Blackmailing the Media

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Article in The Washington Post by Sara Ellison & Jeremy Barr, 7/2/25

Headline:  “How Trump’s media war brought Paramount to its knees”

Subhead:  “Tuesday night’s $16 million settlement with Trump followed months of tension between CBS’s journalistic mission and its corporate interest.”

“The breaking point came on a Saturday night in the middle of May. CBS President George Cheeks called news division chief Wendy McMahon with a suggestion: “It’s probably time.”

“Two days later, McMahon announced her departure.

“The forced resignation marked a turning point: The network of Edward R. Murrow, which stood against McCarthyism and once defined American broadcast journalism, was capitulating to White House pressure as its corporate owner sought approval for a lucrative merger. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/02/trump-paramount-cbs-settlement-media/

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Article in The Washington Post by Eric Wemple, 7/2/25

Headline:  “Paramount betrays ‘60 Minutes’ and the rest of us

Subhead:  “Parent company caves to baseless suit by Donald Trump.”

“. . .On Tuesday night came the news that Paramount had agreed to pay $16 million to settle the suit, which stemmed from a ‘60 Minutes’ interview with then-vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The money, which covers the president’s legal fees and costs, will go to his future presidential library.

What happened between disputation and capitulation? . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/02/paramount-settlement-trump-betrayal/

Talk Show Bias?

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Article in FAIR by Keiwana Grant-Floyd & Julie Hollar, 7/1/25

Headline:  “FAIR Study: Sunday Talkshows Downplayed Criticism During Trump’s Second Transition”

“. . . After Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2016 and 2024 elections, the Sunday shows had an opportunity to hold up both his campaign promises and his cabinet picks to scrutiny. With his campaigns’ racist attacks on immigrants and diversity initiatives, as well as his movement’s assaults on the rights of women and trans people, inviting guests who more accurately reflect the diversity of the country would seem to be a journalistic imperative. Yet a new FAIR study finds that the Sunday shows’ coverage of the Trump transitions were even more heavily white and male than usual.”

read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/fair-study-sunday-talkshows-downplayed-criticism-during-trumps-second-transition/

No Clowning With the News

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Article in Poynter by Clara O’Rourke, 6/30/25

Headline: “When Jon Stewart took over ‘The Daily Show,’ satire became a trusted news source”

Subhead:  “Fed up with ‘partisan hackery,’ Stewart trumped traditional media for some fans — even with a show that followed ‘puppets making crank phone calls’ “

“. . .While he didn’t invent political satire, ‘The Daily Show’ evolved into a trusted source of news under his leadership, especially for some younger Americans who turned to it not just for laughs, but for clarity about what was actually happening in the world. By lampooning news cycle after news cycle, Stewart reframed what reporting could look like and who could credibly relay — as he said opening his first ‘Daily Show’ as host . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2025/poynter-50-jon-stewart-satire-news/

Are They Coming for You?

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Article in Daily Kos by Lisa Needham, 7/1/25

Headline:  “Now Trump’s weaponizing the DOJ in his war on the media”

“President Donald Trump is simply not going to stand for the media reporting anything he doesn’t like, and he’s going to use every tool in his toolbox to make that happen. If that means prosecuting media outlets, he’s down. If it means suing them, he’s all in. And if it means gutting nonpartisan government media, he’ll do it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/1/2331160/-Now-Trump-s-weaponizing-the-DOJ-in-his-war-on-the-media?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web

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Article in The Guardian by Edward Helmore, 7/1/25

Headline: “Trump team threatens to prosecute CNN over reporting on Ice-tracking app”

Subhead:  “Kristi Noem says ‘we’re working with [DoJ] to see if we can prosecute them’ while president fumes over Iran reporting”

“Donald Trump and administration officials have threatened CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.

“Speaking to reporters in Florida on a trip . . . the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said her department and the Department of Justice were looking at prosecuting CNN over its reporting on the app, called IceBlock.

“ ‘We’re working with Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them,’ Noem said  . . . We’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them. What they’re doing is illegal.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/trump-kristi-noem-cnn-threat

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Article in Alternet by Carl Gibson, 6/30/35

Headline:  ” ‘Why not the press?’ Trump may use this century-old law to prosecute and jail journalists”

Subhead:  “A new report suggests that President Donald Trump may soon be setting his sights on the Fourth Estate, and his administration is already allegedly looking for a ‘test case’ to see how much it can get away with in the courts.”

“That’s according to a Monday article in Rolling Stone, which reported that unnamed sources close to the White House say Trump is considering the Espionage Act to prosecute journalists who report on leaks obtained from inside the administration. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/trump-prosecute-journalists/

Media in the Cauldron?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 6/30/35

Headline:  “Boiling Frogs”

Subhead:   “How the press is faring halfway through a turbulent year.”

“Around a year ago, I tried, in this newsletter, to zoom out and take stock of what sort of media moment we were then in, roughly halfway through a hugely consequential year. I concluded that the moment felt muddled. At the time, a variety of right-wing media grifters and conspiracy theorists appeared to be facing long-awaited accountability for blatant lies, leading some observers to conclude that it was a good moment for the truth. And yet mainstream news organizations often seen as guarantors of the truth appeared to be in a state of malaise, too, at least compared with the energy and purpose they exhibited in the early part of Donald Trump’s first term. . .”

“. . . I’m not seeing a complacent journalistic corps failing to understand the stakes of this moment. I just wish those had been more universally understood earlier. Around this time last year, say.

