Selective Coverage

Media – Gaza Short Attention Span?

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Chart from FAIR

Article in FAIR by Julie Hollar, 1/28/28

Headline:  “After Trump Declared Gaza War ‘Over,’ Media Lost Interest”

“Since President Donald Trump declared that ‘the war in Gaza is over’ on October 3, 2025, US news outlets’ interest in the occupied territory has plummeted. In a FAIR search of US-related news sites using Media Cloud, a news media database, coverage of Gaza post-ceasefire agreement averaged just 1.5% of the news hole—significantly less than the level of coverage before the agreement. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/after-trump-declared-gaza-war-over-media-lost-interest/

Re. Wing Media & ICE

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Article in Media Matters by Staff, 1/26/26

Headline:  “On The Weeknight, Angelo Carusone discusses conservative media reaction to ICE and how it drives Trump’s decision making”

“…It’s Trump and other decision makers that actually have the ability to control the levers of what ICE is doing here. And a big thing that they’re reacting to is how the media, the part that the media that they care about, the right-wing media is reacting to it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/ms-now-msnbc/weeknight-angelo-carusone-discusses-conservative-media-reaction-ice-and-how-it-drives

Media Tiptoeing Around Murder?

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Article in Common Dreams by Brad Reed, 1/26/26

Headline: “Critics Warn Corporate Media Is Failing in Face of White House Lies About Alex Pretti”

Subhead:  “ ‘There were lies,’ former CNN anchor Jim Acosta said of the Trump administration’s response to Pretti’s death. ‘Lie after lie after lie.’ “

“Two prominent critics warned on Monday that the US corporate media is not being aggressive enough in calling out the Trump administration’s lies about Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis resident who was slain by federal immigration agents over the weekend.

“Writing on her Substack page, former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan expressed concern that many mainstream media publications were taking a wait-and-see approach in the wake of Pretti’s shooting, even as the Trump administration, Fox News, and other right-wing media websites were pumping out false claims about Pretti brandishing a weapon at federal officials and being a “domestic terrorist.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/alex-pretti-corporate-media

Do the Media Need Therapy?

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Article in AlterNet by Adam Lynch, 1/23/26

Headline:  “The media has a ‘coping mechanism’ for Trump — and it’s ‘dangerous’: analysis”

Subhead:  “Bulwark Editor Jonathan Last believes he’s uncovered the media’s ‘coping mechanism’ for dealing with a madman, and is warning that it’s deadly and dangerous.”

“ ‘The media tends to treat [President Donald] Trump’s more insane statements as ephemeral, but then turns around and treats his climb-downs as binding,’ said Last. ‘For instance: Trump can say a dozen times that he might run for a third term and the media reports it as ‘Trump said this crazy thing about running again.’ But then Trump gives one interview where he says he won’t run again and the coverage is: ‘Trump rules out third term.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/trump-media-coping-mechanism/

 

Greeniceland, No Problem

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 1/22/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Trump misspoke at Davos. Karoline Leavitt told reporters not to believe their ears.”

Subhead:  “During a speech, Trump repeatedly referred to Iceland while talking about Greenland. Then the press secretary denied what the video plainly shows.”

“Greenland? Iceland? What is President Donald Trump talking about? . . .”

“Meanwhile — and this is the larger concern — Leavitt losing her cool and trying to gaslight a reporter by saying the reporter didn’t hear what the world clearly heard only makes Leavitt and the administration look more deceitful and, quite frankly, shady. Somehow, Leavitt’s remarks made the matter even worse. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/did-trump-call-greenland-iceland-davos-speech/

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Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent, 1/22/26

Headline:  “Trump Press Sec. Goes Full Cult as Reviews of Davos Fiasco Turn Brutal”

Subhead:  “As Karoline Leavitt and others struggle to spin Trump’s speech as a world-historical triumph, a critic of Trump’s unfitness explains why it was a disaster for our whole country and its future.”

