Captive Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Joel Simon, 8/5/25

Headline  “Is the US Media Captured?”

Subhead:  “The phenomenon comes in many forms. Experts believe it’s already here.”

“Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, who was born in Romania and today is a leading scholar of democracy, first observed ‘media capture’ two decades ago in Eastern Europe. The press there was not facing active repression. But it was far from free. Governments, she realized, were exercising control through indirect means—collusion and corruption. Captured media, Mungiu-Pippidi wrote in a 2013 paper, ‘trade influence and manipulate rather than inform the public.’

“Other scholars of media capture have since examined the phenomenon in different parts of the world—Mexico, Kenya, Hungary—highlighting government strategies ranging from manipulation of advertising to economic and regulatory pressure to the exploitation of informal relationships with media owners.  . .”

“The US government-funded Center for Independent Media Assistance, part of the National Endowment for Democracy, produced a video in 2019 describing how government cronies buy up struggling media outlets and bring them to heel.  . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/paramount-la-times-media-capture.php

Media and Hands Off

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Article in Common Dreams by Stan Cox, 8/4/25

Headline:  “As Gaza Starved, NPR Coverage Grew but Didn’t Get Any Better”

Subhead:  “As conditions worsen on the ground, some establishment media have indeed increased their quantity of coverage, but few are expressing the heightened sense of horror and urgency that’s needed at this juncture.”

“Before the third week of July, when mass-starvation alarms finally started sounding, only a tiny minority of Americans were focused on the crimes against humanity that Israel was committing in Gaza. Common Dreams readers had long known what was going on, of course, but most Americans who depend on establishment media, whether liberal or MAGA, for their news had little idea. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/npr-gaza-coverage

Lessons From Sudan

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 8/4/25

Headline:  “Applebaum on Autocracy”

Subhead:  “Anne Applebaum warns that Sudan’s descent into chaos whoushows what happens when institutions fail – and why a free press is essential to prevent America from following the same path”

“Anne Applebaum has spent decades chronicling the rise of authoritarianism and the collapse of democratic norms around the world. In her latest piece for The Atlantic, appearing on this week’s cover, she turned her attention to Sudan, where a brutal civil war has displaced millions of people. . .”

“In a conversation with Status, she explained why Sudan’s tragedy is a warning for the U.S. as it drifts further from the post-war role it has played in geopolitics, with Donald Trump in his second term. Applebaum also discussed the hollowing-out of independent media and why decisions like Paramount’s payout to Trump matter in the slide toward autocracy. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/anne-applebaum-autocracy-interview

Losing Public Media

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Public media are not state-controlled media

Article in Daily Kos by Eclift, 8/4/25

Headline:  “Mourning the Loss of Public Service Media”

“. . .Following PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was established in an act of Congress. Its mission, along with that of PBS, was to provide quality programming often overlooked by commercial broadcasters. It focused on education, history, culture, nature, science, public affairs, and children’s content. PBS has been going strong all these years, and the thought of losing it is painful. . .”

“In July the Trump administration declared that it was ending funding for CPB, which funds PBS and NPR. The Senate passed the measure supporting that goal immediately. Followers of public broadcasting, editors, and journalists were stunned, and deeply troubled, at the thought that over a billion dollars, which had been appropriated by Congress for two years, would disappear. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/8/4/2336835/-Mourning-the-Loss-of-Public-Service-Media?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Authoritarians Hate Free Speech

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Daniel Golden, 8/4/25

Headline:  “Joseph McCarthy’s War on Voice of America”

Subhead:  “A largely forgotten campaign of harassment and persecution from the 1950s that still echoes today.”

“In nationally televised hearings, Senate Republicans denounce Voice of America. They accuse the government’s international broadcasting arm of harboring saboteurs, misspending taxpayer funds, condoning anti-Semitism, compromising security by relying on foreign-born workers, and denigrating the country it is supposed to serve. . .”

“These hearings that gripped the country were not part of the Trump administration’s recent campaign against VOA. They took place in 1953, and the committee chair running them was none other than Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy, then at the peak of his power. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/joseph-mccarthy-voice-of-america.php

Journalists in Danger From AI?

