Suing Broadcast Icon


Article in The Guardian by Robert Tate, 2/6/25

Headline:  “Trump calls for ‘termination’ of 60 Minutes in fresh attack on US media”

“President also makes baseless claim that USAid money has been illicitly funding news organisations”

“Donald Trump has called for the “termination” of 60 Minutes, a long-established fixture of US journalism, in a fresh onslaught against the media that also included baseless claims that money from the country’s beleaguered foreign aid body had been illicitly funding news organisations.

  • “The demand that 60 Minutes be taken off the air came in a post on Trump’s Truth Social platform. It was the latest salvo in his long-running dispute with the CBS program over its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris, last year’s defeated Democratic presidential candidate, over which Trump has lodged a $10m suit alleging ‘election interference’.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/trump-60-minutes-cbs

——

Headline: “Trump: ’60 Minutes’ should be ‘immediately terminated’ after Harris transcript release”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5130138-trump-60-minutes-off-air-cbs-news/

Covering Musk


Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 2/5/25

Headline:  “Opinion | The challenge of covering Elon Musk”

Subhead:  “Much of the media is still trying to get a handle on how to cover Musk and what he’s doing to the federal government”

“Here’s what you need to know about media coverage of Elon Musk.

“The New York Times published a big story on Musk on Monday with the headline: ‘Inside Musk’s Aggressive Incursion Into the Federal Government.’ ”

“As you surely know, Musk has had plenty of jobs on his way to becoming the richest person in the world. His main job these days, it would appear, is to be President Donald Trump’s right-hand man. So much so that there are whispers about who actually is running the country: Musk or Trump?”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/elon-musk-news-coverage/

A Step to State-Controlled Media?

Article in Mediaite by Colby Hall, 2/5/25

Headline:  “Fox News Adds Lara Trump as Host”

Subhead:  “Daughter-in-law to President Donald Trump and former RNC Chair, Lara Trump, is joining Fox News — where she will host a Saturday evening show.”

“The New York Times broke the news Wednesday afternoon, announcing the equal parts stunning and not-at-all surprising news that Trump would be joining the largely right-of-center cable news network that has long enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with all things Trump.”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/just-in-fox-news-adds-lara-trump-as-host/

 

Journalist Doing Her Job


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Sacha Biazzo, 2/5/25

Headline: “Q&A: Marisa Kabas on Scooping the World on the Federal Funding Freeze”

Subhead:  “If your job isn’t to inform people in a way that will help them, then I don’t really understand what your job is.”

“Marisa Kabas, an independent journalist based in New York, has recently emerged as a leading voice in holding power to account: since Trump took office, she has broken two major stories that sent ripples across the media landscape. Two days into the new administration, she exposed a directive from the Trump administration suspending all travel for staff at the National Institutes of Health. Then, last week, she was the first to report on the Office of Management and Budget memo freezing all government grants and loans.”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/qa_marisa_kabas_handbasket_omb_scoop.php

Reporting on Insanity?


Article in The New Republic by Alex Shephard, 2/5/25

Headline:  “This Is So Much Worse Than Last Time”

Subhead:  “Why Democrats and the media are struggling to capture the insanity—and danger—of the new Trump administration.”

“There is practically no way to describe what is currently happening in the United States without sounding hysterical, or like some sort of crank—or, maybe, insane. . .”

“Media coverage has somehow been even less inspiring than the Democratic response. During Trump’s first term, the press struggled to find a way to deal with Trump’s admittedly difficult to describe mix of extremism and incoherence. The speed of all of this and the enormity of it is, to be fair, difficult to capture. But there are bigger problems emerging in the ongoing coverage. One is simply that Trump and his cronies are taking direct action against the press, threatening to shut down via lawsuits (or, in the case of National Public Radio, defunding) any outlet that they deem as being critical, and appear to be serious about it. ABC has already settled one lawsuit, while CBS seems ready to settle another—settling both would essentially amount to paying Trump protection money.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/191153/trump-musk-treasure-government-breach

Media Pay-Off List?


Article in The Verge by Nilay Patel, 2/4/25

Headline: “Meta just wanted to pay off Mr. Trump.”

“Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute — and previous Decoder guest — runs down the list of major media companies capitulating to frivolous Trump lawsuits and investigations, with particular scorn for Meta, which agreed to donate $25m to Trump’s presidential library instead of fighting a case it would have won handily. . . ”

https://www.theverge.com/policy/606015/meta-just-wanted-to-pay-off-mr-trump

Report Good or Bad?

Article in Media Matters by Chloe Simon, 2/4/25

Headline: “Murdoch media are split in their coverage of Trump’s tariffs”

Subhead:  “While the Wall Street Journal calls his tariffs ‘the dumbest trade war,’ Fox News is celebrating Trump as a ‘master negotiator’ “

“Right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s U.S. outlets have been split in their coverage of President Donald Trump’s tariff wars with Mexico, Canada, and China, with The Wall Street Journal calling the tariffs Trump’s ‘dumbest trade war’ and Fox News praising Trump as a ‘master negotiator.’ The New York Post has fallen somewhere in between, with some news-side stories relaying the economic consequences of the tariffs while its editorial board is praising Trump’s “high risk” move.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/murdoch-media-are-split-their-coverage-trumps-tariffs

Monsters Against Media


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 2/4/25

Headline: “USAID and the Media in a ‘Time of Monsters’ ”

Sunhead: “What the aid funding freeze means for independent journalism around the world.”

“. . . In the recent past, USAID had boasted of supporting more than six thousand journalists, around seven hundred independent newsrooms, and nearly three hundred media-focused civil society groups in thirty or so countries—and yet, RSF notes, the full impact of the freeze is hard to measure, since many recipients are “hesitant to draw attention for fear of risking long-term funding or coming under political attacks.”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/usaid-and-the-media-in-a-time-of-monsters.php

World News Chaos!


Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff, 2/3/25

Headline: “USA: Trump’s foreign aid freeze throws journalism around the world into chaos”

“President Donald Trump has frozen billions of dollars around the world in aid projects, including over $268 million allocated by Congress to support independent media and the free flow of information. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounces this decision, which has plunged NGOs, media outlets, and journalists doing vital work into chaotic uncertainty. RSF calls on international public and private support to commit to the sustainability of independent media.

https://rsf.org/en/usa-trump-s-foreign-aid-freeze-throws-journalism-around-world-chaos

Media Life Support

Article in Mediaite by Kahryn Wilkens, 2/3/25

Headline: “The Media Industry Is in Crisis. Axios CEO Jim VandeHei Sees a Massive Opportunity”

“Jim VandeHei, co-founder of Politico and later Axios, has spent decades at the forefront of political journalism. In all that time, he’s witnessed seismic changes to the industry but no one, he says, has been a catalyst for disruption and change more than President Donald Trump.

“For the first time in our lifetimes, I would argue that the media ecosystem favors the right more than the left,” VandeHei told Mediaite editor in chief Aidan McLaughlin on this week’s episode of Press Club.”

https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/the-media-industry-is-in-crisis-axios-ceo-jim-vandehei-sees-a-massive-opportunity/