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Control the Media Control the People

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Article in Status News by Oliver Darcy, 3/10/25

Headline:  “Press Pool Pandemonium”

Subhead:  “Frustration with the WHCA erupted during an off-the-record meeting Monday, as some members pushed the organization to respond more forcefully to Donald Trump’s assault on the press corps.”

” On Monday morning, dozens of White House Correspondents’ Association members gathered for a virtual meeting to address an urgent issue. Eugene Daniels, the WHCA president, opened with an acknowledgment of the uncomfortable truth: the White House has seized control of the press pool, sidelining the association and leaving it in a precarious position. Daniels assured members that the board was doing everything possible to navigate the crisis. But the underlying frustration was impossible to ignore.”

“. . . Since Donald Trump blocked the Associated Press from official events and took control of the press pool—banning both AP and HuffPost from their rotations—some members have criticized the WHCA for its tepid response. While Daniels has released forceful statements, many members want the organization—which is to a large degree hamstrung by a collective action problem—to respond more aggressively. That frustration boiled over in the meeting.

. . . The tone grew more combative from there. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/whca-white-house-press-trump

Right Wing Eating the Media

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Article in Mother Jones by David Corn, 3/11/25

Headline:  “Why the Right Is to Blame for Distrust in the Media”

Subhead:  “For decades, conservatives have crusaded to discredit the press.”

“Recently, I attended a conference in Washington, DC, on the all-important topic of ‘Innovating to Restore Trust in News.’ The Semafor-sponsored event featured one-on-one interviews with such media bigshots as Joe Kahn, the executive editor of the New York Times; Emma Tucker, the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal; Mark Thompson, the CEO of CNN; Katherine Maher . . . ”

“The prompt for the conversation was a Gallup poll that shows that only 31 percent of Americans have some degree of trust in newsies, a drop from about 70 percent in 1972. Yet there was not much talk of specific innovations that could restore this trust. And it wasn’t until the reception afterward. . . that I realized what had been absent from the hours-long discussion: any consideration of why polls record a decline in trust of the media. . .”

“. . . What also went unmentioned was that Trump, the GOP, and right-wing media (most notably Fox) have done much through the decades to degrade the national discourse with lies and disinformation, while simultaneously and purposefully encouraging profound distrust and hatred of media outlets that don’t buy their bunk.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/media-distrust-trump-republicans-fox-news-maga-megyn-kelly/

CNN Coverage of Cuts Not News?

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Article in The Hill by Sara Fortinsky, 3/11/25

Headline:  “GOP’s Burchett berates CNN anchor over spending cuts coverage”

“Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday attacked CNN’s coverage of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) spending cuts and accused the network of trying to rally its viewers against President Trump.

“In an interview on “CNN News Central,” anchor Brianna Keilar asked the Republican lawmaker about nonpartisan estimates suggesting the GOP’s targeted spending cuts would necessitate cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5189313-tim-burchett-cnn-doge-cuts/

 

No More Canadian Newsprint?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Sacha Biazzo, 3/11/25

Headline: “Trump’s Tariffs Are Causing Chaos for Newspapers”

Subhead: “The on-again, off-again announcements are causing prices of Canadian newsprint to rise.”

“. . . Canada has long been a major supplier of American newsprint—it now provides an estimated 80 percent of the paper used by US newspapers. A tariff would add a significant burden to publishers already struggling with high costs of production and thin margins, and analysts say the mere looming threat of one has complicated life for printers. “There is no scenario under which this is cost-positive for the media industry,” said Brett House, a professor of professional practice at the Columbia Business School. ‘Almost anything that is done here is going to be increasing prices for newsprint.’ ”

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/tariffs-canada-newsprint.php

Threat to Broadcasters

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CPJ Photo

Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Staff, 3/11/25

Headline: “CPJ, partners urge FCC to stop threatening press freedom and free speech”

Subhead: “The Committee to Protect Journalists and 16 other organizations, led by the nonprofit group Public Knowledge, sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr on March 7, expressing concern about recent developments that threaten to erode long-established safeguards for editorial independence and free expression.”

“The agency recently launched investigations into public broadcasting for allegedly airing advertising and threatening to investigate the northern California radio station KCBS after it reported on planned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. FCC investigations can result in fines and license revocations, undermining the ability of news organizations to operate freely and without fear of government retaliation.

The signatories underscored that a free press requires the FCC to uphold journalistic independence with impartiality and without political bias.. .”

https://cpj.org/2025/03/cpj-partners-urge-fcc-to-stop-threatening-press-freedom-and-free-speech/

Red Meat for the Media!

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Article in The Guardian by Editors, 3/7/25

Headline:  “The Guardian view on Trump and media: attention is power. Can Democrats grab it? – Editorial”

Subhead:  “The presidency is no longer just a ‘bully pulpit’. It’s become part of the disinformation machine”

“Donald Trump won the White House not with money, though he spent plenty of it, but by dominating the conversation. He hasn’t stopped campaigning. He uses attention to bolster his political power, and uses his office to make sure that everyone keeps watching.

