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Broadcasters Can’t Use Facts Now?

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Article in AlterNet by Adam Lynch, 4/17/25

Headline:  ” ‘Misleading the American public’: Trump’s FCC chair tweets veiled threat at media giant”

“Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is threatening to revoke the licenses of broadcasters who don’t toe the current administration’s line on the wrongful deportation of a legal U.S. resident.

“ ‘Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that [Maryland father Kilmar] Abrego Garcia was merely a law-abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular “Maryland man.”  When the truth comes out, they ignore it,’ Carr posted on X Wednesday. ‘Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn’t cut it.’ . . .”

https://www.alternet.org/brendan-carr-fcc/

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Article in The Hill by Sarah Fortinsky, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump says CBS should lose license after ’60 Minutes’ segments on Ukraine, Greenland”

“President Trump railed against CBS on Sunday night, saying the network should lose its broadcast license after “60 Minutes” aired segments on Ukraine and Greenland that the president said cast him in a negative light. . . .”

“CBS News’s parent company, Paramount, has said the president’s lawsuit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact,” claiming Trump is trying to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like.” . . .”

https://thehill.com/media/5247488-trump-says-cbs-should-lose-license-after-60-minutes-segments-on-ukraine-greenland/

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/14/25

Headline:  “5 things to know about the Trump, CBS feud “

“President Trump’s feud with CBS is reaching a fever pitch as his administration turns up the heat on the national broadcast network stemming from a ‘60 Minutes’ interview it aired with former Vice President Kamala Harris before the presidential election last fall.

“Here are five things to know about the Trump and CBS fight. . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5248507-five-things-to-know-about-the-trump-cbs-feud/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Skydancing With Trump”

Subhead: “Donald Trump escalated his attacks on CBS News in a Sunday night tirade. But it’s what prospective new owner David Ellison was doing 24 hours beforehand that’s also left the newsroom on edge.”

“On Sunday night, Donald Trump launched into an unhinged tirade, this time targeting CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global. The president, apparently incensed by the latest episode of ’60 Minutes,’ unleashed a barrage of false claims and conspiratorial rhetoric, accusing the network of having ‘illegally’ worked to elect Kamala Harris.  . .”

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-donald-trump-skydance-paramount

Only Tovarisch-Media Allowed!

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Article in Democracy Now by Staff, 4/16/25

Headline:  “Russian Journalists Sentenced to 5+ Years in Prison for “Extremism”

“A Russian court in Moscow has sentenced four journalists to five-and-a-half years in prison each, after convicting them of “extremism.” Two of the four worked for Sota Vision, which documents Russian protests and court proceedings; the others contributed to international news outlets including Reuters and the Associated Press. Prosecutors alleged the journalists were involved with a banned anti-corruption organization founded by Alexei Navalny, the opposition politician who died in a Russian penal colony last year following repeated assassination attempts.”

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/4/16/headlines/russian_journalists_sentenced_to_5_years_in_prison_for_extremism

Not All Reporters Are in Pool

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Update:

Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/16/25

Headline:  “The Deep End of the Pool”

Subhead:  “Donald Trump is replacing reporters with MAGA mouthpieces—will the rest of the press corps do anything about it?”

“On Wednesday morning, The Associated Press returned to court—again—in its ongoing fight to rejoin the White House press pool, the group of reporters granted access to cover smaller events on behalf of the broader press corps. . .”

“Instead, the administration took a new tack: On Tuesday, it announced that it had eliminated the wire service seat in the pool altogether. The move was a not-so-subtle trick designed to sidestep the court order by barring all wire services—not just the AP—thus claiming neutrality while continuing to shut out the Julie Pace-led newsroom. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/trump-ap-white-house-pool-wire-services

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/9/25

Headline:  “The Pool Filter”

Subhead:  “Some White House pool reports are no longer making it to the official distribution list, Status has learned—an unsettling development in the Trump administration’s escalating war on the press.”

“At approximately six-thirty on Tuesday evening, Joseph Morton, the Washington correspondent for The Dallas Morning News and the White House pooler on duty, tapped out a short email about the press being on the move and hit send. The crux of the email was fairly innocuous. It said that the White House pool, a small group of reporters designated to cover an event on behalf of the larger press corps, had been “loaded into the press vans” and was following Donald Trump “to the NRCC dinner at the National Building Museum.” But it also noted something else: ‘A reporter and photographer with The Associated Press were turned away from joining the pool.’. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/white-house-censors-pool-reports

 

Airwaves Belong To All Of Us

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Article in The Nation by Victor Pickard, 4/15/25

Headline:  “We Must Save Public Media to Change It”

Subhead:  “We need public media more than ever—it’s too precious to let Trump defund it. But to live up to its democratic promise, we must support public media to serve our needs.”

“he US public media system is under a multi-pronged attack from a hostile government. It’s under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for purportedly airing commercials, and by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently led a congressional hearing—dubbed the “Anti-American Airwaves”—to target what she claims is public media’s liberal bias. . .”

