Press Freedom

Broadcasters Can’t Use Facts Now?

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Article in AlterNet by Adam Lynch, 4/17/25

Headline:  ” ‘Misleading the American public’: Trump’s FCC chair tweets veiled threat at media giant”

“Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is threatening to revoke the licenses of broadcasters who don’t toe the current administration’s line on the wrongful deportation of a legal U.S. resident.

“ ‘Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that [Maryland father Kilmar] Abrego Garcia was merely a law-abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular “Maryland man.”  When the truth comes out, they ignore it,’ Carr posted on X Wednesday. ‘Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn’t cut it.’ . . .”

https://www.alternet.org/brendan-carr-fcc/

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Article in The Hill by Sarah Fortinsky, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump says CBS should lose license after ’60 Minutes’ segments on Ukraine, Greenland”

“President Trump railed against CBS on Sunday night, saying the network should lose its broadcast license after “60 Minutes” aired segments on Ukraine and Greenland that the president said cast him in a negative light. . . .”

“CBS News’s parent company, Paramount, has said the president’s lawsuit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact,” claiming Trump is trying to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like.” . . .”

https://thehill.com/media/5247488-trump-says-cbs-should-lose-license-after-60-minutes-segments-on-ukraine-greenland/

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/14/25

Headline:  “5 things to know about the Trump, CBS feud “

“President Trump’s feud with CBS is reaching a fever pitch as his administration turns up the heat on the national broadcast network stemming from a ‘60 Minutes’ interview it aired with former Vice President Kamala Harris before the presidential election last fall.

“Here are five things to know about the Trump and CBS fight. . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5248507-five-things-to-know-about-the-trump-cbs-feud/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Skydancing With Trump”

Subhead: “Donald Trump escalated his attacks on CBS News in a Sunday night tirade. But it’s what prospective new owner David Ellison was doing 24 hours beforehand that’s also left the newsroom on edge.”

“On Sunday night, Donald Trump launched into an unhinged tirade, this time targeting CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global. The president, apparently incensed by the latest episode of ’60 Minutes,’ unleashed a barrage of false claims and conspiratorial rhetoric, accusing the network of having ‘illegally’ worked to elect Kamala Harris.  . .”

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-donald-trump-skydance-paramount

Only Tovarisch-Media Allowed!

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Article in Democracy Now by Staff, 4/16/25

Headline:  “Russian Journalists Sentenced to 5+ Years in Prison for “Extremism”

“A Russian court in Moscow has sentenced four journalists to five-and-a-half years in prison each, after convicting them of “extremism.” Two of the four worked for Sota Vision, which documents Russian protests and court proceedings; the others contributed to international news outlets including Reuters and the Associated Press. Prosecutors alleged the journalists were involved with a banned anti-corruption organization founded by Alexei Navalny, the opposition politician who died in a Russian penal colony last year following repeated assassination attempts.”

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/4/16/headlines/russian_journalists_sentenced_to_5_years_in_prison_for_extremism

Not All Reporters Are in Pool

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Update:

Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/16/25

Headline:  “The Deep End of the Pool”

Subhead:  “Donald Trump is replacing reporters with MAGA mouthpieces—will the rest of the press corps do anything about it?”

“On Wednesday morning, The Associated Press returned to court—again—in its ongoing fight to rejoin the White House press pool, the group of reporters granted access to cover smaller events on behalf of the broader press corps. . .”

“Instead, the administration took a new tack: On Tuesday, it announced that it had eliminated the wire service seat in the pool altogether. The move was a not-so-subtle trick designed to sidestep the court order by barring all wire services—not just the AP—thus claiming neutrality while continuing to shut out the Julie Pace-led newsroom. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/trump-ap-white-house-pool-wire-services

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/9/25

Headline:  “The Pool Filter”

Subhead:  “Some White House pool reports are no longer making it to the official distribution list, Status has learned—an unsettling development in the Trump administration’s escalating war on the press.”

“At approximately six-thirty on Tuesday evening, Joseph Morton, the Washington correspondent for The Dallas Morning News and the White House pooler on duty, tapped out a short email about the press being on the move and hit send. The crux of the email was fairly innocuous. It said that the White House pool, a small group of reporters designated to cover an event on behalf of the larger press corps, had been “loaded into the press vans” and was following Donald Trump “to the NRCC dinner at the National Building Museum.” But it also noted something else: ‘A reporter and photographer with The Associated Press were turned away from joining the pool.’. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/white-house-censors-pool-reports

 

No Reporting on Pres Allowed!

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Article in Huffpost by Marco Margaritoff, 4/15/25

Headlline:  “Bernie Sanders Slams Trump For Targeting Media: ‘If You Can’t Take Criticism, Get Out’ “

Subhead:  ” ‘Trump had a meltdown Sunday on social media over a ’60 Minutes’ report on his plan to take over Greenland and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.”

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling out President Donald Trump for his thin-skinned reaction to Sunday’s “60 Minutes” broadcast on CBS — and for once again demanding the network lose its license over last year’s interview with Kamala Harris. . .”

““And right now, he’s going after the media,” the Vermont senator said. “I don’t know if any of you saw it. He is now wanting to take away CBS’s license because they did a story that criticized him.”

