Press Freedom

Not All Media Crashed and Burned

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Article in The Guardian by Moira Donegan, 12/29/25

Headline:   “As the US media floundered this year, I couldn’t help but think: ‘Thank God I’m at the Guardian”

Subhead:  “Other outlets have asked their writers to compromise, but the Guardian has never – and would never – ask me to pull a punch”

“. . .On the other hand, US media organizations are also facing tremendous pressure from the Trump administration – and from Donald Trump personally, who has used a combination of frivolous defamation suits and weaponized regulatory agencies to extract vast sums from outlets that publish coverage he does not like and threaten the licenses of broadcasters who host voices critical of his movement. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/29/us-media-trump-era-guardian

 

Trump, the Knife?

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 12/22/25

Headline:  “The numbers that defined the Trump administration’s attacks against the press in 2025”

Subhead:  “Nine hours into his term, Trump took his first action against the media. The attacks only escalated from there.”

“After waiting four years to return to the White House, President Donald Trump did not hesitate.

“Congratulations from foreign leaders were still pouring in on Inauguration Day when Trump signed his first directive. That day, he issued a raft of executive orders, proclamations and pardons that remade vast swaths of public policy and upended lives around the globe. Among those affected by his actions were journalists. Just nine hours into his term, Trump suspended hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid meant to support press freedom overseas. . .:

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/united-states-press-freedom-donald-trump/

Media Imploding or Exploding?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Betsy Morais, 12/20/25

Headline: “A Year Under Pressure”

Subhead:  “Assaults on press freedom, at home and abroad—which CJR is uniquely positioned to cover.”

“This week, Jem Bartholomew writes about a new report shared with CJR by the US Press Freedom Tracker, led by the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), which documented thirty-two instances of journalists being arrested or charged for doing their jobs in America in 2025. The report also recorded a hundred and seventy assaults against journalists in the past year: ‘nearly as many as across the previous three years combined,” Bartholomew notes.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/editors-note/year-pressure-press-freedom-attack-journalism.php

FCC As Media Attack-Dog?

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Article in FAIR by Janine Jackson, 12/19/25

Headline:  “FCC Fights First Amendment and ‘Democracy Itself’ “

“. . .Under Trumpist Brendan Carr, the FCC is, as is well known, threatening stations that deliver content they disapprove (FAIR.org, 2/26/25), very much in violation of the First Amendment. Asked in a Senate hearing (Variety, 12/17/25) if it’s ‘appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire,’ Carr responded that ‘any licensee that operates on the public airwaves has a responsibility to comply with the public interest standard.’

“But Trump’s FCC is also seeking to further loosen ownership limits and allow powerful media conglomerates to usurp more of the airwaves (CJR, 10/20/25; FAIR.org, 10/8/25). . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/fcc-fights-first-amendment-and-democracy-itself/

Do Words Matter in Journalism?

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Article in The Guardian by Seth Stern & Clayton Weimers, 12/18/25

Headline:  “Brendan Carr admits his FCC is Trump’s journalism police”

Subhead:  “It is clear that the FCC is not an independent agency, but an instrument of the president’s political agenda”

“The Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, admitted at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that there had been a political “sea change” and he no longer viewed the FCC as an independent agency. Commissioners, he says, serve at the pleasure of the president. . .”

“By scrubbing references to independence from the FCC website after admitting the agency answers to Trump, Carr has made explicit what his actions already demonstrated. He could not have made a better argument for the dangers of letting the public interest standard serve as the government’s backdoor into the newsroom.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/18/brendan-carr-fcc-trump-journalism-police

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 12/18/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Why a single word disappearing from the FCC’s website matters for press freedom”

Subhead:  “FCC Chair Brendan Carr says the agency is not ‘independent,’ sharpening concerns about political pressure on the media”

“If you went to the Federal Communications Commission website first thing Wednesday morning, you would have read the following:

“ ‘An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations.’

“Note the word: independent. . .”

“. . . Carr stunned everyone by saying, ‘The FCC is not an independent agency, formally speaking.’

