Links

Facts & Media at Odds?

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 2/12/25

Headline: “Journalists have a ‘messaging problem’ when it comes to defending fact-based media”

Subhead:  “At a time when trust in the media is low, journalists must be more transparent about their work, experts say”

“Trust in the media and fact-based journalism is at a record low. Politicians are attacking the press, while audiences turn to alternative platforms, like entertainment podcasts and social media, for their news.

“One way journalists can combat this issue is by treating it as a messaging problem, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans said Tuesday at a panel discussion during the annual meeting of Poynter’s National Advisory Board. (The entire discussion can be viewed on poynter.org).”

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2025/journalists-have-a-messaging-problem-when-it-comes-to-defending-fact-based-media/

 

Media Gulf

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Article in The Guardian by Anna Betts, 1/12/25

Headline:  “AP excoriates White House barring of reporters as ‘alarming precedent’ “

Subhead:  “Editor Julie Pace writes to Trump’s chief of staff about ban on its journalists after AP declines to use ‘Gulf of America’ “

“The executive editor of the Associated Press sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday criticizing its decision to block two of its journalists from attending press events on Tuesday after the outlet refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as ‘the Gulf of America’ ”.

“I write on behalf of The Associated Press, an independent global news organization that reaches billions of people every day, to object in the strongest possible terms to the actions taken by the Trump administration against AP yesterday,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in the letter addressed to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff.

“The issue here is free speech – a fundamental pillar of American democracy and a value of the utmost importance to all Americans, regardless of political persuasion, occupation or industry.”

Pace said that on Tuesday, the White House barred AP journalists from attending two press events with Donald Trump, “following an apparent complaint over AP’s editorial decisions regarding the Gulf of Mexico, which President Trump renamed the Gulf of America”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/12/ap-white-house

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 2/12/25

Headline:  “Leavitt defends banning AP from Oval Office over ‘Gulf of America’ stance’ “

“White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended a decision by the White House on Tuesday to keep The Associated Press out of the pool of reporters allowed inside the Oval Office to cover an executive order signing with President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.

“We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office,” Leavitt said during a briefing with reporters on Wednesday when asked about the move, calling it a “privilege to cover the White House.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5141155-karoline-leavitt-ap-oval-office-gulf-of-america/

 

Rt. Wing Media Vultures

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Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffe, 2/11/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media want you to think stopping infectious diseases and feeding the poor is woke”

“Right-wing media are focused on culture war battles as the Trump administration suspends lifesaving work from the U.S. Agency for International Development, cherry-picking USAID programs to dismiss the agency as ‘woke,’ ‘radical,’ and ‘overwhelmingly hard left.’ In reality, USAID is responsible for providing health care and nutritional aid to thousands of the world’s vulnerable people, many living in war-torn regions.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-want-you-think-stopping-infectious-diseases-and-feeding-poor-woke

 

Criticism Not Allowed Now?

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Article in The Intercept by Sam Biddle, 2/11/25

Headline:  “ICE Wants to Know If You’re Posting Negative Things About It Online”

Subhead:  “ICE wants to hire contractors to monitor social media for threats. Those who criticize the agency could be pulled into the dragnet.”

“Amid anger and protest over the Trump administration’s plan to deport millions of immigrants, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to monitor and locate ‘negative’ social media discussion about the agency and its top officials, according to contract documents reviewed by The Intercept.

Citing an increase in threats to ICE agents and leadership, the agency is soliciting pitches from private companies to monitor threats across the internet — with a special focus on social media. People who simply criticize ICE online could pulled into the dragnet.”

https://theintercept.com/2025/02/11/ice-immigration-social-media-surveillance/

PBS DEI Pink Slip

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Article in Mediaite by Kipp Jones, 2/10/25

Headline:  “PBS Caves To Trump, Ousts Staffers: ‘We Have Closed Our DEI Office’”

“The Public Broadcasting Service announced Monday evening it had closed its diversity, equity, and inclusion office in order to comply with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.

“PBS also said the staffers in that office had left the company, but that it would continue to serve Americans of all backgrounds.

“A spokesperson with the non-profit distributor of educational programming – which receives some government funding – told The Hollywood Reporter the office had been shuttered. . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/news/pbs-caves-to-trump-ousts-staffers-we-have-closed-our-dei-office/

 

Media Stenographers

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Article in Mediaite by Ahmad Austin Jr., 2/10/25

Headline:  “Fox News’s Emily Compagno said that ‘legacy media’ should simply repost President Donald Trump’s press releases when covering his presidency.”

