Press Freedom

Tigers or Toothless Bulldogs?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by James C. Goodale, 1/17/25

Headline:  “Will the Press Fight Like Tigers Against Trump?”

Subhead:  “From criminal subpoenas to the Espionage Act, the next administration is likely to crack down on journalists. How we respond depends on the courage of media owners.”

“The last time an administration declared war against the press was when Richard M. Nixon was president. The press won that war because it fought like tigers. Will it do it again this time against President-elect Donald J. Trump?

The phrase “fighting like tigers” comes from a speech that Judge Harold R. Medina of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gave in 1975 at a meeting in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria that I organized. That was some time ago, but history has a way of repeating itself.

It was an easy sell to those lawyers then. In a short period of time, the New York Times had won landmark cases on libel and prior restraint and carved out a reporter’s privilege of sorts. Now Trump has indicated a desire to overturn some or all of these cases. Does the will to resist exist?”

https://www.cjr.org/political_press/press-fight-tigers-trump-goodale-espionage-act-journalism-crackdown-courage.php

Some Media Destroying Democracy?

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Article in Common Dreams by Thom Hartman, 1/15/25

Headlline: “Right-Wing Control of Media Has Crushed the Promise of US Democracy”

Subhead:  “If progressives want to slow this speeding train heading toward single-party rule of America, they must get with the program and begin to support existing and build out new and powerful policy think tanks and media operations.”

“Republicans are using their massive structural media and social media advantage to try to destroy Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, and the California Democratic Party.

It follows an old script, that’s recently been played out in Russia and Hungary, among other nations: Want to seize control of a nation and turn it into a neofascist state with the consent of the people? Just take control of the channels of public information and news, and then turn lies about your opponents and their supporters into a perceived reality. ”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/right-wing-control-of-media

When You Pubish Articles “Against the State…”

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Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Staff, 1/15/25

Hedaline:  “Yemeni journalist appears in Houthi court after 3-month disappearance”

“Yemen’s Houthi forces must release journalist Mohamed Al-Miyahi and the group’s non-state judicial system must drop its case against him, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday.

“After more than three months of arbitrary detention, including one month of enforced disappearance, Al-Miyahi appeared before the Houthi’s Specialized Criminal Prosecution in Sana’a on January 13, where he was accused of “publishing articles against the state and its political regime.’ ”

https://cpj.org/2025/01/yemeni-journalist-appears-in-houthi-court-after-3-month-disappearance/

Don’t Like Reporting? Call it Terrorism

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Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Staff. 1/14/25

Headline:  “Russia labels news outlets ‘terrorist organizations’ for the first time”

“The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Russian authorities to stop persecuting the regional news site Komi Daily and the independent media outlet Asians of Russia, which the Federal Security Service (FSB) added to its list of “terrorist organizations.” This marks the first time media publications have been labeled as such in Russia, according to news reports.

“Labeling Komi Daily and Asians of Russia terrorist organizations is a serious attack on press freedom and the public’s right to information about the culture and current affairs of Russia’s Komi Republic and Asian peoples of Russia. . .”

https://cpj.org/2025/01/russia-labels-news-outlets-terrorist-organizations-for-the-first-time/

 

Grieving for the Media

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Article in Common Dreams by David Helvarg, 1/13/25

Headline:  “Dying in Broad Daylight: Media Outlets That Self-Censor for Trump”

Subhead: “What we are witnessing is not simply right-wing ascendency in national politics but a long-term decline and corporate consolidation of American journalism.”

“Two billionaire publishers, the Washington Post’s Jeff Bezos and the LA Times Patrick Soon-Shiong, blocked their editorial page editors from endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election (a Washington Post editorial cartoonist than quit when her cartoon depicting Jeff Bezos, Son-Shiong and other billionaires abasing themselves in front of Trump was killed). If you believe the Washington Post’s slogan that ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness,’ their owner was the first to switch off the light.”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/media-outlets-pandering-trump

Another Jailed Journalist

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Article in Committee to Project Journalists by Staff, 1/13/25

Headline:  “Tajik journalist Ahmad Ibrohim sentenced to 10 years in prison”

A court in Tajikistan’s southern city of Kulob on January 10 sentenced Ahmad Ibrohim, chief editor of the independent weekly newspaper Payk, to 10 years in prison on charges of bribery, extortion, and extremism.

The closed-door trial was held in the city’s pretrial detention center, with authorities reportedly classifying the case as secret.

“With Tajik authorities having all but obliterated the independent press over the past decade, the hefty sentence meted out to Ahmad Ibrohim shows the lengths they will go to stamp out critical reporting,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator…”

https://cpj.org/2025/01/tajik-journalist-ahmad-ibrohim-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison/

Lies Win Over Actual Facts

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Article in the Washington Post by Dan Diamond, 1/13/25

Headline:  ” ‘I can’t go toe to toe with social media.’ Top U.S. health official reflects, regrets.”

Subhead:  “Xavier Becerra, who has led the Department of Health and Human Services, says federal agencies are outmatched in a world of “instantaneous information and disinformation.”

“. . .Sitting in his office at HHS headquarters, America’s top health official identified a culprit: a media climate that he says drowns out reliable information. False claims about vaccines run rampant online; government health experts at news conferences barely make a dent compared with influencers who have huge followings.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/01/12/xavier-becerra-hhs-secretary/

 

Get the Paddles!

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Article in NPR On the Media by Staff, 10/10/25

Headline:   “Public Broadcasting Is In Danger (Again)”

“NPR and PBS stations are bracing for war with the incoming Trump administration. On this week’s On the Media, the long history of efforts to save—and snuff out—public broadcasting. Plus, the role of public radio across the country, from keeping local governments in check to providing life-saving information during times of crisis. [01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and break down the funding with Karen Everhart, managing editor of Current. [06:59] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, which oversees the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, on his decades-long fight with Republican lawmakers to keep NPR and PBS alive.”

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538775/on-the-media

Cartoon Kowtowing

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 10/10/25

Headline:  “Moderating Content”

Subhead:  “What the genuflection of billionaires means for the press.”

“Before Christmas, Ann Telnaes, an editorial cartoonist at the Washington Post, submitted a drawing that depicted four billionaire media and tech executives and one mouse genuflecting before Donald Trump, shown standing on a garlanded dais. The cartoon, Telnaes wrote last weekend, was inspired by recent reports of “men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-Lago” to visit Trump in the wake of his election win in November.

“. . .Meta is not the news media, but its latest policy change will clearly have ramifications for our industry. (For starters, many newsroom fact-checking initiatives have received financial support from Meta, the withdrawal of which is unlikely to be good for their free speech. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/bezos_zuckerberg_altman_soon-shiong_billionaires_media_telnaes.php

World Press Freedom Decreasing

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Singapore Law and Home Minister

Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Staff, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Singapore ministers threaten legal action against media outlets, government demands ‘corrections’ “

“Singapore Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng and Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam should withdraw threats of legal action against media outlets over their public interest reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.”

” ‘The threats of legal action by Singapore ministers against media outlets, as well as the government’s recent order to “correct” reporting, severely undermine press freedom in the country,’ said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. ”

https://cpj.org/2025/01/singapore-ministers-threaten-legal-action-against-media-outlets-government-demands-corrections/