TV President Redux?

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Article in Poynter by Pete Croatto, 4/9/26

Headline:  “Q&A: What Tucker Carlson’s path reveals about where journalism is headed”

Subhead:  “New Yorker staff writer Jason Zengerle, author of a biography on the former Fox News star, breaks down why Carlson may run for president”

“Tucker Carlson’s career is ‘a good cautionary tale,’ says The New Yorker’s Jason Zengerle, author of ‘Hated By All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind,’ a riveting, sharp-eyed biography of the political pundit’s rise from acclaimed magazine writer to cable news mainstay to leading MAGA shriek.

“His path also represents the crumbling of journalism and the growing, troubling influence of a man who increasingly lives in an echo chamber. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2026/jason-zengerle-tucker-carlson-unraveling-conservative-mind/

Throw the Book at Pentagon Media?

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Article in The Guardian by Jefemy Barr, 4/9/26

Headline:  “US judge rules Pentagon has violated his order in press access case”

Subhead:  “Paul Friedman grants New York Times’s motion to force implementation of earlier ruling that gutted restrictive new policy”

“A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Pentagon has not complied with an order last month that undid much of a restrictive new press pass policy implemented by the Department of Defense, and ordered the return of credentials to seven New York Times reporters.

The newspaper, which sued the Trump administration in December, had urged the judge to compel implementation of his 20 March ruling after the Pentagon responded to the judge’s determination by creating a new press access policy, which the newspaper called an ‘end-run’ around the judge’s ruling. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/apr/09/pentagon-judge-press-access-case

Saving a Community Station

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Article in AP by Jonathan Landrum Jr., 4/9/26

Headline:  “Dave Chappelle helps keep Ohio radio station rooted in hometown with restored building”

“YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (AP) — Comedian Dave Chappelle stood on the front lawn of a newly restored 19th-century schoolhouse Thursday, joining neighbors and local officials as a small-town radio station secured its future in the community he calls home.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked two historic moments: Chappelle’s restoration of the Union Schoolhouse and WYSO’s relocation of its new broadcast facility inside it, bringing together distinct efforts to keep the station rooted in Yellow Springs at a time when local media outlets face mounting challenges. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/dave-chappelle-radio-station-1297aeb70e20d61e5a46481f0b660332

Surrender or Victory?

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Article in Media Matters by Giddeon Taaffe, tri Lonergan, Noah Towe, 4/8/26

Headline:   “How fractured right-wing media are spinning Trump’s Iran capitulation”

Subhead:  “Right-wing media have been split over the war. As a ceasefire is agreed to, some figures claim Trump ‘negotiated the deal of his life,’ others argue he ‘chickened out again’ and warn the deal ‘could be an amazing victory for Iran.’ “

“Right-wing media are split on the temporary two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States, with some calling it ‘victory’ and crediting Trump’s ‘hyperbolic rhetoric,’ while others remain skeptical, going as far as to call it ‘total U.S. defeat’ and arguing the deal is ‘very difficult to accept.’ Both critics and supporters of the war have criticized the terms of the ceasefire, saying it is a ‘defeat’ and that ‘Iran practically got everything that they wanted.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/how-fractured-right-wing-media-are-spinning-trumps-iran-capitulation

Doppelganger Reporting

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Article in The Intercept by Katherine Krueger, 4/7/26

Headline: “The Media Just Can’t Help Turning Iran Fighter Jet Rescue Into ‘Black Hawk Down’ “

Subhead: “Everyone reported the exact same story at the exact same time — and they all relied on the same liars who got us into this mess.”

“Neither Josh Hartnett nor Ewan McGregor were there, but the way the mainstream media is telling it, they might as well have been. The Sunday morning rescue of a U.S. airman shot down over Iran launched a thousand breathless tick-tock retellings from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and many, many more — helpful water-carrying for an administration prosecuting a deeply unpopular war without a clear end in sight. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://theintercept.com/2026/04/06/iran-fighter-jet-rescue-media-coverage/

Media and “Shields”

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Article in Common Dreams by Stephen Prager, 4/7/26

Headline:  “Western Media Called Out for ‘Misleading’ Portrayal of Iranians Defending Infrastructure as ‘Human Shields’ “

“ ‘The real legal and moral question is why civilian infrastructure is being targeted at all,’ said one expert.

“After US President Donald Trump made his genocidal declaration on Tuesday that the ‘whole civilization’ of Iran ‘will die tonight,’ reports began to roll in of people across the country standing outside the power plants, bridges, and other civilian infrastructure the president promised to bomb. . .”

“The government has encouraged Iranians, including children and young students, to take to the streets to form human chains around infrastructure that may come under threat, leading some Western media outlets to raise the fear that people were being used as ‘human shields.’

“Sina Toossi, a fellow at the Center for International Policy, however, said this “is a deeply misleading framing. . .”

“ ‘This is about people trying to safeguard electricity, water, and basic civilization under open threat,’ Toossi said. ‘The real legal and moral question is why civilian infrastructure is being targeted at all.’ ”

Read the whole article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/iranians-defend-infrastructure-trump

Fox News More of a Gamble Now?

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Article in The Hill by Ashleigh Fields, 4/7/26

Headline:  “Fox integrating Kalshi prediction markets data across news platforms “

“The Fox Corporation on Tuesday said it would integrate data from Kalshi prediction markets across multiple platforms to enhance the audience experience.

“Insight from the prediction market will be shared on Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Weather and the Fox One platform, according to a press release announcing the integration sponsored by Kalshi. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5820864-fox-corporation-integrates-kalshi-markets/

 

Voice of Who?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Riddhi Setty, 4/6/25

Headline:  “VOA’s Legal Fight for Independence”

Subhead:  “Journalists at Voice of America have been to court in the hope of getting back to their jobs. Now they are suing to protect against censorship.”

“For the embattled journalists of Voice of America (VOA), first came the fight to return to the newsroom they’d been unceremoniously booted from by the Trump administration. Now comes another daunting challenge: clawing back their editorial independence.

Late last month, four employees joined with Pen America and Reporters Without Borders to sue the administration over allegations that President Trump and his political appointees at the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, had censored their coverage, transforming the newsroom into a “partisan mouthpiece of the administration” and breaching a congressionally created editorial firewall. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/voas-legal-fight-for-independence.php

Christian Media Missiles?

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Article in Media Matters by Staff, 4/6/26

Headline:  “On The Weeknight, Angelo Carusone discusses how the Iran war is seen in the Christian nationalist media space: ‘They’re getting impassioned because he’s making these very explicit calls to their religion’ “

“. . .And the undercurrent that’s taking place that this is in fact a Holy War, that it is Biblical. And the rhetoric that you pointed to is the most mild examples of that. I mean, Trump has posted a video, tapping into a notion that he is the prophecy come to life, that part of what he is doing now was prophesized in the Bible. And that lit up Christian nationalist communities. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/weeknight-angelo-carusone-discusses-how-iran-war-seen-christian-nationalist-media