“Government attacks on public media are as old as Big Bird. Ever since Richard Nixon feuded with public broadcasting during its earliest days, every Republican administration, except Gerald Ford’s, has tried to cut public media funding. . .”

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/public-broadcasting-media-democracy/

No Reporting on Pres Allowed!

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Article in Huffpost by Marco Margaritoff, 4/15/25

Headlline:  “Bernie Sanders Slams Trump For Targeting Media: ‘If You Can’t Take Criticism, Get Out’ “

Subhead:  ” ‘Trump had a meltdown Sunday on social media over a ’60 Minutes’ report on his plan to take over Greenland and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.”

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling out President Donald Trump for his thin-skinned reaction to Sunday’s “60 Minutes” broadcast on CBS — and for once again demanding the network lose its license over last year’s interview with Kamala Harris. . .”

““And right now, he’s going after the media,” the Vermont senator said. “I don’t know if any of you saw it. He is now wanting to take away CBS’s license because they did a story that criticized him.”

“Oh, my word, CBS criticized him! Oh, let’s drive them out of business! How terrible is that!” Sanders continued in a mocking tone to boos from the crowd directed at Trump. . .”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-cbs-60-minutes_n_67fe2dc8e4b0e3decc4bf552

Media No-Go Zone

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Article in AP by David Bauder,4/15/25

Headline:  “The White House is starting a new media policy that restricts wire services’ access to the president”

“Fresh from a courtroom loss over The Associated Press’ access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday put forward a new media policy that sharply curtails access to Donald Trump by news agencies that serve media outlets around the world. It was the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities.

“The move would block the AP and other wire services that serve billions of readers through thousands of news outlets. It comes after a judge ruled the White House had violated the organization’s free speech by banning it because it disagreed with the outlet’s decision not to rename the Gulf of Mexico. . .”

https://apnews.com/article/ap-trump-press-speech-white-house-access-97a6f5532edd5eec09bd292ba5c9dbdb

Media Deals in the Works?

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Article in the Washington Post by Eric Wemple, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Has the media made any deals with Trump?  I answered your questions”

Subhead:   “From Erik’s Q&A on the media with readers from  Monday, April 14”

“Are the DOGE job losses similar to the newspaper industry’s?

“I’m a former newspaper executive who faced laying off my share of staffer for almost a decade. The DOGE cuts have felt eerily similar to the news industry’s cuts and have left me feeling uneasy about my former role. Tell me if I’m right for feeling guilty or tell me what are the differences  between DOGE tactics and the news industry’s? . . .”

Rt. Wing Media Find Fault

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Update:

Article in The Verge by Sato, 4/16/25

Hedline:  “Tariffs are splitting even Trump’s loudest boosters.”

“At least somewhat. Media Matters analyzed top podcasters aligned with Donald Trump and found that while most covered his tariff policy positively, there are signs of fracturing. Ben Shapiro and Joe Rogan are among the right wing influencers who’ve criticized Trump’s trade war in recent weeks. . .”

https://www.theverge.com/news/650096/tariffs-are-splitting-even-trumps-loudest-boosters

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Article in Media Matters by Zachary Pleat4/14/25

Headline:  “MAGA media knives are out for Trump’s tariff advisers”

Subhead:  “Trump supporters are blaming some of Trump’s economic appointees — instead of Trump — for confusion and general turmoil over his tariff”

“Numerous right-wing media figures are placing blame for the chaos and confusion over Trump’s ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on two of his top economic appointees — senior trade adviser Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — rather than on Trump himself. . . .”

“Pro-Trump media figures on Fox and elsewhere have been blaming Lutnick and Navarro for tariff-related confusion over the past week . . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trade/maga-media-knives-are-out-trumps-tariff-advisers

Robber-Baron Media?

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Article in The New York Times by CeciliaKing, Mike Isaac, and David McCabe, 4/14/25

Headline:  “U.S. Argues Meta Built a Social Media Monopoly”

Subhead:  “The tech giant went to court on Monday in an antitrust trial focused on its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The case could reshape its business.”

“The Federal Trade Commission on Monday accused Meta of creating a monopoly that squelched competition by buying start-ups that stood in its way, kicking off a landmark antitrust trial that could dismantle a social media empire that has transformed how the world connects online.

“In a packed courtroom in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, the F.T.C. opened its first antitrust trial under the Trump administration by arguing that Meta illegally cemented a monopoly in social networking by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp when they were tiny start-ups. Those actions were part of a ‘buy-or-bury strategy,’ the F.T.C. said.”

https://archive.is/OKi9X#selection-751.0-767.46

Widening Gyre Public Media

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Plan to Defund Public Broadcasting To Face Opposition from Americans Who Overwhelmingly Support NPR and PBS“

Subhead:  “White House source tells press of plan to cut more than a billion dollars from the budget, effectively zeroing out federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”

“According to Politico and New York Times reports Monday, the White House will send Congress a request to claw back nearly $1.1 billion in already-approved federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the entity that provides federal support for NPR and PBS affiliates across the country. . .”

https://www.freepress.net/news/trumps-plan-defund-public-broadcasting-face-opposition-americans-who-overwhelmingly-support