“On Monday’s episode of Outnumbered, the panel discussed the way Trump has been criticized — by both the media and the Democratic Party — for his rapid-fire Executive Orders and other legislative decisions. Within Trump’s first two weeks, he signed 54 Executive Orders. It was the highest number of Executive Orders signed within a president’s first 100 days since Harry Truman signed 57.”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-host-says-all-legacy-media-has-to-do-is-repost-press-releases-from-trump-white-house/

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Article in Daily Kos by News Corpse, 2/10/25

Headline:  “WTF? Fox News Tells the ‘Legacy Media’ to Just ‘Repeat and Repost’ Whatever Dear Leader Trump Says”

“Is there anyone left in America who is not convinced that Fox News is a shameless disseminator of disinformation in the service of Donald Trump and his ultra right-wing MAGA cult? If so, the network itself has helpfully provided an argument that ought to seal the deal.”

“Trump himself has provided the best evidence that Fox News is his Ministry of Propaganda. . .”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/10/2302846/-FOX-NEWS-HOST-The-Media-Should-Just-Repeat-Retweet-and-Repost-Whatever-Dear-Leader-Trump-Says?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Virtual Musk Media

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Article in Common Dreams by Tom Valovic, 2/10/25

Headline:  “What Is the Mainstream Media Missing About Elon Musk? He Is Instituting Technocracy”

Subhead:  “What Musk is doing is tantamount to hacking the inner core of the federal government and the public trust—a blatant coup and power grab for technocratic ends.”

“It’s hard to see articles about the “move fast and break things” approach of the Trump administration without also hearing about the hovering presence the world’s richest man, technocrat extraordinaire Elon Musk. The mainstream media likes to describe Musk primarily as an oligarch. His involvement—which now includes having a desk in the White House—is a rather alarming event and something hardly anyone expected. Unfortunately, most media reports are lacking an important perspective about this unexpected bestowal of political power to him and other technocratic oligarchs. Is this a deliberate omission or do many media outlets simply have blinders on because, in their perception, Big Tech is now fundamental to Wall Street’s economy and national security?”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/elon-musk-technocrat

No Clothes in the Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 2/10/25

Headline:  “Covering the ‘Mad King’ “

Subhead:  “Is the press underplaying or overplaying Trump’s early moves?”

“It’s become a truism (including in this newsletter) that Trump has metaphorically flooded the zone since returning to office last month, overwhelming the news media and his political opponents with an apparently strategic torrent of radical actions and statements. . . ”

“As I wrote recently, it’s legitimately difficult for the news media to keep up with all the zone flooding, both metaphorical and real. Various critics, however, have argued in recent days that major mainstream outlets aren’t doing a sharp enough job with the journalistic and attentional resources that they do have at their disposal—that they’ve soft-pedaled Trump’s stated plan to turn Gaza into a beach resort by failing to describe it as ‘ethnic cleansing,’ for instance, or failed to communicate the gravity of Elon Musk’s meddling with the machinery of government by failing to call it a ‘coup.’ ”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/mad_king_trump_flood_zone_media_criticism.php

Reporting on Politicians Not Allowed?

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Article in Daily Beast by Liam Archacki, 2/7/25

Headline:  “Trump Megadonor Asks SCOTUS to Eliminate Key Media Protection”

Subhead:  “UNDER ATTACK Billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn is seeking to eliminate a precedent protecting the press’ ability to cover politicians.”

“A Donald Trump megadonor is asking the conservative-dominated Supreme Court to gut the media’s ability to assertively cover politicians.

“Billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn, who has donated millions to Trump’s presidential campaigns, is petitioning the court to disavow The New York Times v. Sullivan, a key precedent protecting the press.

“The landmark 1964 decision raised the standards to sue the press for libel when a false statement is published about a public figure.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-megadonor-steve-wynn-asks-scotus-to-strip-media-protection/

When Will Media Focus?

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Article in Mediaite by Alex Griffing, 2/7/25

Headline:  “As Trump Floods the Zone, the Media Must Focus on What He’s Doing to Our National Security”

“During Wednesday’s White House press briefing, the assembled reporters did not ask Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt a single question about the CIA, despite the alarming reports about agency personnel being gutted and the potential mishandling of classified information.

“Instead, the majority of the questions focused on President Donald Trump’s scatterbrained remarks the night before about the U.S. “owning” Gaza. Reporters also drilled down on Elon Musk’s crusade against federal spending and his potential conflicts of interest as he guts federal agencies, like the U.S. Agency for International Development.”

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/as-trump-floods-the-zone-the-media-must-focus-on-what-hes-doing-to-our-national-security/