Press Freedom

Erasing References Ensures Survival?

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Article in Poynter by Kelly McBride, 4/30/25

Headline:  “People who fear the Trump administration are asking editors to remove their names from old news stories.”

Subhead:  “Here are some questions to ask while managing these requests”

“Government workers, teachers and green card holders across the country are asking editors to remove their names — and the record of their support for causes now targeted by the Trump administration — from old stories.

“Journalists from around the country routinely ask me for ethics help. In the last month, I’ve heard from the editor of a gay newspaper, several alternative publications, a newsroom that covers immigrant issues, student newspapers and several mainstream commercial newsrooms.

“Kevin Naff, the editor of the Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest gay newspaper, reached out to me for advice in March. Government employees were asking that their names be scrubbed from his archives. They feared that an open record of their sexual orientation, or their views on issues that run contrary to President Donald Trump’s, could make them targets for job cuts. . .”

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2025/how-handle-source-removal-requests-journalism/

Another Hit to the Media

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 5/1/25

Headline:  “The loss of editorial freedom at 60 Minutes is a sorry milestone for US media”

Subhead:  “What has happened with 60 Minutes is a high-octane version of what’s happening everywhere in Trump 2.0″

“There have been so many red alerts for press freedom in the United States over the past few months that it can be hard to know which ones really matter.

“The one at CBS’s 60 Minutes really matters.

“It came as a one-two punch. First, Bill Owens, the highly respected executive producer of the venerable news show stepped down, writing in a letter to employees that he no longer felt he had crucial editorial independence. It had become clear, he wrote, “that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it”.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/01/60-minutes-press-freedom

Non-MAGA Media Enemy of the People?

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Article in Mediaite by Zachary Leeman, 4/29/25

Headline:  “Reporter From Far-Right Gateway Pundit Asks Trump if the Press is ‘Proving to Be the Enemy of the People’ “

“While speaking with reporters, Jordan Conradson asked Trump about the ‘leftist media’ while complimenting his ‘Gulf of America’ hat he was holding. Conradson accused the media of trying to ‘hide’ mugshots of illegal migrant criminals.

“ ‘They’re trying to hide the mugshots that are featured on the front lawn of rapists, murderers, pedophiles. What do you think of that? Aren’t they proving to be the enemy of the people?’ Conradson asked about the media.

“ ‘Well, I guess they are. I guess they are, right? Thank you. Who are you with?’ Trump said’. . .  Conradson complimented Trump’s hate and identified himself as Gateway Pundit’s White House correspondent, earning an approving nod from Trump. . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/media/reporter-from-far-right-gateway-pundit-asks-trump-if-the-press-is-proving-to-be-the-enemy-of-the-people/

Don’t like News-Channel Polls?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/29/25

Headline:  “Stephen Miller tells Fox News anchor on air: Fire your pollster “

“Top White House aide Stephen Miller told Fox News anchor John Roberts that the network should fire its polling team during a live interview on Tuesday.

“After Roberts laid out a Fox News poll for Miller showing President Trump getting higher marks on issues like immigration and the border than on the economy and tariffs, he asked Miller point blank: “A lot of people think he’s spending too much time on tariffs and not enough time on the economy and lowering prices. What do you say?”

“ ‘I don’t want to make things weird for you, John,’ Miller responded. ‘But it is our opinion that Fox News needs to fire its pollster. And I won’t surprise you with that … but the Fox News pollster has always been wrong about President Trump.’ . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5273148-stephen-miller-fox-news-trump-polls/

Policy Will Check Media Sources?

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Article in Daily Beast by Kenneal Paterson, 4/26/25

Headline:   “AG Pam Bondi Smashes Press Safeguards in Leak Investigations”

“The Trump administration revoked Biden-era protections for journalists in leak investigations Friday, allowing authorities to compel reporters to testify against their sources once again.

“ ‘Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe,’ said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a memo obtained by NPR. ‘This conduct is illegal and wrong, and it must stop.’

“Attorney General Pam Bondi’s new policy will revoke critical protections for journalists in leak investigations.

“The new policy permits authorities to extract an unprecedented level of information from journalists. It authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to obtain sensitive details.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ag-pam-bondi-smashes-press-210215640.html?guccounter=1

Unchain the Media?