“. . .White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed an extraordinary stream of obsequious praise, absurdly declaring that “America is back” and that Trump played “leader of the free world.” When reporters savagely noted the Greenland-Iceland confusion, she offered a true knee-slapper of buffoonish damage control. We think it all exposed the scam at the core of MAGA in a fresh way. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/205528/trump-press-sec-goes-full-cult-reviews-davos-fiasco-turn-brutal

Media Kidnapped or Captured?

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Article in FAIR by Gregory Shupak, 1/20/26

Headline: “Labeling Kidnapping a ‘Capture,’ Media Legitimate Violation of International Law”

“Corporate media have deployed a lexicon of legitimation in their coverage of the deadly US invasion of Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife and fellow politician Cilia Flores. Major news outlets have routinely described these events using words like ‘capture’ (New York Times, 1/3/26) or ‘arrest’ (BBC, 1/3/26), which presents them as a matter of enforcing the law against fugitives or criminals, and carries the built-in but false assumption that the US had the right or even duty to conduct its operation in the first place.

“The ludicrous premise is that any time an arrest warrant is issued somewhere in the United States, the US has the right to do anything, anywhere in the world, in pursuit of the subject—including bombing another country, invading it, killing its citizens, and spiriting away its president and first lady. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/labeling-kidnapping-a-capture-media-legitimate-violation-of-international-law/

Better Late Than. . . With Edits

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 1/20/26

Headline:  “Opinion- ‘60 Minutes’ finally aired the story that stirred up a storm inside CBS News”

Subhead: “The delayed report aired after weeks of internal conflict over editorial independence between veteran journalists and new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss”

“Nearly a month ago, new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss tried her best to break her new toy by making the extraordinary decision to yank a ‘60 Minutes’ story right before it was set to air. Even though the story — about Venezuelan men deported by the U.S. to a notorious prison in El Salvador — went through five internal screenings, Weiss held the story by claiming it wasn’t ready for air.

Those inside CBS News were furious that Weiss, who has no TV news experience, was telling ‘60 Minutes,’ the gold standard of TV news, what’s appropriate to air.  . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/60-minutes-cecot-story-aired/

What Legacy Media Fear?

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Article in FAIR by Raina Lipsitz, 1/14/26

Headline:  “What Scares Establishment Media Most Is Not Socialism But Democracy”

“. . .Establishment media’s obsession with portraying democratic socialism as divisive and/or fatally alienating to voters blinded it to what was truly radical about Mamdani’s campaign: It empowered ordinary people to lead, changing individual lives and history. What most scares the establishment isn’t socialism; it’s people-powered democracy. . .”

“To pundits and corporate media outlets, this is a dangerous lesson: If everyday people realize they don’t need overpaid consultants or self-declared experts to win real change, how long can the status quo be maintained by its beneficiaries?”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/what-scares-establishment-media-most-is-not-socialism-but-democracy/

Cloud Over New York Media Strategy?

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Article in Poynter by Taylor Jung, 1/13/26

Headline:  ‘I’m a community journalist in New York City. Here’s why Mamdani’s “influencer presser” stung.’

Subhead:  “Mayor Mamdani’s ‘new media’ strategy prioritizes content creators while locking out the community outlets that serve New York’s neighborhoods”

“On the evening of Jan. 6, members of the press received Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s public schedule for the following day. Mamdani was slated to host his first ‘new media press conference.’ It stated that the event would be ‘invited press only.’

We journalists who work for community news outlets weren’t part of that list. We’ve had difficulty getting in touch with Mamdani’s team since before he took office.”

read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/zohran-mamdani-influencers-journalists/

See No Evil?

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Article in FAIR by Drew Favakeh, 1/13/26

Headline:  “ACTION ALERT: Why Didn’t NYT, WaPo Report What They Knew About Venezuelan Invasion?”

“When the Trump administration invaded Venezuela and kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, the New York Times and Washington Post framed it as a surprise. . .”

“But word quickly got out that it was not a surprise to either paper. Semafor (1/3/26), an outlet co-founded by former Times media columnist Ben Smith, reported that both the Times and Post ‘learned of a secret US raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin,’ but chose not to report on it, to ‘avoid endangering US troops.’ . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/action-alert-why-didnt-nyt-wapo-report-what-they-knew-about-venezuelan-invasion/