“He was barred from leading social media platforms after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but four years later, their owners attended his inauguration. Many of his key hires appear picked for their media presence as well as their ideological bent and sycophancy. Tuesday’s interminable address to Congress was garnished with the kind of wild claims or outright lies that he knows take off on social media. . .”

“. . .Like a social media algorithm made flesh, the president himself serves up an endless but unpredictable (and increasingly extreme) stream of material. It keeps admirers coming back for more and overwhelms critics, who don’t know where to focus. . . ”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/07/the-guardian-view-on-trump-and-media-attention-is-power-can-democrats-grab-it

Leaks to Media by . . . ?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 3/10/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Homeland Security is using lie detector tests to hunt for leaks to the press”

Subhead:  “It may be the first time a federal agency has used polygraphs to question employees specifically about leaks to the media”

“The Department of Homeland Security, led by Secretary Kristi Noem, has begun performing polygraph tests on employees to determine if they are leaking information about immigration operations to the media.

“During an interview with ‘Face the Nation’ and moderator Margaret Brennan on Sunday, Noem said plans to use the ‘broad and extensive’ authorities of her role, adding, ‘I plan to use every single one of them to make sure that we’re following the law, that we are following the procedures in place to keep people safe, and that we’re making sure we’re following through on what President Trump has promised — that he’s going to make America safe again.’

“The Associated Press’ Christine Fernando noted, ‘While these polygraph exams are typically not admissible in court proceedings, they are frequently used by federal law enforcement agencies and for national security clearances.’ ”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/kristi-noem-polygraph-dhs-employees-media-leaks/

“X” Social Media Tanking?

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Article in The New York Times by Kate Conger and Christing Hauser, 3/10/25

Headline:  “Bad Day for X and Tesla Prompts Concern About Musk’s Distractions”

Subhead:  “The billionaire’s social media site X suffered outages, and Tesla’s stock tanked on Monday.”

“Elon Musk is facing questions about how much attention he is paying to his businesses as he advises President Trump on the direction of the federal government.

“The questions have mounted as Mr. Musk’s business empire — which includes the electric car maker Tesla, the social media site X and the rocket maker SpaceX — has run into challenges.

“On Monday, users of X reported widespread outages. The same day, Tesla’s stock fell more than 15 percent amid concerns that include declining electric vehicle sales and politically driven protests against the manufacturer. . . ”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/technology/twitter-x-down-outage.html

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Article in AP by Michelle Chapman and Barbara Ortutay, 3/10/25

Headline:  “Elon Musk Claims X being targeted in ‘massive cyberattack’ as service goes down”

. . . “ ‘We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources,’ Musk claimed in a post. ‘Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing . . .’

“Later on Monday, Musk said on Fox Business Network’s Kudlow that the attackers had “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area” without going into detail on what this might mean.

“Cybersecurity experts quickly pointed out, however, that this doesn’t necessarily mean that an attack originated in Ukraine. Security researcher Kevin Beaumont said on Bluesky that Musk’s claim is ‘missing a key fact — it was actually IPs from worldwide, not just Ukraine.’ ”

https://apnews.com/article/x-musk-twitter-outage-california-0268a8b035aaa277c0287e7c82b6081e

 

WAPO Goes Down Slippery-Slope

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Article in The Guardian by Marina Dunbar, 3/10/25

Headline:  “Top Washington Post columnist quits after piece critical of Bezos is scrapped”

Subhead:  “Ruth Marcus dissented from paper’s new opinion policy of supporting only ‘personal liberties and free markets’”

“Washington Post associate editor and top political columnist Ruth Marcus is reportedly resigning following the decision by the CEO, Will Lewis, to kill her opinion column critical of the billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’s latest changes to the paper.

“ ‘It is with great sadness that I submit my resignation as columnist and associate editor of the Washington Post,’ Marcus wrote in a letter addressed to Lewis and Bezos and posted on X by a New York Times media reporter.

“Last month, Bezos announced changes to the opinion section that appeared to more closely align the Post with the political right, saying that only columns that supported ‘personal liberties and free markets’ would henceforth be published.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/10/washington-post-ruth-marcus-resigns

NPR Keeping Truth Alive

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Article in the Columbia Journalism Review by Bill Grueskin, 3/7/25

Headline:  “Under Attack, NPR Does Its Job”

“Brendan Carr, the newly appointed chair of the FCC, has made no secret of his antipathy for mainstream press—including NPR, which he recently alleged may be violating the law by broadcasting commercial messages.

“It’s an unusually timed claim, but as Carr made clear in a conversation with Semafor’s Ben Smith last week, he’s out for vengeance after four years of a Democratic administration in Washington. That’s why it’s all the more encouraging to see NPR stand tall with its tough-but-fair coverage of the Trump administration.

“One of NPR’s latest and most significant examples: reporter Stephen Fowler dug into many of the most absurd, multimillion-dollar claims made by Elon Musk’s DOGE group. He found error upon error—each of which pointed in the same direction of exaggerated or nonexistent savings for taxpayers. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/laurels-and-darts/laurels-darts-under-attack-npr-does-its-job.php