Press Freedom

Disappearing Media Freedom

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Article in Al Jazeera by Mohamad Elmasry, 9/8/25

Headline:  “The capitulation of the US media is not an aberration”

Subhead:  “The Trump administration is bringing to the fore weaknesses that have long plagued US democracy.”

“American democracy is arguably in more peril than at any moment in recent history. Not only are United States President Donald Trump and his Republican allies seeking to guarantee that Americans never again participate in a truly free and fair election, but public officials and Trump-aligned figures in the media industry are also manipulating the information environment at an unprecedented scale. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/9/8/the-capitulation-of-the-us-media-is-not-an-aberration

Evil CBS in Trouble Again!

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Update:

Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent, 9/2/25

Headline: “ICE Barbie Kristi Noem’s Ugly New Attack on CBS Exposes Big Trump Scam”

Subhead:  “The network was right to edit out her lies about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The rest of the media should do the same.”

“If you need more evidence that there’s zero percentage in trying to appease or bargain with authoritarians, check out what happened this weekend when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attacked CBS News for supposedly editing her Face the Nation appearance in a deceptive way. Unsurprisingly, it concerned the wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, about whom Noem and other Trump officials have lied relentlessly for months on end. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/199889/kristi-noem-attack-cbs-kilmar-garcia-trump-scam

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Article in The Hill by Sarah Fortinsky, 9/1/25

Headline: “Noem accuses CBS of ‘deceptively’ editing interview about Abrego Garcia”

“Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused CBS News of selectively editing footage from her Sunday interview, cutting some of her remarks about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national who was mistakenly deported and returned to the U.S. to face separate charges. . .”

“CBS News, however, maintains that the interview was edited to fit its allotted time slot in the hourlong broadcast and that the full interview was published online. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5480324-noem-abrego-garcia-cbs-interview-editing/

Attacking Reporters in Gaza

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Article in The New York Times by the Editorial Board, 8/31/25

Headline:  “Israel’s Gaza Media Ban Is Indefensible”

“All wars are dangerous to cover, but Gaza holds a place of its own among modern conflicts for the peril faced by journalists. Some 200 journalists have been among the estimated 63,000 people killed since the Gaza war began — an overwhelming majority killed by the Israeli military. Those deaths have helped make the past two years the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization, started keeping records in 1992. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/opinion/israel-gaza-media-journalists-ban.html

Democracy Now! Documentary

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Article in Democracy Now! by Nermeen Haikh, 8/29/25

Headline:  ” ‘Steal This Story, Please!’: Documentary on Democracy Now! Premieres at Telluride Film Festival”

“A new documentary, Steal This Story, Please!, which tells the personal story of Amy Goodman and her decadeslong career as an independent journalist, is premiering this Sunday at the Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado. The film highlights some of the monumental stories Democracy Now! has covered throughout the years and the importance of independent journalism. . .”

Read this article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/29/steal_this_story_please

Available on Hulu

Pro-Democracy Medium

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 8/29/25

Headline:  “The Democracy Rocket”

Subhead: “Marc Elias’ Democracy Docket has quietly become a pro-democracy media force, expanding its newsroom to 20 staffers as it surpasses 50,000 paid subscribers.”

“Earlier this month, Marc Elias, the prominent Democratic lawyer turned media entrepreneur, was at his home just outside Washington when the milestone arrived. The outlet he founded in 2020, Democracy Docket—a digital news organization that covers voting rights, elections, and the courts from an unapologetically pro-democracy standpoint—had been inching toward 50,000 paid subscribers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/democracy-docket-marc-elias-newsletter

Controlling Foreign Press

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Article in Daily Beast by Farrah Tomazin, 8/28/25

Headline:  “Trump Reveals Sinister New Plot for Curbing the Media”

Subhead:  “The administration says the changes would prevent the likelihood of ‘visa abuse.’ “

“President Donald Trump has moved to curb the number of foreign journalists who can work in America by significantly reducing the time they can stay in the country.

“After embarking on a mass deportation plan to get rid of illegal immigrants, the administration has now set its sights on legal immigration, with a dramatic shakeup of visas for members of the media, as well as students and cultural exchange visitors. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-reveals-sinister-new-plan-for-curbing-the-media/

Media Find Happy Warrior

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Article in FAIR by Raina Lipsitz, 8/28/25

Headline:  “Media Like Newsom’s Fighting Words—But Are Words Enough to Beat Trump?”

“Corporate media outlets, and the consultants and former administration officials who work for them, have a message for Democratic voters: To revive its dwindling appeal, their party needs a fighter to take on Trump. And California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has lately made headlines for parodying Trump on X, is the man for the job. . .”

“Because corporate media outlets have taken Trump’s 2024 victory as evidence that the Democratic Party has moved too far left, they are eager to portray Newsom’s shifts as part of a commonsensical and pragmatic effort to broaden his appeal by tacking right. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/media-like-newsoms-fighting-words-but-are-words-enough-to-beat-trump/

Newspapers Ghosting in Rural Areas

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Article in The Guardian by Cy Neff, 8/22/25

Headline:   “Seven Wyoming newspapers were about to be shut. They were given a second life”

Subhead:  “A group of news execs stepped in to buy them, but across the US, 3,200 local news outlets have shuttered since 2005”

“Eight small towns across the vast rural state were reeling from the gut punch of the abrupt closures of their newspapers just a week earlier. Staff had woken up to an email from News Media Corporation (NMC) announcing the immediate closures of the printing presses. . .”

“The scene was not unique. According to the Local News Initiative, 3,200 local news outlets have vanished across the US since 2005. An estimated 55 million Americans do not have access to a local news source. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/22/wyoming-newspapers-nmc-bought

Media Comedy and Truth

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Article in Vox by Sean Remeswaram & Gabrielle Berbey, 8/23/25

Headline:  “South Park is doing what the rest of the media won’t”

Subhead:  “The White House says South Park is irrelevant. Its record-breaking ratings tell a different story.”

“. . .By speaking truth to the ultimate power right now. You know, the creators of South Park have always hated bullies, and they seem to believe Trump is the biggest bully of them all. The very premise of the first episode of this new season is about Trump targeting the media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/458775/south-park-trump-media-criticism

Acceptable Media Bias?

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Article in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 8/22/25

Headline:  “The Media Should Be Biased—Against Authoritarianism”

Subhead:  “UMass Amherst journalism historian Kathy Roberts Forde says the news media has helped both entrench and erode authoritarianism in the U.S. in the past and should lean into its pro-democracy history now.”

“The news media has a powerful role in democracy, even if it often doesn’t acknowledge that, says Kathy Roberts Forde, a journalism historian who teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. . .”

“Forde argues that today’s Republican Party is using some of the authoritarian tactics that were employed in the American South in the twentieth century and by autocratic leaders abroad today. So she argues journalists can and should make those connections, even if that leads to Republicans attacking them as biased. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/199471/media-biased-against-authoritarianism