Here Comes the Judge

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Article in The Guardian by Jer3emy Barr, 3/24/26

Headline:  “New York Times accuses Pentagon of defying judge’s press access order”

Subhead:  “DoD announces ‘interim’ policy for journalists decried by newspaper as ‘end-run around the court’s ruling’ “

“The New York Times on Tuesday accused the Pentagon of disobeying a judge’s ruling that undid much of the restrictive agreement journalists were forced to sign or lose access to the building.

The judge, Paul Friedman, granted an injunction on Friday that overturned much of the language in the ‘media in-brief’ document that had so concerned many news organizations that cover the Pentagon that almost all journalists chose instead to give back their press badges. He also ordered that seven journalists from the Times be returned their badges.

Instead of complying with the judge’s order, the Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell announced on Monday night that the department would permanently close a designated work space for journalists known as ‘correspondents’ corridor’ and create a ‘new and improved press workspace’ in an annexed facility outside the building. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/24/pentagon-correspondents-press-restrictions

Whirlwind for TV News

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Kyle Paoletta, 3/20/26

Headline: :  “Brendan Carr’s Deregulation Blitz Is a Disaster for TV News”

Subhead:  “The FCC chairman is clearing the way for Trump and corporate broadcasters to control the airwaves.”

“. . .Appearing on a conservative podcast, Carr had delivered an open warning to the television stations that aired Kimmel, saying, “These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

“Carr’s threat had teeth. Under his leadership, the FCC is in the midst of a historic deregulation spree he’s calling ‘Delete, Delete, Delete.’ The campaign is currently reviewing the agency’s ‘multiple ownership’ rules, which prohibit any one company from exerting outsize control over the local television market. A loosening of those rules could prove immensely profitable for the owners of local ABC affiliates, including Nexstar and Sinclair, so those companies seem to have viewed Carr’s desire to punish Kimmel as an opportunity to curry favor with the administration. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/brendan-carr-fcc-deregulation-blitz-is-a-disaster-for-tv-news.php

Stopping Media Merger?

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Free Press Press Release by Staff, 3/23/26

Headline:  “Unlawful Approval of Largest Broadcast Merger in History”

Subhead:  “Notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit comes as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr continues his campaign to censor and control a free and independent press in the United States”

“WASHINGTON – On Monday, Free Press, the Communications Workers of America, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Inc. and Public Knowledge filed an appeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s rushed approval of the largest broadcast television merger in U.S. history.

“The challenge, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asks the court to stop the merger of Nexstar and Tegna before it proceeds and the companies combine all operations, and asks the court to set aside the FCC’s approval of the deal. The groups assert that the merger is unlawful — in contradiction of laws established by Congress and of FCC procedures, too. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/public-interest-coalition-sues-fcc-unlawful-approval-largest-broadcast-merger-history

Legacy Media Straitjacketed?

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Article in AlterNet by Matthew Rozsa, 3/23/26

Headline:  “Mainstream media is playing a dangerous game: mental health experts”

“President Donald Trump is a habitual liar who may also suffer from serious mental illness, a seasoned journalist argued on Monday — but the mainstream media is too cowardly to call it out.

“ ‘For a while now, I’ve been imploring the leaders of our top news organizations to call out Donald Trump’s derangement,’ wrote Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch and former journalist at The Huffington Post and The Intercept. ‘My argument is simple: It is the central, underlying explanation for everything else they’re covering.’

“Yet, as Froomkin pointed out, ‘They won’t do it. Their arguments: It would appear partisan; We don’t want to take sides; And (more reasonably) we prohibit the use of language associated with mental illness unless a person has been diagnosed as mentally ill. (I wrestle with a variation of this last one myself: How do you call him insane without stigmatizing insane people?)’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/normalizing-trump/

RSF Saving Public Media

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Article in Reporters Without Frontiers by Staff, 3/23/26

Headline:  “USA: RSF and allies file second lawsuit to save public broadcaster VOA“

“Following courtroom victories in a first legal case to save Voice of America (VOA), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has joined a second lawsuit against the Trump administration to protect the international public broadcaster’s journalism. RSF’s first lawsuit established that the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle VOA and its parent organization, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), was illegal. This second case intends to protect VOA’s legally mandated editorial independence and prevent Trump from turning it into a propaganda outlet. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/usa-rsf-and-allies-file-second-lawsuit-save-public-broadcaster-voa

Media Uber Alles

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Article in The Nation by Steve Scherer, 3/20/26

Headline:  “Correspondent to Uber Driver”

Subhead:  “I once documented human displacement and desperation. Now, due to a crumbling media ecosystem, I am living it.”

“. . .After serving as Reuters’s Ottawa bureau chief for five years, my job was eliminated in a cost-cutting drive. . .”

