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/

“Good Friends”?

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Article in NPR by David Folkenflik, 7/29/25

Headline:  “Trump lawsuit against Murdoch and ‘Wall Street Journal‘ turns personal”

Subhead:  “President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its powerful owner has taken a personal turn.”

In the legal filings — and on social media — Trump says he personally told media mogul Rupert Murdoch that the racy birthday greeting he had supposedly sent two decades earlier to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein had been faked and did not exist. Murdoch’s Journal reported it anyway, despite Trump’s warning.

Now, Trump is asking a federal judge in Miami to compel the man he once called ‘my very good friend Rupert Murdoch’ to answer his lawyers’ questions under oath within 15 days of the order. Trump’s legal team acknowledges that the ink is barely dry on the lawsuit — there is no schedule of court deadlines yet — but argues that Murdoch is unlikely to testify in person whenever a trial occurs due to his advanced age and health issues. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/29/nx-s1-5482955/trump-epstein-murdoch-deposition-lawsuit?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Subsaharan VOA impact

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Article in Reporters without Frontiers by Partager, 7/30/25

Headline:  “Sub-Saharan Africa: community radio programmes shut down, access to information in jeopardy after Voice of America suspension”

“Disrupted programming, journalists sacked from their jobs: the US government’s suspension of Voice of America (VOA), whose programmes were broadcast in all sub-Saharan African countries via over a thousand local partners, undermines access to reliable and diverse information. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this major setback for the right to reliable information on the African continent, and urges the international community to find alternative solutions to remedy the situation.”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/sub-saharan-africa-community-radio-programmes-shut-down-access-information-jeopardy-after-voice

Defending the Media

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 7/30/25

Headline:  “Anna Gomez’s Lonely Fight”

Subhead:  “As the FCC’s sole Democrat, she’s been outspoken about protecting the First Amendment. Getting her way has been tough.”

“. . .Once Trump assumed office, however, Gomez found it hard to ignore the political aspects of the job. Within days, Carr announced on Fox News that he was opening an investigation into KCBS, a San Francisco–area radio station, for its reporting on ICE raids. Gomez was dismayed. “We are supposed to be this technical expert body that calls balls and strikes fairly and independently, but instead we are being weaponized for political retribution and ideological purity,” she told me. . .”

““I was growing increasingly alarmed about what was happening and what that would do to the freedom of the press,” she said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/anna-gomez-democrat-fcc-paramount-carr.php

Media on Life Support?

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Article in The Guardian by Robert Reich, 7/29/25

Headline:  “US press and publishing We are witnessing the silencing of American media”

Subhead:  “From the Washington Post to CBS, companies are caving to Trump. This is how democracy dies”

“. . .Friends, this is how democracy dies.

“The silencing is happening across America because Trump cannot stand criticism, because he’s vindictive as hell, and because he’s willing and able to use every department and agency of the federal government to punish any media corporations or universities that allow criticism of him.

“Shame on any media outlet or university that allows Trump to silence it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/30/trump-silencing-of-american-media

Which Media Capitulated Most?

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Article in American Crisis by Margaret Sullivan, 7/29/25

Headline:  “American Crisis exclusive: The ‘Media Capitulation Index’ “

Subhead:  “A sweeping report — with rankings — on the decline of independence in our corporatized media”

“If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you know that the media has been on a capitulation-and-kowtowing spree.

“To tick off a few cases: The parent company of CBS News paid $16 million to settle a suit brought by Donald Trump over a (routinely edited) ’60 Minutes’ interview of Kamala Harris. Another Trump suit — against ABC News — raked in $15 million, and garnered a note of regret; many legal experts think ABC could have won the case had they tried. The owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, ordered an editorial endorsing Harris to be killed last fall; and Bezos was front and center at Trump’s inauguration after contributing $1 million to the festivities. Fox News drastically cut back on its coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein story after Trump charged it was a non-story and a hoax. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/american-crisis-exclusive-the-media

Slight of Mouth

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Article in Media Matters by Noah Dowe & Reed McMaster, 7/28/25

Headline:  “Right-leaning podcasters call out the Trump administration’s 2016 election claims as a ‘distraction’ from Jeffrey Epstein”

Subhead:  “Hosts of right-leaning online shows have called DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s report a “distraction” meant to make Trump supporters “stop paying attention to Epstein”

“Following weeks of outrage from right-wing media over the Trump administration’s handling of files relating to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently declassified multiple documents relating to Russian interference in the 2016 election, arguing they prove a ‘treasonous conspiracy’ to interfere with the results by Obama administration officials. However, hosts of right-leaning online shows — including many who helped promote President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign — have argued that Gabbard’s report and Trump’s subsequent rhetoric are a “distraction” meant “to appease the Trump base” and change the narrative away from the Epstein case. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/right-leaning-podcasters-call-out-trump-administrations-2016-election-claims

Propaganda is – Propaganda?

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Article in The Guardian by Arwa Mahdawi, 7/29/25

Headline:  “Ghislaine Maxwell is not a victim. And if she is pardoned, it won’t be for the sake of justice”

Subhead:  “The Epstein files may never be released, but it’s increasingly likely that Epstein’s right-hand woman could be. The groundwork is already being done”

“. . .The cable news channel, which is to the right of Fox News, is essentially a pro-Trump propaganda outlet with strong financial ties to the president. Earlier this month the outlet announced that it had struck a deal for the Trump Media and Technology Group Corp to stream Newsmax on its platform. Which obviously raises a lot of conflict-of-interest questions. “This is now the Trump network,” one Newsmax insider complained to the Independent last week. ‘Even the most conservative people at Newsmax think it’s a terrible look and they feel like state-run media.’ Also raising questions is the fact that Alex Acosta, the prosecutor who gave Epstein that plea deal in 2008, happens to be on the board of Newsmax.. .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/29/ghislaine-maxwell-pardon-epstein-files