“Oh, my word, CBS criticized him! Oh, let’s drive them out of business! How terrible is that!” Sanders continued in a mocking tone to boos from the crowd directed at Trump. . .”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-cbs-60-minutes_n_67fe2dc8e4b0e3decc4bf552

Media No-Go Zone

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Article in AP by David Bauder,4/15/25

Headline:  “The White House is starting a new media policy that restricts wire services’ access to the president”

“Fresh from a courtroom loss over The Associated Press’ access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday put forward a new media policy that sharply curtails access to Donald Trump by news agencies that serve media outlets around the world. It was the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities.

“The move would block the AP and other wire services that serve billions of readers through thousands of news outlets. It comes after a judge ruled the White House had violated the organization’s free speech by banning it because it disagreed with the outlet’s decision not to rename the Gulf of Mexico. . .”

https://apnews.com/article/ap-trump-press-speech-white-house-access-97a6f5532edd5eec09bd292ba5c9dbdb

Widening Gyre Public Media

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Plan to Defund Public Broadcasting To Face Opposition from Americans Who Overwhelmingly Support NPR and PBS“

Subhead:  “White House source tells press of plan to cut more than a billion dollars from the budget, effectively zeroing out federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”

“According to Politico and New York Times reports Monday, the White House will send Congress a request to claw back nearly $1.1 billion in already-approved federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the entity that provides federal support for NPR and PBS affiliates across the country. . .”

https://www.freepress.net/news/trumps-plan-defund-public-broadcasting-face-opposition-americans-who-overwhelmingly-support

Money-Truth on the Radio

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Josh Hersch 4/11/25

Headline:  “Kai Ryssdal Was America’s Economic Voice of Reason This Week”

Subhead:  “The Marketplace host on Trump’s economic policies, and telling it like it is.”

“Kai Ryssdal has been the host of Marketplace, a leading daily radio show and podcast about the economy, produced by American Public Media, since 2005.

“He delivers the news—from the bitter latest on our 401(k)s to unexpected interviews about the modern-day resurgence of train robberies—with an affable, direct tone. . .”

“This week on The Kicker, Ryssdal explains what, exactly, just happened with the economy, and why he feels it’s so important for Marketplace to call it like they see it. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/kai-ryssdal-marketplace-trump-economy.php

Windfall for Some Media Giants?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/10/25

Headline:  “Kill the Bill: Press Group Fights Oregon Measure on Payment by Tech Firms”

“Free Press Action noted that the bill would divert millions into the pocket of corporate media giants and incentivize tech platforms to block local news content entirely.”

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/404954/kill-the-bill-press-group-fights-oregon-measure-o.html

First Amendment and Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Sarah Grecy Gotfredsen, 4/10/25

Headline:  “Entry: Denied”

Subhead:  “The “intolerable risk to press freedom” posed by device searches at the border.”

“. . .In 2019, The Intercept documented how journalists covering the so-called migrant caravan faced ‘coordinated harassment’ from US and Mexican authorities. Through a series of interviews, the journalist Ryan Devereaux tells how members of the press were forced to turn over their notes, cameras, and phones while border officers interrogated them for information about activists working with members of the caravan. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/entry-denied-us-border-customs-device-unlock-search-journalists-detain.php

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Article in Fair by Janine Jackson, 4/10/25

Headline:  ” ‘This Is an All-Out War on the First Amendment’ “

Subhead:  “CounterSpin interview with Jessica González on Trump’s FCC”

“Janine Jackson:  ‘There are reasons that the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, is an opaque entity for many people. The fact that there is a federal agency setting the terms for media companies’ operations conflicts with many Americans’ understanding of the press corps as a group of brave, independent individuals looking to tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.’

“There are, in fact, many community-supported, differently structured news outlets doing just that. . .”

https://fair.org/home/this-is-an-all-out-war-on-the-first-amendment/

Protect Your Sources

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 4/8/25

Headline:  “Legal experts advise journalists to strengthen reporting security in the face of rising press restrictions”

Subhead:  “Journalists can protect their sources by maintaining good digital hygiene and being aware of security vulnerabilities, experts say”

“At a time when President Donald Trump’s administration has accelerated attacks on the press, accessing information and protecting sources might become more difficult for journalists, experts say.

” ‘Concerns about libel law and the protections from landmark Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v Sullivan have been exaggerated’, said New York Times deputy general counsel David McCraw and Center for Investigative Reporting general counsel Victoria Baranetsky. Instead, they advised journalists to take measures to secure their reporting material and be cognizant of the pressures they face in the current political climate. Their remarks came Monday during a Poynter webinar called ‘Safeguarding your journalism against legal threats. . .’

“Trump has already taken measures to curtail press access. His administration has laid off communications staff, reallocated dedicated office space in the Pentagon to conservative outlets, taken over the White House press pool and defunded global radio stations. Most notably, his administration has banned The Associated Press from accessing key White House spaces like the Oval Office. Members of his administration have also threatened to investigate leaks.

“Newsrooms may see more subpoenas seeking their communications and reporting material, McCraw warned. To that end, journalists should be cognizant of the documentation that they generate and keep. An unflattering private message to a colleague, for example, could be unearthed in court — as was the case earlier this year when a jury found CNN guilty of defaming a security contractor. . .”

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/trump-legal-threats-journalists-source-protection/