Article in Daiy Kos by Alex Samuels, 9/26/25
Headline: “Broadcasters throw in the towel on censoring Jimmy Kimmel”
“Well, well, well … looks like Sinclair and Nexstar are bringing back ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ beginning Friday. The broadcasters had yanked the late-night show last week over Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about the alleged murderer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the MAGA movement. . .”
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Article in Daily Dot by Lindsey Weedston, 9/25/25
Headline: “Who is Sinclair? Behind the TV conglomerate refusing to air Jimmy Kimmel”
Subhead: “They were caught scripting what local news anchors said in 2017. “
“Sinclair Broadcast Group catapulted back into the spotlight following the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel over his Charlie Kirk comments. The U.S. telecommunications conglomerate has steadily bought up a huge share of local news stations and is accused of forcing journalists to cite scripts that promote right-wing talking points.
“Along with Nexstar, Sinclair is now the focus of concerns around broadcast monopolies and the fate of free speech in America. . .”
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https://www.dailydot.com/news/who-is-sinclair-tv-conglomerate-jimmy-kimmel/
Article in Poynter by Tom Jones and Nicole Slaughter Graham, 9/26/25
headline: “Opinion | A TikTok deal ticks closer to done
Subhead: “The deal would keep TikTok alive in the U.S. — but raises questions about who will shape what millions of young users see.”
“After months of delays and extended deadlines, it appears a deal that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States on a permanent basis is in its final stages.
That’s good. And, well, maybe not so good. . .”
“Aside from being able to say he ‘saved’ TikTok, he has other reasons to see that this deal goes through. Among the potential investors are tech and media giants Larry Ellison, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, and Michael Dell. Ellison is founder of Oracle. . .”
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https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/tiktok-deal-trump-executive-order-china/
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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Tory Lysik, 9/25/25
Headline: “Where the White House Is Leading Us with TikTok“
Subhead: “The Trump administration is pioneering a new form of political communication. The imminent prospect of a deal to reshape TikTok’s future in the United States could give the White House even more power.”
Read the full article at:
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/tiktok-white-house-press-ellison-trump-yass-murdoch.php
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Article in The Guardian by Blake Montgomery, 9/24/25
Headline: “Murdoch’s TikTok? Trump offers allies another lever of media control”
Subhead: “Under the known terms of the deal with China, TikTok would get a new board, including Murdochs and Ellisons”
“Donald Trump revealed last week the US and China are close to inking a deal to let TikTok continue operating in the US. Details are not final, but should the agreement go through as has been reported, the owners of the US’s most powerful cable TV channels may soon also steer the nation’s most influential social network. The arrangement would gift Trump’s billionaire allies a degree of control over US media that would be vast and unprecedented. . .”
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/24/tiktok-trump-murdoch-ellison
Article in The Atlantic by David Karpf, 9/24/25
Headline: “The MAGA Media Takeover”
Subhead: “Trump and his powerful friends are creating a dangerous moment for free speech.”
“American mass media has been transformed in these early months of President Donald Trump’s second administration. We’re about 35 weeks into a term that will last for 173 more, and in that time, we have seen a tech titan gut a once-great newspaper in an apparent act of capitulation to the commander in chief, government accounts gleefully spreading hateful memes on X (the far-right platform owned by a billionaire tech oligarch), a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump against The New York Times (and quickly dismissed by the judge as ‘superfluous’), and, of course, the assault on free speech carried out by Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman. Big things can happen very quickly. . .”
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https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/09/maga-media-takeover-tiktok/684351/
Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 9/23/25
Headline: “How Fox covers for Trump administration malfeasance”
Subhead: “Monday night was a perfect case study”
“The job of a Fox News evening host isn’t to cover President Donald Trump and his administration, it’s to give them cover. The network’s stars are shameless propagandists who employ a variety of tactics to hide the president’s misdeeds from their viewers.
