Media in Crisis?

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Interview in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 12/17/25

Headline:  “Transcript: America’s Three Media Crises and How to Fix Them”

Subhead:  “University of Pennsylvania media scholar Victor Pickard says that a robust system of public-funded media is essential for America democracy. “

“Victor Pickard: . . .’So I would identify the three major problems facing the U.S. today in terms of our media system and how it functions within a democratic society would be the collapse of local journalism, the defunding of our public media, and the what we might think of as runaway consolidation of our news media’. . .”

Read the full interview at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/204495/transcript-america-three-media-crises-fix

CBS’s Bari Weiss – Waking-up

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/17/25

Headline:  “Weiss’ Wake-Up Call”

Subhead: “As her first major CBS News town hall draws underwhelming ratings, Bari Weiss gets a public crash course in the metrics of television success. Now, Status has learned she’s delayed a planned address to staffers about the network’s future.”

“In the days leading up to the holidays, Bari Weiss had planned to address CBS News staffers with a broader vision of where she sees the network heading under her new leadership. But by Tuesday, as early Nielsen numbers for her high-profile Erika Kirk town hall circulated—and headlines began using words like “flop”—those plans quietly changed. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-erika-kirk-town-hall-ratings

First Amendment Threat?

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Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Staff, 12/17/25

Headline: “CPJ: Trump’s BBC lawsuit is yet another attack on US media freedom”

“Washington, D.C., December 17, 2025— The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against British public broadcaster, the BBC, and calls on the president to stop engaging the media in lawsuits that appear to challenge the fundamentals of the First Amendment. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://cpj.org/2025/12/cpj-trumps-bbc-lawsuit-is-yet-another-attack-on-us-media-freedom/

BBC Unbowed to Threat

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Savage, 12/16/25

Headline:  “BBC to fight Trump’s $10bn lawsuit, saying it should be dismissed”

Subhead:  “Corporation will argue it did not have rights to air film in US and it did not cause serious reputational harm”

“The BBC is preparing to argue Donald Trump’s $10bn court case against it should be dismissed, arguing it has no case to answer over the US president’s claims he was defamed by an episode of Panorama. . .”

“On Tuesday, the BBC said it would defend itself over the suit. It is understood that the corporation is likely to argue that it did not have the rights to air the documentary in the US, and that the case should therefore be dismissed. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/16/bbc-donald-trump-lawsuit-should-be-dismissed

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Article in The Mirror by Christopher Butkin, 12/26/25

Headline:  “Donald Trump’s BBC lawsuit ‘puts him on the stand’ where ‘he must tell the truth’ “

Subhead:  “Donald Trump, the US President, is seeking up to $10billion (£7.5billion) in damages in response to the editing of a speech he made which was featured in a Panorama episode

“Donald Trump could be forced to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth if he goes ahead with his $10billion lawsuit against the BBC. Lawyers for the broadcaster are said to be considering launching an aggressive defence. And they could make the US president face questions about his actions during the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021. It is something no congressional committee, prosecutor or journalist has ever been able to do. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/donald-trumps-bbc-lawsuit-puts-36413086

No Pulitzer for President?

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Article in Daily Beast by Leigh Kimmins 12/16/25

Headline:  “Trump, 79, Told to Hand Over His Medical Records”

Subhead:  “The president’s revenge tour against the “fake news media” is coming back to bite him. “

“. . .The demand was made in legal papers filed by the board of journalism’s most prestigious prize, the Pulitzer, as part of a defamation lawsuit Trump filed in 2022 over reporting on an investigation into his Russia ties. Now, however, the Pulitzer board’s attorneys have hit back in the most personal way possible for the ailing, 79-year-old president. They have given him 30 days to hand over all tax documents and all documents concerning his medical or psychological health. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-may-be-forced-to-hand-over-his-medical-records/

Fire in the FCC?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 12/16/25

Headline:  “Carr’s Collision Course”

Subhead: “FCC Chair Brendan Carr will be on Capitol Hill for rare Congressional testimony on Wednesday—a hearing in which fellow commissioner Anna Gomez will sharply criticize the agency under his watch, Status has learned.”

“On Wednesday morning at 10 a.m ET, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr will take a seat before the Senate Commerce Committee for a rare appearance before Congress. Carr won’t be alone. Commissioners Olivia Trusty and Anna Gomez will join him, marking the first Senate Commerce oversight hearing with all FCC commissioners present in more than five years—a notable moment for an agency that has largely not been subjected to tough congressional scrutiny. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/brendan-carr-fcc-senate-hearing-testimony

“THE PRESIDENT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY. . .”

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Article in The Guardian by Arwa Mahdawi, 12/15/25

Headline:  “It’s the media’s job to hold power to account. This year, too many got into bed with it instead”

Subhead:  “The lines between advertising, public relations and journalism have become dangerously blurred”

“. . .Journalists should work without fear or favor. Whether writing about foreign policy or new technology, our focus should be on the truth, not cozying up to the powerful or making corporations look good.

“And yet here we are, in a world where the lines between advertising, public relations and journalism are dangerously blurred; where once-respected media institutions have been hijacked by billionaires like Jeff Bezos, the Murdoch family, and Larry Ellison and turned into strategic megaphones. Where politicians are sold to the public with the same cynical strategies with which ad-people market alcohol. Guinness is good for you? Authoritarianism is even better!. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/15/its-the-medias-job-to-hold-power-to-account-this-year-too-many-got-into-bed-with-it-instead

Media Health Coverage Adequate?

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Article in Mediaite by Charlie Nash, 12/15/25

Headline:  “Jake Tapper Says He’s Covering Trump’s Health ‘All the Time’ Now Because He ‘Didn’t Ask as Many Questions as We Should Have’ About Biden”

“. . .During an interview with Tapper on Pod Save America, host and former Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor asked, ‘How do you think the media is handling, kind of, these growing instances of Trump falling asleep in meetings or maybe seeming like he’s losing a step? Like, when is it a critical mass that it becomes book-worthy’? ”

“It’s a great question,” replied Tapper. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/jake-tapper-says-hes-covering-trumps-health-all-the-time-now-because-he-didnt-ask-as-many-questions-as-we-should-have-about-biden/

Reporting on Violence

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 12/15/25

Headline:  “How journalists covered a weekend of mass shootings across two continents”

Subhead:  “Coverage of the Bondi Beach and Brown University attacks grappled with terror, trauma and accountability”

“The horrors continue.

“This past weekend was marred by two mass shootings — one in Australia and one in the U.S. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/shootings-brown-bondi-beach-coverage/

Report on Journalist Attacks

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Barthomew, 12/15/25

Headline:  “Reporting with One Hand Tied”

Subhead:  “A new report documents a hostile environment for US journalists this year, with 32 arrests and 170 assaults.”

“. . .The report, shared exclusively with CJR, also records one hundred and seventy assaults against journalists this year—nearly as many as across the previous three years combined. Reporters have been bludgeoned and shot at and pepper-sprayed and shoved by officers of the law this year. Multiple instances saw equipment seized, or damaged to the cost of thousands of dollars. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/reporting-with-one-hand-tied.php