“Fortunately for us all, the old saw about boiling frogs is a myth. When the water around them gets hot enough, they tend to jump out of it.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/boiling-frogs-how-press-doing-halfway-year-2025.php

A Media Icon Has Died

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“Democracy Now” photo – Public media is NOT state-controlled media

Article in Common Dreams by Steven Harper, 6/30/25

Headline:  “A Personal Tribute to Bill Moyers, Who Never Stopped Pushing”

Subhead: “I would never claim to be an heir to Bill Moyers’ legacy, but I am among the millions of ordinary Americans for whom he was a powerful source of inspiration:

“A partial summary of Bill Moyers’ impressive life fills entire pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post—treatment reserved for royalty and rock stars. Bill was both.

“In those pages you’ll read about his illustrious political career as President Lyndon Johnson’s special assistant, press secretary, and key architect of the “Great Society”—a collection of programs that are now in danger, including the War on Poverty that produced Medicare, Medicaid, the Food Stamp Act, and the Economic Opportunity Act; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965; and more.

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/bill-moyers

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Article in The Washington Post by Fred A. Bernstein, 6/26/25

Headline: “Bill Moyers, eminence of public affairs broadcasting, dies at 91”

“He was White House press secretary under Lyndon B. Johnson and Newsday publisher before becoming an acclaimed television journalist, mostly for PBS.”

“Bill Moyers, who served as chief White House spokesman for President Lyndon B. Johnson and then, for more than 40 years, as a broadcast journalist known for bringing ideas — both timely and timeless — to television, died June 26 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 91. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/06/26/bill-moyers-lbj-pbs-broadcasting-dead/

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Article in Democracy Now by Staff: 6/26/25

Headline:  “Remembering Bill Moyers: Public Broadcasting Legend Dies at 91”

“The legendary journalist Bill Moyers has died at the age of 91. In the 1960s, Moyers was a founding organizer of the Peace Corps and served as press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson. . .”

“In 2011 Bill Moyers said on Democracy Now: ‘I think this country is in a very precarious state at the moment. I think, as I say, the escalating, accumulating power of organized wealth is snuffing out everything public, whether it’s public broadcasting, public schools, public unions, public parks, public highways. Everything public has been under assault since the late 1970s, the early years of the Reagan administration, because there is a philosophy that’s been extant in America for a long time that anything public is less desirable than private. . ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/26/remembering_bill_moyers_public_broadcasting_legend

Musk Fans Heckle Journalists

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Article in The Verge by Mack DeGeurin, 6/29/25

Headline: ” ‘We are the media now’: why Tesla’s robotaxis were dominated by Elon Musk superfans”

Subhead:  “Journalists from the newsroom weren’t allowed inside the robotaxis and were mocked for asking riders basic questions”

“Over the years, Tesla has built part of its reputation on hosting big, bold events to generate authentic hype for upcoming releases. The robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas, last week wasn’t one of them.

“Coverage of the rollout was dominated by a close-knit cohort of Tesla influencers and Elon Musk superfans, many of whom are openly supportive of the CEO’s vision. Journalists and tech bloggers who might have been more critical of the technology were not only excluded but also actively ridiculed and mocked by Tesla fans and some of their followers for attempting to ask basic questions about the service. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theverge.com/tesla/694333/tesla-robotaxi-media-influencers-musk-fans

 

Attack on Media Sources?

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“Ve haf vays to make you talk!”

Article in Rolling Stone by Peter Wade, 6/29/25

Headline:  “Trump Threatens to Force Journalists to Reveal Sources Who Leaked Iran Intel Report”

Subhead:  ” ‘We can find out. You go up and tell the reporter, “National security, who gave it [to you]?” You have to do that, and I suspect we’ll be doing things like that,’ the president said”

“Donald Trump threatened to force journalists to reveal sources who leaked a Pentagon intelligence assessment that concluded the U.S. air strikes on Iran only set the nation’s nuclear program back ‘months,’ contradicting administration claims that the facilities were ‘obliterated.’

“ ‘You tweeted the Democrats leaked an intelligence [report],’ Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo said to Trump in an interview.

“ ‘They should be prosecuted,’ the president responded.

“When Bartiromo asked ‘who, specifically’ should be prosecuted, Trump did not name any names but said his administration would demand reporters reveal the sources of their reporting. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-journalists-reveal-sources-iran-intel-report-1235375074/

Changing Media Horses?

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Article in Status by Jon Passantino, 6/28/25

Headline:  “Gavin Takes Off the Gloves”

Subhead:  “Gavin Newsom spent months cozying up to MAGA media – now he’s suing Fox News for $787 Million, signaling a sharp break from his flirtation with the far right”

“After months of cozying up to the far right—hosting MAGA extremists on his podcast where he offered them praise, and trying on a strange ‘reach across the aisle’ persona—the California governor made a sharp reversal. On Friday, the likely 2028 contender filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News, alleging the network manipulated video footage to falsely portray him as lying about a phone call with Donald Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/gavin-newsom-fox-news-lawsuit

 

Media Cheerleader for Republicans?

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 6/28/25

Headline:  “Why Republicans desperately want the media to be their cheerleaders”

“Following the decision to bomb Iranian nuclear targets without first seeking congressional approval, the Trump administration renewed its ongoing war against the media for reporting factual information.
Republicans want cheerleading, not journalism.

“President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and other Republicans challenged reporting that revealed that the Pentagon did not believe Iran’s nuclear capability had been decimated. In fact, the Trump administration argued that journalists should celebrate Trump’s actions. . .”

Republicans, particularly Trump and his orbit, have spent more than a decade whining about media coverage—which has largely been laudatory of him and has promoted his favored (false) narratives—but this week’s behavior explicitly argued that the press should “cheer” for Trump, as Hegseth said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/28/2330499/-Why-Republicans-desperately-want-the-media-to-be-their-cheerleaders?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web