Authoritarians Hate Free Speech

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Daniel Golden, 8/4/25

Headline:  “Joseph McCarthy’s War on Voice of America”

Subhead:  “A largely forgotten campaign of harassment and persecution from the 1950s that still echoes today.”

“In nationally televised hearings, Senate Republicans denounce Voice of America. They accuse the government’s international broadcasting arm of harboring saboteurs, misspending taxpayer funds, condoning anti-Semitism, compromising security by relying on foreign-born workers, and denigrating the country it is supposed to serve. . .”

“These hearings that gripped the country were not part of the Trump administration’s recent campaign against VOA. They took place in 1953, and the committee chair running them was none other than Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy, then at the peak of his power. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/joseph-mccarthy-voice-of-america.php

Journalists in Danger From AI?

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Article in Yahoo! News by Thomas Urbain, 8/3/25

Headline:  “AI search pushing an already weakened media ecosystem to the brink”

“Generative artificial intelligence assistants like ChatGPT are cutting into traditional online search traffic, depriving news sites of visitors and impacting the advertising revenue they desperately need, in a crushing blow to an industry already fighting for survival.

” ‘The next three or four years will be incredibly challenging for publishers everywhere. No one is immune from the AI summaries storm gathering on the horizon,’ warned Matt Karolian, vice president of research and development at Boston Globe Media.

” ‘Publishers need to build their own shelters or risk being swept away.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ai-search-pushing-already-weakened-013023862.html

MAGA Media Falling?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by John Hersh, 8/1/25

Headline: “Will the Jeffrey Epstein Scandal Break MAGA Media?” 

Subhead:  “Mother Jones’s Anna Merlan on how the Epstein files are tearing MAGA media apart.”

“For the past few weeks, MAGA media and conservative podcasters have been torn apart over President Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

“Anna Merlan, a senior editor at Mother Jones, joins The Kicker to talk about right-wing media’s efforts to change the subject—and whether their audiences will go along with it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/will-the-jeffrey-epstein-scandal-break-maga-media.php

Public Media – Gone Now

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Public Media are NOT state-controlled media

Article in The Guardian by Joseph Gedeon, 8/1/25

Headline: “Corporation for Public Broadcasting to close after US funding cut”

Subhead:  “Closure of public broadcasting group follows House Republicans’ decision to strip $1.1bn in funding over two years”

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Friday it will shut down operations after losing federal funding, delivering a blow to America’s public media system and the more than 1,500 local stations that have relied on its support for nearly six decades.

“The closure follows the Republican-controlled House’s decision last month to eliminate $1.1bn in CPB funding over two years, part of a $9bn reduction to public media and foreign aid programs.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said Patricia Harrison, corporation’s president and chief executive. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/01/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-closure

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Article in The Hill by Aris Folley, 8/1/25

Headline:   “Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it is beginning to shut down “

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) said Friday it will begin “an orderly wind-down of its operations” after seeing its budget cut through GOP-led legislation. . .”

“The CPB said most of its employees jobs would conclude at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, while a small transition team would work through January “to ensure a responsible and orderly closeout of operations. . .”

“Less than 5 percent of the nonprofit’s funding goes toward its operations, while more than 70 percent “goes directly to local public media stations,” the CPB states on its website. And almost half of its “total 544 radio and TV grantees are considered rural. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/media/5432389-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-shutting-down/

Where Legacy Media Dare Not Go

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Article in Comic Sands by Amelia MAvis Christnot, 7/28/25

Headline: ” ‘South Park’ Creators Reveal How They Got Uncensored NSFW Joke About Trump On Air”

“While speaking at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone revealed how they were able to expose MAGA Republican President Donald Trump’s alleged micropenis on the season 27 premiere of their Comedy Central cartoon.”

“The much-anticipated return of South Park—after a two-year hiatus—took on the show’s bosses at Paramount over the decision to settle a frivolous lawsuit with Trump over a CBS News 60 Minutes episode for $16 million. The move was criticized as both extortion by Trump and a bribe by Paramount to secure FCC approval for their deal with Skydance Media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.comicsands.com/stone-parker-uncensored-penis

No Reporting on Evil

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Article in Common Dreams by Tim Karr, 7/31/35

Headline: ​ “Why Is So Much of Corporate Media Caving to Trump?”

