War and Media

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Article in FAIR by Ricardo Vaz, 11/19/25

Headline: “Corporate Media Parrot Dubious Drug Claims That Justify War on Venezuela”

“. . .Over the years, Western media have endorsed Washington’s Venezuela regime-change efforts at every turn, from cheerleading coup attempts to whitewashing deadly sanctions (FAIR.org, 6/13/22, 6/4/21, 1/22/20). Now, with a possible military operation that could have disastrous consequences, corporate outlets are making little effort to hold the US government accountable. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-parrot-dubious-drug-claims-that-justify-war-on-venezuela/

FCM Meeting & Potluck

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The regular meeting of Friends of Community Media will be held at 5 PM CST on Saturday 11/22/25 at 3707 Pennsylvania Avenue.  A potluck (hot dogs / beverages provided) will follow later  with a possible film about the media / backyard fire.

For more information / inquiries, email to savethemedia@cs.com

Networks Have Broadcast Licenses?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 11/18/25

Headline:  “Trump threatens ABC News broadcast license after reporter asks about Epstein “

“President Trump attacked an ABC News reporter Tuesday after she asked about the Epstein files, threatening to have the network taken off the air for questioning him about the controversy. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5611057-president-trump-threatens-abc/

Eating All the Media?

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Article in Poynter by Al Tompkins, 11/18/25

Headline: “Scripps tells staff a Sinclair takeover isn’t a done deal, even after surprise stock purchase”

“Scripps Broadcasting president and CEO Adam Symson told employees Monday that a takeover by rival Sinclair Broadcasting is far from a done deal, even after Sinclair announced it had purchased more than 8% of Scripps stock and had been in merger talks for months. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/scripps-tells-staff-a-sinclair-takeover-is-unlikely-despite-surprise-stock-purchase/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 11/18/25

Headline: “The War for Warners”

Subhead:  “Paramount, Comcast, and Netflix are preparing final bids for Warner Bros. Discovery’s assets, setting up a high-stakes showdown that will reorder the media landscape”

“. . . Variety had reported, and then largely walked back, that Paramount had ‘formed an investment consortium with the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi’ to pursue a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. . .”

“What is accurate is that Paramount is preparing its final bid for WBD, which Ellison still hopes to swallow whole despite David Zaslav’s best efforts to beat back the takeover. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/warner-bros-discovery-bids-paramount-comcast-netflix

Not “Pure Enough” Now?

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel, 11/14/25

Headline:  “MAGA media figures are furious over Trump’s immigration apostasy”

Subhead:  “The president’s comments on H-1B visas were “a little hard to stomach,” said one Fox News host.”

“. . .For years, Trump has benefited from a symbiotic relationship with his hardcore supporters in right-wing media, allowing him to achieve narrative dominance that extends beyond conservative spaces. Now he’s showing signs of faltering; even Trump isn’t nativist enough for the top influencers on the right.

“The current feud stems from Trump’s Tuesday interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, during which the president defended the H-1B visa program, which allows employers to sponsor foreign-born workers for some high-skilled jobs. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/maga-media-figures-are-furious-over-trumps-immigration-apostasy

Media Looking Away?

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Article in FAIR by Ari Paul, 11/17/25

Headline:  “For NYT, Trump’s Gulf Corruption Is the New Normal”

“. . .It is a hallmark of corrupt societies that institutions like the media simply accept that payoffs and the personal business interests of politicians supersede public service. A good example of this casual resignation to a corrupt regime came from the New York Times (11/15/25) under the headline ‘Trump Organization Is Said to Be in Talks on a Saudi Government Real Estate Deal.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/for-nyt-trumps-gulf-corruption-is-the-new-normal/

Destroy American Broadcasting?

