full story here:

https://apnews.com/article/npr-trump-lawsuit-public-radio-f320314b30df6934238a5b6af47c5067

Journalists Cover Real History

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Article in Huffpost by Jazmin Tolliver, 5/26/25

Headline:  ” ‘60 Minutes’ Reporter Rips Into Trump In Viral Commencement Speech”

Subhead:  “The veteran CBS News reporter also accused Trump of working to ‘rewrite history with grotesque false narratives.’ “

“Journalist Scott Pelley accused President Donald Trump of ‘attacking’ free speech and spreading ‘insidious fear’ among the public during a commencement address at Wake Forest University.

“The speech came as concerns grow over the country’s free speech rights amid Trump’s targeted attacks aimed at universities over a range of topics, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices and foreign students’ enrollment. Trump and Harvard University are currently embroiled in a heated legal battle over its enrollment of foreign students.

“Our sacred rule of law is under attack,” Pelley began his message. ‘Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack, and insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses and into our private thoughts.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/journalist-scott-pelley-trump-attack-free-speech_n_6834bbbce4b0b885650cba0a?swk

Restrict Press, Make Hegseth Safe

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 5/26/25

Headline:  “Hegseth’s Safe Space”

Subhead:  “As backlash brewed over new restrictions on press access, the Pentagon made a second, quieter move—one that sent another troubling signal about how far it’s willing to go to create a safe space for Pete Hegseth”.

“On Friday afternoon, just before the holiday weekend was set to begin, word began to spread among Pentagon reporters: new, even more restrictive press limitations were imminent. Shortly after, the Pentagon Press Association was informed just how sweeping they would be. Pete Hegseth, the embattled Secretary of Defense, announced he would revoke journalists’ long-held ability to navigate the Pentagon’s unclassified hallways freely, cutting off access that has been permitted across Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. . .”

“Hegseth cloaked the decision in the language of national security. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/pete-hegseth-pentagon-press-access

Both Sides Are OK – Right?

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Article in FAIR by Jim Naureckas, 5/23/25

Headline: “An ‘Objective’ Press Won’t Alert You to Threats to Democracy”

“. . .if you follow the Times‘ approach to journalism, in which you must never say that something is happening if someone in power claims it is not happening, then your audience won’t know when their government is acting illegally, or denying truth and reality. . .”

“. . .Journalists inevitably, inescapably, have values, and those values necessarily affect what they communicate to their audiences. If they value democracy, then they communicate to their audience that arrests of opposition lawmakers are dangerous. If, on the other hand, they value the appearance of neutrality above all else, then the message readers will get is: Who’s to say?”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/an-objective-press-wont-alert-you-to-threats-to-democracy/

Stopping Blackmail by Paying?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 5/19/25

Headline:  “Trump threatens ABC News over Qatar jet coverage”

“President Trump is threatening ABC News over its coverage of a luxury jet he is set to receive from Qatar, a decision that is drawing criticism from both congressional leaders and national security experts.

“ ‘Why doesn’t Chairman Bob Iger do something about ABC Fake News,’ Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday, name-checking the Disney CEO who presides over the broadcast news network.

“The president referenced a multimillion-dollar settlement the network paid him late last year over comments made by George Stephanopoulos in which the ‘This Week’ anchor falsely said Trump had been convicted of sexual assault. The company retracted and apologized for the remarks. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5307218-trump-threatens-abc-news-qatar-jet-coverage/

Cover the News – Get Suspended?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Meghnad Rose ahd Ann Okes, 5/19/25

Headline:  “Columbia Keeps ‘Investigating’ Student Journalists Covering Pro-Palestine Protests”

Subhead:  “Reporters on campus say it’s a threat to press freedom.”

“On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 7, Celeste Gamble was in Columbia University’s Butler Library, studying for her final exams, when about a hundred student protesters launched an occupation of the reading room. . .”

“Gamble, twenty, is a reporter for WKCR, Columbia’s student radio station. She pulled out her press ID, recognizing that the timing had given her unique access. . .”

“Less than twenty-four hours later, Gamble, Lahr, Huckabee, and a reporter from the Columbia Daily Spectator all received notice from the university that they’d been suspended for being ‘involved in a disruption at Butler Library’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/student-journalist-columbia-covered-a-pro-palestine-protest-graduation-under-threat.php

 

 

Giving Radio Away on Silver Platter?

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UPDATE

 

Article in Slashdot by Staff

Headline: “Verizon Secures FCC Approval for $9.6 Billion Frontier Asquisiton”

“The Federal Communications Commission has approved Verizon’s $9.6 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, valuing the Dallas-based company at $20 billion including debt. The approval comes after Verizon agreed to scale back diversity initiatives to comply with Trump administration policies.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who previously threatened to block mergers over DEI practices, praised the deal for its potential to “unleash billions in new infrastructure builds” and “accelerate the transition away from old, copper line networks to modern, high-speed ones.” The acquisition positions America’s largest phone carrier to expand its high-speed internet footprint across Frontier’s 25-state network. Verizon plans to deploy fiber to more than one million U.S. homes annually following the transaction.”

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/05/16/194255/verizon-secures-fcc-approval-for-96-billion-frontier-acquisition

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 5/16/25

Headline: “Verizon Cowardly Capitulates to Trump and Carr’s Racist Bullying”

“On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission, under the direction of President Trump’s FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, approved Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier Communications. The deal hands control of Frontier’s telecommunications networks in 25 states to Verizon, further consolidating a broadband industry with limited choices and exorbitant prices for consumers.

The price tag of the deal, however, is much higher than the $20 billion announced by the two companies. Buried in the FCC’s approval order, but proudly touted in the agency’s press release, is the claim that Verizon got the deal done only after promising to end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. . . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/verizon-cowardly-capitulates-trump-and-carrs-racist-bullying

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Article in Slashdot by BeauHD, 5/14/25

Headline:  “FCC Threatens EchoStar Licenses For Spectrum That’s ‘Ripe For Sharing'”

“Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has threatened to revoke EchoStar licenses for radio frequency bands coveted by rival firms including SpaceX, which alleges that EchoStar is underutilizing the spectrum. ‘I have directed agency staff to begin a review of EchoStar’s compliance with its federal obligations to provide 5G service throughout the United States per the terms of its federal spectrum licenses,’ Carr wrote in a May 9 letter to EchoStar Chairman Charles Ergen. EchoStar and its affiliates ‘hold a large number of FCC spectrum licenses that cover a significant amount of spectrum,’ the letter said. . .”

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/05/13/2247256/fcc-threatens-echostar-licenses-for-spectrum-thats-ripe-for-sharing