Subhead:  “A new ranking of the 35 largest media conglomerates finds a systemic failure to protect democracy against authoritarianism.”

“The rules of authoritarianism are pretty simple: Do as the leader says… or else.

This lopsided power equation runs counter to the checks and balances that are baked into the DNA of any healthy democracy. . .”

“Free Press this week released the inaugural Media Capitulation Index to examine how this information ecosystem is fairing nearly 250 years later. This sweeping investigation analyzes and rates the independence of America’s 35 largest media companies, including the many conglomerates that have recently caved to pressure from an authoritarian and corrupt Trump administration.

“The findings are sobering. After digging into the many failures of America’s hyper-commercialized media system, we present a series of recommendations to help dig the United States out of the authoritarian quicksand into which we’re sinking, and build toward a more independent, democratic, diverse, and free press. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corporate-media-caves-trump

Mapping the Media Bias

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs, 7/31/25

Headline:  “The media’s geographic bias strikes again”

Subhead:  “A lone shooter in New York leads to nonstop coverage, while other shootings are ignored.”

“The big news networks like to claim that they cover the entire country. That no matter where you live in the United States, they’re operating with you in mind. Sure, they might be broadcasting from New York City, but really they’re focused just as much on you as they are on their metropolis.

“Then comes a day like Monday.

“A horrible shooting in New York City did not just lead the big cable news networks in prime time; it overtook much or all of them. A lone gunman who killed four people and then himself was, to these networks, the country’s top story.

“The same cannot be said for Reno, Nevada, where a man killed three people outside the largest casino that same day. Nor the gas station in Detroit where two people were killed.

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-medias-geographic-bias-strikes

Economist Calls Out Media Lies

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Article in Raw Story by Daniel Hampton, 7/31/25

Headline: ” ‘Lies!’ Nobel economist Paul Krugman slams media for endorsing Trump’s ‘pure fantasy’ “

“Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman unloaded Thursday on media outlets that he feels are failing to call out President Donald Trump’s ‘lies.’

“Krugman, who recently left The New York Times, citing editorial disagreements, took the opportunity to bash news outlets in a new piece published to his Substack.

“Krugman lamented that reporting on Trump’s trade deals are being misreported, pointing to a Times headline that reads, ‘Trump is winning his trade war. What will that mean for the economy?’ . . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.rawstory.com/paul-krugman-2673797348/

Another media failure?

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Article in FAIR 7/31/25 by Shirlynn Chan

Headline:  “Media Sidelined Deadly Consequences of Trump’s Reconciliation Bill”

“President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law an omnibus reconciliation bill, branded in MAGA propaganda (and much of corporate media) as the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ . . .”

“FAIR’s Belén Fernandez (7/9/25) closely examined the dramatic lack of coverage of the vast expansion of the government’s anti-immigrant capacities. But the deadly consequences of the other aspects of the bill were also remarkably underexplained to the public.

“To see how major media explained the contents and consequences of the reconciliation bill to the public before its enactment, FAIR surveyed New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and NPR news coverage from the Senate’s passage of the final version of the bill on July 1 through July 4, day Trump signed the bill into law. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/media-sidelined-deadly-consequences-of-trumps-reconciliation-bill/

Declining Newspapers Ads?

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Article in Poynter by Rick Edmonds, 7/31/25

Headline:  “Did Craigslist decimate newspapers? Legend meets reality.”

Subhead:  “Craig Newmark’s simple site was hailed as a disruptor and blamed for the collapse of classifieds. But journalism’s business failures ran deeper.”

“The decline of newspaper print classifieds and the ripple effects that gutted newsrooms began, by many accounts, in 1995. That’s when Craig Newmark invented Craigslist, the homely but oh-so-successful site that matches buyers and sellers, mostly for free, with only a few listings carrying a modest charge.

“Did Craigslist drive the downfall of print classifieds?

“ ‘I’ve always wondered about that,’ Newmark said in a Zoom interview July 1. ‘I think it had an effect.’

“But portraying him and the list as torpedoing an otherwise great business model is way overblown, he still believes. Citing an influential essay by Thomas Baekdal, Newmark contends that the root of newspapers’ trouble was the loss of readers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/did-craigslist-kill-newspapers-poynter-50/