“As a correspondent who covered politics on two continents, I have seen politicians in other countries use immigrants as scapegoats. It’s always a deadly approach, especially for the immigrants. But Trump needs scapegoats to distract from the gaping wound that is the relentless shrinking of America’s once-great middle class. That social grouping once included me. But not anymore. . . .”

“South of the border, in the United States, more than 10,000 journalists lost their jobs between 2022 and 2024, according to Nieman Reports. . .”

“When I lost my job, I told myself, ‘If all else fails, I’ll drive for Uber.’ Well, here I am, and it’s not as comforting as I thought it would be. I used to think I was different from the migrants I wrote about—protected by a passport, a salary, a press badge. But the past two years have stripped away that illusion. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/from-foreign-correspondent-to-uber-driver/

Journalists Cover Which War?

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Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 2/20/26

Headline:  “Pete Hegseth’s War on Journalists (and Iran Too)”

Subhead:  ” ‘Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appears to be in the midst of two conflicts, one…in Iran, and the other with the American free press over its coverage of the widening Middle East war.’ – MS NOW‘s Sydney Carruth (3/13/26)”

“Last fall, nearly the entire Pentagon press corps was banned from the Pentagon after refusing to sign Pete Hegseth’s loyalty oath, which would have bound them to only report information “authorized” by the government (FAIR.org, 9/23/25). They were quickly replaced by pundits from Hegseth-approved outlets like One America News, Gateway Pundit and Lindell TV, which is ‘Pillow Guy’ Mike Lindell’s pet project.

“But once the Iran War got underway, it dawned on Hegseth that a Defense secretary needs to communicate with the whole country, not just the narrow slice of it reached by his favorite right-wing pundits. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://fair.org/home/pete-hegseths-war-on-journalists-and-iran-too/

Media Matters Says Right Wing Media Busy

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Article by Matt Gertz in Media Matters 3/20/26

Headline: “Prime-time Fox shows gave less than a minute of airtime to the Pentagon’s $200 billion Iran funding request”

“Fox News isn’t bothering to sell the staggering cost of the ill-conceived war President Donald Trump launched against Iran. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/prime-time-fox-shows-gave-less-minute-airtime-pentagons-200-billion-iran-funding

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel 3/20/26

Headline: “As Iran war drags on, right-wing media lash out at NATO and Iranians who haven’t overthrown their government”

Subhead: “When it comes to assigning blame for the Iran war spiraling out of control, MAGA media have found convenient scapegoats who aren’t named Trump”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/iran-war-drags-right-wing-media-lash-out-nato-and-iranians-who-havent-overthrown

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Article in Media Matters by Allison Fisher & Ilana Berger

Headline:  “As oil prices continue to rise, right-wing media urge Trump to seize Kharg Island

Subhead:  “Experts warn this type of escalation could further destabilize the global economy and put troops in harms way”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/oil-prices-continue-rise-right-wing-media-urge-trump-seize-kharg-island

News Restored in Pentagon

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Article in Reuters by Jack Queesn, 2/20/26

Headline:  “Pentagon’s limits on press access unconstitutional, US judge rules”

“. . .A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s restrictive Pentagon press access policy, which threatens journalists with being branded security risks ​if they seek information not authorized for public release.

“The lawsuit by the New York Times in Washington, D.C., federal court alleged that policy changes ‌by the Defense Department last year gave it free rein to freeze out reporters and news outlets over coverage the department did not like, in violation of the Constitution’s protections for free speech and due process. The government disputed that characterization and said the policy is reasonable and necessary for national security. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-blocks-restrictive-pentagon-press-access-policy-2026-03-20/

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Article in New York Times by Erik Wemple

Headline:  “Judge Rules Pentagon Restrictions on Press Are Unconstitutional”

“A federal judge tossed parts of the Pentagon’s restrictions on news outlets, saying they violated the First Amendment, in a lawsuit brought by The New York Times”

“A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Pentagon’s restrictions on news outlets violate the First Amendment and issued an order tossing parts of the department’s policy, handing a victory to The New York Times, which filed suit in December over the restrictions.

Judge Paul Friedman, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also ordered the Pentagon to restore the press passes of seven journalists for The Times. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/business/media/pentagon-press-restrictions-new-york-times.html

Icon of Radio – Gone.

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Article in AP by David Bauder, 3/20/26

Headline:  “CBS News shutters its storied radio news service after nearly a century, ending an era”

“NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News said Friday it will shut down its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation, ending an era and blaming challenging economic times as the world moves on to digital sources and podcasts. Said longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather: ‘It’s another piece of America that is gone.’. . .”

“Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said Friday. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/cbs-radio-news-bari-weiss-11372c28f9557d0b10e329e6c4be339f