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https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/how-fox-covers-trump-administration-malfeasance-0
Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/23/25
Headline: “You Don’t Know Jack”
Subhead: “CNN’s interview with Jack Posobiec prompted internal backlash, while raising larger questions about how mainstream outlets cover far-right figures”
“Earlier this month, in the chaotic aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, CNN correspondent Meena Duerson sat down with far-right media personality Jack Posobiec to discuss his friend’s murder. Posobiec, of course, was no ordinary grieving ally—he has spent years spreading misinformation, promoting conspiracy theories, and inciting harassment against journalists.
“So it was jarring, to say the least, to see him appear on CNN’s air. What was more surprising was that the network, which gave the package prime placement on ‘Erin Burnett OutFront,’ didn’t note any of his long history of pumping toxic waste into the information ecosystem, nor did it confront him with tough questions about his well-documented behavior as an online MAGA troll. . .”
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https://www.status.news/p/cnn-jack-posobiec-interview-backlash
Article in Daily Kos by Olliver Willis, 9/22/25
Headline: “Trump gives his Fox News pals a new platform to push propaganda”
“President Donald Trump has reportedly chosen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, owners of Fox News, as part of a group that will have control over TikTok’s influential algorithm.
The move further consolidates right-wing media control while the Trump administration engages in a full-scale assault on the First Amendment. . .”
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Article in The New York Times by David Streitfeld and Theodore Schleifer, 9/23/25
Headline: “Larry Ellison, a Media Mogul Like No Other”
Subhead: “The database billionaire and his son, David, are Trump favorites. The family could soon control an empire that includes CBS, Paramount, Warner, CNN and a piece of TikTok.”
” . . . At any other time, the regulatory hurdles to owning TikTok, CBS and CNN along with a major swath of Hollywood would have been insurmountable. This is a decidedly different era, where being in the good graces of Mr. Trump counts for a great deal. . .”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/technology/larry-ellison-oracle-tiktok.html
Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 9/22/25
Headline: “Fox averts its eyes from former employee Homan reportedly receiving a bag of cash”
Subhead: “Fox News has yet to address on-air the recent reports that White House border czar Tom Homan, while working as a contributor for the network in September 2024, accepted a bag of cash from undercover FBI agents as part of a corruption investigation which was subsequently closed under the Trump administration.”
“In an undercover operation last year, the FBI recorded Tom Homan, now the White House border czar, accepting $50,000 in cash after indicating he could help the agents — who were posing as business executives — win government contracts in a second Trump administration, according to multiple people familiar with the probe and internal documents reviewed by MSNBC. . .”
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Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffe. et. al., 9/18/25
Headline: “How right-wing media sow distrust and confusion around vaccines and science”
Subhead: “As Florida ends school vaccine requirements and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership comes under fire, the right has repackaged anti-science talking points as well-meaning skepticism”
“Amid the rise of the so-called ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement, right-wing media figures have employed a variety of tactics that sow doubt and confusion around vaccine efficacy and science more broadly. These efforts to capitalize on existing distrust of public health institutions and pharmaceutical companies have gained renewed momentum following Florida’s elimination of vaccine requirements for schools . .”
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Article in FAIR by Ari Paul, 9/19/25
Headline: “As Ellison Buys Out TikTok, US Moves Toward One-Party Media”
Larry Ellison, founder of the software firm Oracle, is the second-richest billionaire in both the US and the world, and for a brief moment was No. 1 in the world (AP, 9/11/25). . .”
“Former CBS Evening News star Dan Rather (Hollywood Reporter, 9/15/25) said Americans “have to be concerned about the consolidation of huge billionaires getting control of nearly all of the major news outlets. . .”
“Rather and others are right that the Ellison duo taking over both CBS and CNN, as well as controlling a major social media network like TikTok, would be dangerous for democracy. And given their closeness to the Trump regime, that seems to be the point.”
Read the full article at:
https://fair.org/home/as-ellison-buys-out-tiktok-us-moves-toward-one-party-media/