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Article in Yahoo! News by Thomas Urbain, 8/3/25

Headline:  “AI search pushing an already weakened media ecosystem to the brink”

“Generative artificial intelligence assistants like ChatGPT are cutting into traditional online search traffic, depriving news sites of visitors and impacting the advertising revenue they desperately need, in a crushing blow to an industry already fighting for survival.

” ‘The next three or four years will be incredibly challenging for publishers everywhere. No one is immune from the AI summaries storm gathering on the horizon,’ warned Matt Karolian, vice president of research and development at Boston Globe Media.

” ‘Publishers need to build their own shelters or risk being swept away.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ai-search-pushing-already-weakened-013023862.html

MAGA Media Falling?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by John Hersh, 8/1/25

Headline: “Will the Jeffrey Epstein Scandal Break MAGA Media?” 

Subhead:  “Mother Jones’s Anna Merlan on how the Epstein files are tearing MAGA media apart.”

“For the past few weeks, MAGA media and conservative podcasters have been torn apart over President Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

“Anna Merlan, a senior editor at Mother Jones, joins The Kicker to talk about right-wing media’s efforts to change the subject—and whether their audiences will go along with it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/will-the-jeffrey-epstein-scandal-break-maga-media.php

Public Media – Gone Now

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Public Media are NOT state-controlled media

Article in The Guardian by Joseph Gedeon, 8/1/25

Headline: “Corporation for Public Broadcasting to close after US funding cut”

Subhead:  “Closure of public broadcasting group follows House Republicans’ decision to strip $1.1bn in funding over two years”

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Friday it will shut down operations after losing federal funding, delivering a blow to America’s public media system and the more than 1,500 local stations that have relied on its support for nearly six decades.

“The closure follows the Republican-controlled House’s decision last month to eliminate $1.1bn in CPB funding over two years, part of a $9bn reduction to public media and foreign aid programs.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said Patricia Harrison, corporation’s president and chief executive. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/01/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-closure

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Article in The Hill by Aris Folley, 8/1/25

Headline:   “Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it is beginning to shut down “

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) said Friday it will begin “an orderly wind-down of its operations” after seeing its budget cut through GOP-led legislation. . .”

“The CPB said most of its employees jobs would conclude at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, while a small transition team would work through January “to ensure a responsible and orderly closeout of operations. . .”

“Less than 5 percent of the nonprofit’s funding goes toward its operations, while more than 70 percent “goes directly to local public media stations,” the CPB states on its website. And almost half of its “total 544 radio and TV grantees are considered rural. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/media/5432389-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-shutting-down/

Where Legacy Media Dare Not Go

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Article in Comic Sands by Amelia MAvis Christnot, 7/28/25

Headline: ” ‘South Park’ Creators Reveal How They Got Uncensored NSFW Joke About Trump On Air”

“While speaking at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone revealed how they were able to expose MAGA Republican President Donald Trump’s alleged micropenis on the season 27 premiere of their Comedy Central cartoon.”

“The much-anticipated return of South Park—after a two-year hiatus—took on the show’s bosses at Paramount over the decision to settle a frivolous lawsuit with Trump over a CBS News 60 Minutes episode for $16 million. The move was criticized as both extortion by Trump and a bribe by Paramount to secure FCC approval for their deal with Skydance Media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.comicsands.com/stone-parker-uncensored-penis

No Reporting on Evil

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Article in Common Dreams by Tim Karr, 7/31/35

Headline: ​ “Why Is So Much of Corporate Media Caving to Trump?”

Subhead:  “A new ranking of the 35 largest media conglomerates finds a systemic failure to protect democracy against authoritarianism.”

“The rules of authoritarianism are pretty simple: Do as the leader says… or else.

This lopsided power equation runs counter to the checks and balances that are baked into the DNA of any healthy democracy. . .”

“Free Press this week released the inaugural Media Capitulation Index to examine how this information ecosystem is fairing nearly 250 years later. This sweeping investigation analyzes and rates the independence of America’s 35 largest media companies, including the many conglomerates that have recently caved to pressure from an authoritarian and corrupt Trump administration.

“The findings are sobering. After digging into the many failures of America’s hyper-commercialized media system, we present a series of recommendations to help dig the United States out of the authoritarian quicksand into which we’re sinking, and build toward a more independent, democratic, diverse, and free press. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corporate-media-caves-trump