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 4/24/25

Headline:  “A majority of Americans believe press freedom is important. Far fewer believe the press is actually free.”

Subhead:  “Only 33% of Americans say the media is ‘completely’ free to report the news, according to a new Pew Research Center survey”

“Though two-thirds of Americans believe press freedom is very important, only a third say that the media is actually completely free to report the news, according to a Pew Research Center study released Thursday.

“That gap — where more people say press freedom is important than report actually having it — is found across countries as diverse as Chile and Turkey, the study finds. Pew’s study is based on surveys of more than 50,000 adults across 35 countries and covers perceptions of free speech and internet freedom in addition to press freedom.

“In the U.S., 67% of adults said it is “very” important that the media can report the news without government censorship, while 26% said it is “somewhat” important. While those figures are slightly higher than the median across the 35 countries surveyed, several countries like Sweden and Canada had higher shares of adults who said that press freedom is “very” important. . .”

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/is-the-media-free-press-freedom/

Alternative to Hate-Media

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Article in The New Republic by Virginaia Hefferman, 4/23/25

Headline:  “Liberal Media in Crisis? Not The MeidasTouch. It’s Bigger than Rogan.”

Subhead:  “For real. The podcast by Ben Meiselas and his brothers regularly outdraws Joe Rogan’s. Their secret weapon? Reason. Imagine!”

“For years, progressives have fantasized finding a Joe Rogan of their own: someone butch and sonically seductive to beguile America’s acne class with sports jabber and pronoun jokes before turning the screws and making them vote his way.

“But Blue Joe Rogan will never materialize. And that’s for the best. Blood-sport propaganda by a UFC hype man doesn’t work in defense of liberal democracy. Liberalism, after all, rejects demagoguery as coercive, infantilizing, and anathema to critical thinking. While Rogan reliably slams the id with porny language, simian posturing, and primal sounds—and of course the Goebbels combo of repetition and cartoonish lies—progressive gab needs something closer to reason.

“When Ben Meiselas, a mild-mannered lawyer who sees himself as Mr. Rogers, entered the podcast-and-video octagon with the MeidasTouch Network (pronounced Midas, like the king), he seemed plenty reasonable. But no one saw a Rogan-slayer in him. Meiselas didn’t get drunk. He didn’t drone on about kettlebells or yuk it up with Alex Jones. Instead, he sat alone in his living room and, in short intervals, registered measured anger at Trump’s malignancy.. . .”

https://newrepublic.com/article/194187/meidastouch-ben-meiselas-liberal-media-bigger-rogan

Slanted White House Media?

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 4/17/25

Headline:  “MAGA media rules White House briefings after Trump purge”

“White House press briefings have turned into a playground for pro-MAGA outlets as the Trump administration has worked to sideline legitimate media organizations over the last four months.

“Instead of reporting that provides the public with a clear picture of the inner workings of the administration, the MAGA press corps seeks to push conservative falsehoods and bigotry while attacking the right.

“Outlets known for lying to the public like Breitbart News, The Daily Wire, and Zerohedge have been given prime access to top officials, including President Donald Trump. . .”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/17/2317022/-MAGA-media-rules-White-House-briefings-after-Trump-purge?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_7&pm_medium=web

 

Protestors and the Media

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Lauren Watson, 4/17/25

Headline:  “Student Journalists Wrestle with Censoring Their Own Work”

Subhead:  “Navigating a surge in requests to take down previously published material.”

“In early March, Dylan Hembrough, the editor in chief of The Alestle, the student newspaper at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, published a story about protests on campus over federal funding cuts and censorship in science. The following day, the paper received a message from one of the protesters, who had been featured prominently in photographs and an interview, asking to have their name and image removed. At the time, Hembrough said, the paper didn’t have any policy allowing for such a post-publication takedown. ‘So, in that case, we ended up denying it’ . . .”

“In the past few weeks, eight students at SIUE have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration, Hembrough said—part of a group of more than thirteen hundred students nationwide who have been detained or lost their visas, sometimes for infractions as minor as participating in a protest.. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/student-journalists-censorship-protests-takedown-requests.php

 

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