“A short time later, the word ‘independent’ was removed from the FCC’s site. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/fcc-chair-brendan-carr-independent/

NBC Getting Away With It?

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Article in Raw Story by David Edwards, 12/17/25

Headline: “Trump vows NBC won’t ‘get away’ with Dem interview in threat to broadcast license”

“President Donald Trump threatened NBC’s broadcast license days after the network aired an interview with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). . .”

“Trump then suggested that the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, should investigate NBC.

“The Public airwaves, which these Networks are using at no charge, should not be allowed to get away with this any longer!’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-abc-nbc-license/

BBC Unbowed to Threat

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Savage, 12/16/25

Headline:  “BBC to fight Trump’s $10bn lawsuit, saying it should be dismissed”

Subhead:  “Corporation will argue it did not have rights to air film in US and it did not cause serious reputational harm”

“The BBC is preparing to argue Donald Trump’s $10bn court case against it should be dismissed, arguing it has no case to answer over the US president’s claims he was defamed by an episode of Panorama. . .”

“On Tuesday, the BBC said it would defend itself over the suit. It is understood that the corporation is likely to argue that it did not have the rights to air the documentary in the US, and that the case should therefore be dismissed. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/16/bbc-donald-trump-lawsuit-should-be-dismissed

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Article in The Mirror by Christopher Butkin, 12/26/25

Headline:  “Donald Trump’s BBC lawsuit ‘puts him on the stand’ where ‘he must tell the truth’ “

Subhead:  “Donald Trump, the US President, is seeking up to $10billion (£7.5billion) in damages in response to the editing of a speech he made which was featured in a Panorama episode

“Donald Trump could be forced to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth if he goes ahead with his $10billion lawsuit against the BBC. Lawyers for the broadcaster are said to be considering launching an aggressive defence. And they could make the US president face questions about his actions during the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021. It is something no congressional committee, prosecutor or journalist has ever been able to do. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/donald-trumps-bbc-lawsuit-puts-36413086

No Pulitzer for President?

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Article in Daily Beast by Leigh Kimmins 12/16/25

Headline:  “Trump, 79, Told to Hand Over His Medical Records”

Subhead:  “The president’s revenge tour against the “fake news media” is coming back to bite him. “

“. . .The demand was made in legal papers filed by the board of journalism’s most prestigious prize, the Pulitzer, as part of a defamation lawsuit Trump filed in 2022 over reporting on an investigation into his Russia ties. Now, however, the Pulitzer board’s attorneys have hit back in the most personal way possible for the ailing, 79-year-old president. They have given him 30 days to hand over all tax documents and all documents concerning his medical or psychological health. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-may-be-forced-to-hand-over-his-medical-records/

Fire in the FCC?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 12/16/25

Headline:  “Carr’s Collision Course”

Subhead: “FCC Chair Brendan Carr will be on Capitol Hill for rare Congressional testimony on Wednesday—a hearing in which fellow commissioner Anna Gomez will sharply criticize the agency under his watch, Status has learned.”

“On Wednesday morning at 10 a.m ET, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr will take a seat before the Senate Commerce Committee for a rare appearance before Congress. Carr won’t be alone. Commissioners Olivia Trusty and Anna Gomez will join him, marking the first Senate Commerce oversight hearing with all FCC commissioners present in more than five years—a notable moment for an agency that has largely not been subjected to tough congressional scrutiny. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/brendan-carr-fcc-senate-hearing-testimony

Report on Journalist Attacks

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Barthomew, 12/15/25

Headline:  “Reporting with One Hand Tied”

Subhead:  “A new report documents a hostile environment for US journalists this year, with 32 arrests and 170 assaults.”

“. . .The report, shared exclusively with CJR, also records one hundred and seventy assaults against journalists this year—nearly as many as across the previous three years combined. Reporters have been bludgeoned and shot at and pepper-sprayed and shoved by officers of the law this year. Multiple instances saw equipment seized, or damaged to the cost of thousands of dollars. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/reporting-with-one-hand-tied.php