Without Local News . . .?

by

Article in Poynter, by Kim Kleman, 8/15/25

Headline:  “Opinion | After 100,000 stories, the lesson is clear: America needs more local news”

Subhead:  “From exposing corruption to filling food pantries, local reporting via Report for America is driving change in communities nationwide”

“. . .sheer quantity of local news is important to bolster newsrooms across America. No, with every one of these stories, we’re reminded of what good local coverage does: introduces neighbor to neighbor, holds city hall and the school board accountable, distills how federal actions affect local businesses, and informs folks that the food pantry’s shelves are bare, so residents know to help fill them. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/report-for-america-local-news-stories/

Cuts Hurt Public Media

by

Article in The Verge by Charles Pulliam-Moore, 8/15/25

Headline:  “PBS is slashing its budget in response to Trump’s attack on public media”

Subhead:  “The broadcaster also plans to reduce its member station dues by $35 million.”

“Now that Congress has passed a bill that will defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS is taking drastic measures to stay alive. . .”

“The Trump administration has made clear that it sees public media outfits like the CPB, NPR, and PBS as bastions for an liberal bias. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theverge.com/news/760026/pbs-is-slashing-its-budget-in-response-to-trumps-attack-on-public-media

Targeting Journalists?

by

Update

Article in The Guardian by Lorenzo Tondo, 8/17/25

Headline:  “Israeli media ‘completely ignored’ Gaza starvation – is that finally changing?”

Subhead:  “A growing focus on hunger in Gaza in the global media has led some Israeli outlets to report on it for the first time”

“. . .more than three-quarters of Jewish Israelis – 79% – said they were either ‘not very troubled’ or ‘not troubled at all’ by reports of famine and suffering among Gaza’s Palestinian population.

“According to Anat Saragusti, an expert on the media, the reason is simple: most people in Israel are unaware of those reports because for months they have never seen them.

“ ‘Until a couple of weeks ago, you could count only a handful of reports from Gaza not filtered by the IDF,’ said Saragusti, the head of freedom of the press at the Union of Journalists in Israel. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/17/israeli-media-completely-ignored-gaza-starvation-is-that-finally-changing

– – – – –

Article in The Guardian by Mohamad Bazzi, 8/16/25

Headline:  “Western journalists are failing to stand up for their colleagues in Gaza”

Subhead:  “This hypocrisy of western media has been laid bare by Israel’s targeting of journalists since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack”

“For nearly two years, Israel has been systemically targeting and killing Palestinian journalists in Gaza. On Sunday night, the Israeli military brazenly killed another six journalists, who had been sheltering in a tent housing media workers in Gaza City. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/16/israel-gaza-war-journalists

Kill the Media, Hide the News

by


Article in Daily Kos by Thom Hartmann

Headline:  “Are Americans Being Conditioned by Our Media to Become ‘Good Germans’?”

“. . .Nazi loyalists and party-friendly oligarchs took over the press outlets that remained in a massive media consolidation project, ensuring that every headline and every radio news report served the regime much like Fox ‘News’ and rightwing hate-radio/podcasts do today for Trump. . .”

“In both 1940s Germany and today’s America, the effect is similar: the public is shielded from the human scale of state-led actions against targeted groups, making it easier for those policies to continue without mass pushback. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/8/15/2338560/-Are-Americans-Being-Conditioned-by-Our-Media-to-Become-Good-Germans?

Media Retaliation – Not Allowed

by


Article in The New York Times by Kate Conger, 8/15/25

Headline:  “Judge Blocks F.T.C. Investigation of Media Matters“

Subhead:  “The agency began looking into the liberal watchdog group’s research critical of Elon Musk and his social media platform, X, in May.”

“A federal judge granted an injunction on Friday blocking the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Media Matters, saying the inquiry violated the free speech rights of the liberal watchdog group, which had published research critical of Elon Musk and his social media platform, X. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/technology/media-matters-ftc-musk-injunction.html

– – – – –

Article in Washington Post by Scott Nover, 8/15/25

Headline: “Judge blocks FTC probe into liberal media watchdog:

Media Matters won a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds after a judge found the agency was retaliating against its reporting on Elon Musk’s X.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/15/media-matters-ftc-injunction/

D.C. & Media

by


Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 8/14/25

Headline:  “Trump Occupying DC: WaPo Used to Be Disgusted”

“. . .With DC’s self-governance under threat, the city’s paper of record is positioned to play a critical role. Right off the bat, Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher sounded the alarm about Trump’s actions, telling the New Yorker (8/11/25), ‘This is troops-in-the-streets, shades-of-authoritarian-rule bad.’

