Press Freedom

Shiving the Media

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Article in New York Times by Jess Bidgood, 7/21/25

Headline: “Trump Sharpens Attacks on a Favorite Foe: The News Media”

Subhead: “How the president is using the levers of government power against the news industry.”

“In declaring war on The Wall Street Journal over its coverage of his years long friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump tapped his supporters’ distrust of his favorite foe — the news media — in an effort to put down a mutiny within his base, as my colleague Erica Green explained.

“It was a familiar move that might have been lifted straight from his playbook in the 2016 presidential campaign.

“But this is a very different moment. If Trump’s complaints about the media feel like a throwback to his first term, his actions toward the industry have gone much further than that. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/us/politics/trump-news-media.html

A Dirge for Public Media?

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Public media is not state-controlled media

Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 7/18/25

Headline: “Congress signs off on Trump’s request to rescind $1 billion in funding for public broadcasting”

Subhead: “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will lose its funding starting in October — a first in its history”

“For the first time in its 58-year history, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the organization responsible for distributing federal dollars to NPR, PBS and other public broadcasters — will lose its funding.

“The loss is a result of Congress’ striking deference to President Donald Trump. Under the Constitution, Congress holds the power to control government spending. But early Friday morning, at Trump’s request, the House joined the Senate in agreeing to take back $9 billion in funds it had already appropriated. That money included $1.07 billion for CPB and nearly $8 billion in foreign aid. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/trump-defunds-npr-pbs-cpb-public-broadcasting/

Davros Gets Served

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Article in AP by Anna Durkin et. al., 7/18/25

Headline:  “Trump sues Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over reporting on Epstein ties”

” . . .President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch Friday, a day after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein. . .”

“Trump had promised to sue the Wall Street Journal almost immediately after the paper put a new spotlight on his well-documented relationship with Epstein by publishing an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. . .”

read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-jeffrey-epstein-grand-jury-justice-department-ece8a837f9bd179771f801a765e242e4

No More Sanewashing?

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Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent, 7/18/25

Headline:  “Trump Press Sec Snaps at Media as Queries about His Mental State Grow”

Subhead:  “As Karoline Leavitt seethes at questions about Trump’s unhinged anecdotes and reaction to the Jeffrey Epstein mess, a press critic explains how her performance exposes MAGA’s most dangerous pathologies.”

“President Trump is in trouble. The Jeffrey Epstein files are killing him with the base. New polls show him cratering on many issues. And questions are mounting about his mental fitness due to a bizarre story he invented about his uncle and the Unabomber. At her latest briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt grew angry at reporters for questioning Trump’s unhinged responses to the Epstein mess. She also belittled a journalist who probed Trump’s mental state by asking about the Unabomber weirdness. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/198096/trump-press-sec-snaps-media-queries-mental-state-grow

Tribally-Licensed radio in Jeopardy

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Article in Indian Country Today by Kolby KickingWoman, 7/14/25

Headline:  “Impending legislation could gut tribal media funding”

Subhead:  “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds more than 1,500 public radio and television stations, and of these, 36 tribally-licensed radio stations would be affected”

“The funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting affect the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years that worries many in Indian Country.

“Without the funding, many communities, especially rural communities, could become isolated as public media stations and radio may go off the air. Of the federal funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives, more than 70 percent goes directly to local public media stations, according to its website. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/news/impending-legislation-could-gut-tribal-media-funding/

Foreign Journalists Scared

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rticle in Poynter by Angela Fu, 7/14/25

Headline:  “Foreign journalists in the U.S. are self-censoring to protect themselves from the Trump administration”

Subhead:  “Non-citizen journalists working in the U.S. report wiping their social media accounts, canceling travel plans and pulling bylines”

“In 2021, Venezuelan journalist Luz Mely Reyes moved to the United States because she didn’t want to be silenced. As an outspoken advocate for the freedom of expression, Reyes no longer felt safe in Venezuela, where reporters have been threatened, arrested and beaten.

“Now in the U.S., however, she finds that she must often silence herself.

“ ‘In my country (Venezuela), I never self-censored. Here, I have to avoid some topics because I feel that it’s dangerous for my status,’ said Reyes, who as a green card holder is a permanent legal resident of the U.S. but not a citizen. . .

Read the full story at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/foreign-journalists-in-the-u-s-are-self-censoring-to-protect-themselves-from-the-trump-administration/

Objectivity or Propaganda?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Julie Gerstein & MArgaret Sullivan, 7/10/25

Headline:  “Is Objectivity Still Worth Pursuing?”

Subhead:  “A generation of journalists is challenging traditional standards.”

“Objectivity hasn’t always been a cornerstone of journalism. American publishers first turned to objectivity in the early twentieth century, in response to the freewheeling ‘yellow journalism’ common at the time. Readers embraced it, grateful for a withdrawal from sensationalism and opinionated coverage.

“American journalist Walter Lippmann, one of the early champions of objectivity, saw the dangers posed by propaganda masquerading as news and argued in 1920 that the ‘sensible procedure in matters affecting the liberty of opinion would be to ensure as impartial an investigation of the facts as is humanly possible.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/is-objectivity-in-journalism-still-worth-pursuing.php

End of Political Broadcasting Humor?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 7/8/25

Headline:  “Ellison’s Late Night Limbo

“Subhead:  “As the Ellisons Prepare to Take Over Paramount,  the Future of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and CBS’ Appetite for Political Comedy Hangs in the Balance”

“Jon Stewart opened Monday’s episode of ”The Daily Show’ not mincing words, calling Paramount’s settlement with Donald Trump ‘shameful.’ Just as he was digging in, a fake Arby’s ad suddenly appeared on screen, as if to cut him off mid-rant for criticizing Comedy Central’s parent company. ‘Did they? Son of a bitch!’ Stewart exclaimed, playing along with the bit—yet nodding to a deeper fear that his commentary might soon be silenced amid all the corporate upheaval.

“Later in the episode, Stewart continued to needle Paramount, sitting down with former ’60 Minutes’ correspondent Steve Kroft for a candid and unsparing conversation. Kroft described the settlement in clear terms: ‘It was a shakedown.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

State Violence Against Journalists?

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Article in Poynter by Kelly Kimball, 7/8/25

Headline:  “As police face lawsuits over attacks on journalists during LA protests, experts warn press safety is disappearing across the US”

“Lawsuits after ICE raids and No Kings march say officers targeted reporters, raising alarms about press freedom even in states with strong protections . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/journalists-injured-la-police-protests-press-freedom-lawsuit/

Media in the Cauldron?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 6/30/35

Headline:  “Boiling Frogs”

Subhead:   “How the press is faring halfway through a turbulent year.”

“Around a year ago, I tried, in this newsletter, to zoom out and take stock of what sort of media moment we were then in, roughly halfway through a hugely consequential year. I concluded that the moment felt muddled. At the time, a variety of right-wing media grifters and conspiracy theorists appeared to be facing long-awaited accountability for blatant lies, leading some observers to conclude that it was a good moment for the truth. And yet mainstream news organizations often seen as guarantors of the truth appeared to be in a state of malaise, too, at least compared with the energy and purpose they exhibited in the early part of Donald Trump’s first term. . .”

“. . . I’m not seeing a complacent journalistic corps failing to understand the stakes of this moment. I just wish those had been more universally understood earlier. Around this time last year, say.

“Fortunately for us all, the old saw about boiling frogs is a myth. When the water around them gets hot enough, they tend to jump out of it.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/boiling-frogs-how-press-doing-halfway-year-2025.php