Article in the Daily Beast by Emell Dera Adolphus, 1/15/25

Headline:  “Jay Leno Schools Fox News About ‘Blame Game’”

Subhead:  “Leno ironically hit back against the politicizing of the L.A. fires following the network’s attempts to stoke blame.”

“Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno ironically hit back against the politicizing of the ongoing L.A. fires in a Wednesday Fox News interview following the network’s repeated attempts to fan the flames of blame.

“Leno told host Sandra Smith that he volunteered to serve meals to the firefighters responding to the emergency affecting the greater Los Angeles area because he didn’t want to be a part of the ‘blame game.’

“ ‘The great thing is I haven’t heard a political discussion for the last four days. Nobody’s blaming this, that,’ said Leno. ‘They’re fighting a fire. These guys have no opinion. I’m sure they have opinions, but it’s not a blame game at this point at play, but it’s just a matter of what we’ve got to do to fix this.’ ”

“. . . Last week on Fox News, host Laura Ingraham pointed fingers at “California liberals” for “their environmental fanaticism,” claiming it has affected the emergency response to the fires and ‘shoved common sense thinking out the door.’ ”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-tonight-show-host-jay-leno-schools-fox-news-about-blame-game/

Article in The Guardian by Marina Dunnbar, 1/15/25

Headline:  ” ‘Deeply alarmed’: Washington Post staff request meeting with Jeff Bezos”

Subhead:  “Journalists say in letter ‘trust has been lost’ and seek in-person meeting with billionaire owner over paper’s future”

“‘Deeply alarmed’: Washington Post staff request meeting with Jeff Bezos

Journalists say in letter ‘trust has been lost’ and seek in-person meeting with billionaire owner over paper’s future

Over 400 staff members at the Washington Post have sent a letter to Jeff Bezos asking for a meeting with him during a time of widespread concern about the future of the newspaper.

The letter, signed by top journalists and correspondents and sent on Tuesday evening, pleads for Bezos, who is known to rarely visit the Post’s office in Washington, to meet in person with leaders at the office.

“We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent,” the letter reads. NPR first reported the letter.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/15/washington-post-jeff-bezos

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Article in the Daily Beast by Corbin Boles, 1/15/25

Headlline: “Washington Post Staffers Beg New Trump Bestie Jeff Bezos to Save Paper”

“Washington Post staffers delivered an impassioned missive to their paper’s owner Jeff Bezos on Wednesday, urging the billionaire to “stand with us” and articulate “a clear vision” for the Post’s future.

The letter, signed by more than 400 reporters and editors, urged Bezos to come to the Post‘s D.C. office and meet with newsroom leaders. The letter was first reported by NPR and The New York Times.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/washington-post-staffers-beg-new-trump-bestie-jeff-bezos-to-save-paper/

 

 

Article in Axios by Sara Flescher, 1/14/25

Headline: “Media’s billionaire backlash – Once seen as saviors to a dying industry, some billionaire media owners are now facing a backlash from their newsrooms.”

Subhead:  “Why it matters: President-elect Trump’s victory has prompted wealthy executives to reconsider their resistance to the MAGA movement. Journalists say they’re pandering to power by meddling with important work.”

“Driving the news: Longtime Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin said she is leaving the paper to launch a new publication called The Contrarian with former Obama White House ethics czar Norm Eisen.”

” ‘Jeff Bezos and his cronies accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy —Donald Trump—at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive,’ Rubin wrote in a resignation memo, calling out the Post’s owner. ”

https://www.axios.com/2025/01/14/media-owners-bezos-trump

Article in the Raw Story by Jennifer Bowers Bahney, 1/14/25

Headline:  “Pete Hegseth gripes that he’s victim of ‘smear campaign’ from ‘liberal media’ “

“Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth slammed the “liberal media” during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, blaming it for a ‘coordinated smear campaign’ against him.

” ‘What became very evident to us from the beginning, there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us that was clear from moment one,’ Hegseth said.

“He continued, ‘What we knew is that it wasn’t about me. Most of it was about President Donald Trump, who’s had to endure the very same thing for much longer amounts of time and he endured it in incredibly strong ways. So we, in some ways, knew it was coming.’ ”

https://www.rawstory.com/pete-hegseth-blames-liberal-media/

Article in The Intercept by Shawn Musgrave, 1/12/25

Headline:  “The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers”

Subhead:  “The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.”

“The first Trump administration launched a sprawling campaign to ferret out leakers, which targeted reporters at CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, plus members of Congress and their staff. But a watchdog report released to The Intercept shows that just days before the 2020 presidential election, senior Justice Department officials signed off on leaks to two favored newspapers with conservative reputations, both owned by the biggest name in right-wing media.”

https://theintercept.com/2025/01/12/trump-justice-department-new-york-post-wsj-leak/