“The next day, however, Fisher sounded like a different person in Post column (8/12/25). Trump was transformed from authoritarian to ‘astute-but-flawed leader’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/trump-occupying-dc-wapo-used-to-be-disgusted/

– – – – –

Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffee & Chloe Simon, 8/14/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media cheer for Trump to deploy National Guard to other American cities after DC”

Subhead:  “TPUSA’s Charlie Kirk: ‘We got a big military. We should be willing to use it.’ “

“After President Donald Trump announced on August 11 that he is deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and suggested he would do it in other major U.S. cities too, many in right-wing media celebrated the announcement, claiming D.C. should be a ‘test case’ and arguing that ‘we need full military occupation’ of other ‘problematic cities’ like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. . .”

Red the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-cheer-trump-deploy-national-guard-other-american-cities-after-dc

Journalist Jailed by ICE

by

Mario Guevara Facebook page

Article in Free Press by Staff, 8/14/25

Headline:  “Press-Freedom Groups Call on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Immediately Release Journalist Mario Guevara from Prolonged ICE Detention”

Subhead:  “In a powerful letter to Noem, groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Free Press, PEN America and Reporters Without Borders mark two months since Guevara’s unjust arrest. ”

“. . .The letter — signed by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press, the Atlanta Press Club, Common Cause Georgia, First Amendment Coalition, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Georgia First Amendment Foundation, Georgia Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Society of Professional Journalists — expresses the groups’ alarm that Guevara has remained in detention for two months despite the fact that he is not facing any charges and was legally in the United States at the time of his arrest. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-freedom-groups-call-kristi-noem-immediately-release-mario-guevara

Media Evolution or Revolution?

by


Article in The Atlantic by Jessica Yellin, 8/13/25

Headline:  “The Awkward Adolescence of a Media Revolution”

Subhead:  “Truth is still alive on social media—but it’s not easy enough to find”

“There’s a quiet revolution in how millions of Americans decide what’s real. . .The Reuters Institute reports that this year, for the first time, more Americans will get their news from social and video platforms—including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and X—than from traditional outlets. . .”

“For anyone who cares about credible information, this is a potentially terrifying prospect. Social media rewards virality, not veracity. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/awkward-adolescence-media-revolution/683863/

Colbert and Liberty

by


Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs. 8/12/25

Headline:  “Two big things the legacy media missed about Colbert”

Subhead:  “In the fight for democracy, there’s something we must dismantle.”

“Among the many problems with the legacy media is the so-called ‘news cycle.’ These days, it often seems that we’re supposed to talk about an issue for only half a day before moving on to the next disaster. As a result, we can easily stay distracted and fail to learn important lessons from the latest developments.”

“. . .I stopped to look at two big things the media missed about CBS’ decision to cancel ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.’ . . .”

“He’ll very likely be better off, and even freer to say whatever he wants. That’s what happens when you get out from under a huge corporation. It’s also why some journalists have left newspapers that are now run by billionaires. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/two-big-things-the-legacy-media-missed

Disappear Reporters – No News

by


Article in Common Dreams by John Marks, 8/12/25

Headline:  “Killing the Witness: Gaza’s Journalists and the Global Blueprint of Disappearance”

Subhead:  “The Israeli missile that hit Al Jazeera’s tent targeted more than five people; it struck at the principle that the public has a right to know and at the belief that truth should outlive the men and women who report it.”

“On the night of August 10, 2025, the air over Gaza City hung heavy with dust and the steady thrum of generators. In a modest press tent pitched outside the bomb-scarred shell of al-Shifa Hospital, Al Jazeera’s last reporting team in the city worked with the quiet urgency of people who knew each second could be their last chance to bear witness. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/killing-witness-gaza