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Illustration from Fire.org

Article in The Guardian by John Oliver, 11/17/25

Headline:  “John Oliver on the mass defunding of US public media: ‘Just stupid’ “

Subhead:  “The Last Week Tonight host delves into the many vital functions of US public media imperiled by congressional Republicans’ defunding plan”

“On the latest Last Week Tonight, John Oliver checked in on the ‘dire’ state of public media in the US, where almost all public media falls under the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Until recently, the CPB distributed funding to more than 544 radio TV grantees representing more than 1,500 locally managed and operated stations nationwide, reaching more than 99% of the US population . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/nov/17/john-oliver-public-media-cuts

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Article in Freepress by Staff,   11/17/25

Headline: “Free Press Action’s Mike Rispoli Testifies Before the New Jersey State Senate on Behalf of Public Funding for Public Media “

“. . .In September, NJ PBS — the state’s only public-television station — announced that it will cease operations in 2026. The move is related to Congress’ decision earlier this year to claw back $1.1 billion in funding from the previously approved federal budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the CPB’s subsequent decision to shut down operations. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-actions-mike-rispoli-testifies-new-jersey-state-senate-behalf-public-media-funding

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Article in The Atlantic by Gilad Edelman, 11/17/25

Headline: “The ‘Easy Way’ to Crush the Mainstream Media”

Subhead: “FCC chair Brendan Carr is on a crusade to Trumpify the airwaves.”

“. . .when he issued a mob-style threat over a Jimmy Kimmel monologue that Republicans didn’t like—’We can do this the easy way or the hard way’—he made the Trump administration’s appetite for censorship unignorable.

“Most of the administration’s efforts to manipulate the media up to that point had retained at least a patina of deniability. Here, by contrast, was an uncomplicated threat of government interference—one that prompted Disney, ABC’s parent company, to fall in line by suspending Kimmel’s show. . . ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2025/11/brendan-carr/684936/

Broadcasting Blow-Up

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Joel Simon, 11/13/25

Headline:  “How Donald Trump Blew Up the BBC“

Subhead:  “The president set out to undermine public broadcasters in the US. Now, with help from British allies, he’s taking his strategy global.”

“Last week, I wrote about the BBC’s big ambitions for the US market and its confidence that a just-the-facts approach, combined with a global sensibility, would give it a competitive edge in Trump’s America. . .’

“The same day my column ran, The Telegraph published a story that seemed to utterly upend those plans. Based on a leaked internal memo, it alleged that a documentary aired just before the 2024 US presidential election on the BBC program Panorama had ‘doctored’ a Donald Trump speech by making him appear to encourage the Capitol Hill riot” of January 6, 2021. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/how-donald-trump-blew-up-bbc-us-market-telegraph-panorama-jan-6.php

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Article in the New Republic by Malcolm Ferguson, 11/13/25

Headline: “BBC Apologizes to Trump but Refuses to Pay Up Like He Demanded”

Subhead:  “The BBC is warning Donald Trump that he doesn’t have a real defamation case.”

“The British Broadcasting Corporation has apologized to President Donald Trump for editing his speech on an episode of Panorama, but will not fork over the $1 billion he threatened to sue for. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/post/203183/bbc-apologizes-trump-refuses-pay-defamation

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Article in Daily Kos by Alix Breeden, 11/11/25

Headline:  “Trump’s war on the media goes global”

“President Donald Trump is trying to take his war on the media across the pond, but the United Kingdom isn’t having it.

“Trump’s attorney threatened a $1 billion lawsuit on the British Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday over a doctored clip of Trump speaking to his beloved Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/11/11/2353343/-Trump-s-war-on-the-media-goes-global?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web

Billionaires Buy the Media

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Article in The Guardian by Robert Reich, 11/13/25

Headline:  “Ultra-rich media owners are tightening their grip on democracy. It’s time to wrest our power back”

“The richest man on Earth owns X.

“The family of the second-richest man owns Paramount, which owns CBS, and could soon own Warner Bros, which owns CNN.

“The third-richest man owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

“The fourth-richest man owns the Washington Post and Amazon MGM Studios.

“Another billionaire owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

“Why are the ultra-rich buying up so much of the media? Vanity may play a part, but there’s a more pragmatic – some might say sinister – reason. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/13/trump-media-ultra-rich-democracy

Watch TV – Send Troops

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Article in ProPublica by Rob Davis, 11/12/25

Headline: ” ‘Riots Raging’: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops”

Subhead: “After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of ‘Portland rioters’ routinely instigating violence was misleading.”

“When President Donald Trump told reporters on Sept. 5 he’d started looking at sending the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, he said it was because of something he saw on television.

“He said the city was being destroyed by paid agitators. ‘What they’ve done to that place, it’s like living in hell,’ he said, a comment that became an internet meme as some Portland residents juxtaposed it with tranquil images of the city. . .”

Read the full story at:

http://“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops