Riding the Press?

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Article in The Hill by Max REgo, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Hegseth defends media restrictions: ‘The Pentagon press corps can squeal all they want’ “

“Pete Hegseth is doubling down on the Pentagon’s new restrictions for the press corps, arguing it will not change despite complaints from the press.

“ ‘I think the American people see things like that as absolute common sense,’ the Defense secretary told Fox News on Sunday. ‘The Pentagon press corps can squeal all they want, we’re taking these things seriously. They can report, they just need to make sure they’re following rules.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5540286-hegseth-defends-pentagon-rules/

 

Shape of Things to Come?

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(Penguin Books)

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Unbelievable Stupidities”

Subhead:  “How the press can rise to the moment.”

“In April 1944, in one of his early Tribune columns, George Orwell described the feeling of coming across a newspaper from before the outbreak of World War II, which at the time had been raging for almost five years, and ‘marvelling at its almost unbelievable stupidity.’

“The stupidity that Orwell saw was a naive disregard—or in some cases a willful downplaying—of the danger signs of the coming global war. . .”

“. . .Ten years from now, or eighty years from now, what might future observers look back on as the media’s ‘unbelievable stupidities’? Will they think the press of today rose to the moment? . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/unbelievable-stupidities.php

New CBS News Head Faces Right

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Article in The Guardian by J. Oliver Conroy, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Bari Weiss’s ascension to top of CBS News highlights the political winds”

Subhead:  “US media giants have bowed before Maga after Trump’s many lawsuits and the Jimmy Kimmel firestorm”

“Paramount Skydance, the newly merged conglomerate which owns CBS News, has hired the journalist Bari Weiss as the network’s editor-in-chief – and acquired the Free Press, the publication Weiss co-founded in 2021 as a challenger to the establishment media, for a reported $150m.

“Weiss has made her career as a center-right critic of progressivism, and the Free Press is a contrarian, loosely conservative and ardently Zionist publication that views itself as a speaker of hard truths and protector of free discourse. . .”

(More articles below) – Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/06/bari-weisss-cbs-news-analysis

Fake Media Experts?

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Article in Mediaite by Alex Griffing, 110’3’25

Headline:  “Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson’s Conspiracy Theories Totally Wreck the Credibility That Alternative Media is Trying to Gain”

“. . .As traditional media continues to shed viewers and more and more Americans, especially young people, tune into podcasts and scroll social media for their news, the likes of Owens and Carlson are shaping the discourse more than ever. Unfortunately, much of their content is utter and total nonsense, and leans into age-old stereotypes and bigotry to grab headlines and remain provocative. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/candace-owens-and-tucker-carlsons-loony-conspiracy-theories-totally-wreck-the-credibility-that-alternative-media-is-trying-to-gain/

 

Hiding From Cameras?

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Article in Huff Post by Corey Townsend, 10/3/25

Headline:  “Maggie Haberman Says Why She Thinks Trump Has Avoided Cameras During The Shutdown”

“On Wednesday, the federal government shut down after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a consensus on health care.line ”

“Maggie Haberman offered a theory on CNN Thursday as to why President Donald Trump has been relatively elusive during the government shutdown.

“During the segment, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the New York Times journalist why she believed Trump “has not been in front of the cameras. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-avoid-cameras-why-haberman_n_68dff2e0e4b0dbcd325f3c16?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Media Resistance?

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Article in The Guardian by Rachel Leingang, 10/5/25

Headline:   “How two blond suburban moms gave Democrats an answer to the rightwing media ecosystem”

“. . .Jennifer Welch and Angie ‘Pumps’ Sullivan have risen up the podcast charts, buoyed by Democrats looking to commiserate and find their party’s answer to the bro-filled atmosphere that helped propel Trump’s victory in 2024. . .”

“In early episodes, listeners wrote in to tell them to stay out of politics and use fewer swear words .  . .In turn, they started talking about politics more and more. They dropped the ‘dead weight’ of people who only came for entertainment, Welch said.

“ ‘And it turns out, when you believe in something and you defend it vigorously, some people are going to dislike you for your beliefs, and that’s fine, but the people who like you, that turns into love, and you create a community,’ she said.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/oct/05/ive-had-it-podcast-democrats-liberals

Media Hide Project 2025?

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Article in Common Dreams by Stephen Prager, 10/3/25

Headline: “Media Faces Reckoning After Helping Trump Downplay Project 2025 on Campaign Trail”

Subhead:  ” ‘A Trump denial is not a fact,’ said one media critic.”

“As President Donald Trump openly embraces Project 2025, mainstream media outlets are facing criticism for their role in helping him downplay his ties to the wildly unpopular far-right governing playbook in the lead-up to his reelection last year. . .”

“She [Kamala Harris] and other Democrats warned that if he retook power, he would swiftly enact many of its most extreme and unpopular proposals and dramatically expand executive power while doing it. . .”

“After nine months back in power, the website Project 2025 Tracker estimates that Trump has already implemented approximately 48% . . .”

“ ‘Nothing showed the difference between mainstream and independent media better than the response to Trump’s obvious lie about not knowing anything about Project 2025,’ said David Pepper, author of the book Saving Democracy: A User’s Manual.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/project-2025-media-backlash

Imperial Media

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Article in The Washington Post by Caroline O’Donovan and Will Oremus, 10/4/25

Headline:  “This billionaire Trump ally and his son are building an unprecedented media empire”

Subhead:  “Larry and David Ellison’s holdings span movies, TV networks, CBS and soon a stake in TikTok, in a paradigm-shifting portfolio with huge influence.”

“Journalists at CBS News reeled on Friday as they digested news reports that opinion journalist Bari Weiss, a fierce critic of the mainstream media, would become the editor in chief of the straitlaced legacy brand. . .”

Two months earlier, there had been cautious optimism in the Midtown Manhattan newsroom, according to two CBS News staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private information. . .”

“But the newsroom hasn’t heard directly from Ellison since that day, leaving many apprehensive about plans for the network, the two staffers said. The anxiety has been reinforced in recent weeks . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/04/larry-david-ellison-media-trump/

 

 

Foxy Healthcare

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 10/3/25

Headline:  “The masks slip as Fox propagandists reveal they want health care premiums to skyrocket”

“Fox News propagandists are overwhelmingly backing the GOP’s bogus shutdown message that congressional Democrats are refusing to fund the government because they want to give health care to illegal immigrants. But every once in a while their masks slip, and they reveal that they oppose extending the crucial Obamacare subsidies at the heart of Democrats’ actual position, which would trigger drastic premium price hikes for millions of Americans”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/masks-slip-fox-propagandists-reveal-they-want-health-care-premiums-skyrocket