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Untrustworthy Media Search?

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Article in ArsTechnica by Jon Brodkin, 2/25/26

Headline:  “Judge doesn’t trust DOJ with search of devices seized from Wash. Post reporter”

Subhead:  “Court to search devices itself instead of letting government have full access.”

“A federal court will conduct a search of devices seized from a Washington Post reporter after a magistrate judge decided yesterday that the Department of Justice cannot be trusted to perform the search on its own.

“US Magistrate Judge William Porter criticized government prosecutors for not including key information in a search warrant application. The court wasn’t aware of a 1980 law that limits searches and seizures of journalists’ work materials when it approved the warrant, Porter acknowledged. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/judge-doesnt-trust-doj-with-search-of-devices-seized-from-wash-post-reporter/

Media Ignore Victims?

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Article in FAIR by Raina Lipsitz, 2/24/26

Headline:  “Media Focus on Epstein’s Powerful Friends Erases Their Victims”

“Much has been written about sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose numerous social and business ties to members of the global elite are still being untangled. . .”

“Yet most elite media coverage has focused not on Epstein’s victims, the criminal justice system’s failure to protect them, or the ways in which powerful government officials have colluded to shield Epstein and his high-powered associates from accountability. Rather, the spotlight has been on the lifestyles of Epstein and his rich and famous friends—and the supposed lack of evidence that anyone other than the late Epstein and the incarcerated Maxwell sexually abused or facilitated the abuse of minors. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/media-focus-on-epsteins-powerful-friends-erases-their-victims/

Court Intervenes on Illegal Search

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Article in The Hill by Tara Suter, 2/24/26

Headline:  “Judge says Justice Department may not search Washington Post reporter’s seized devices “

“A judge told the Justice Department in a Tuesday filing that it cannot search a Washington Post reporter’s seized devices.

“In the filing, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter said the U.S. government could not “open, access, review, or otherwise examine any of” Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s “seized data.”

“The government seized all of Ms. Natanson’s work product, documentary material, and devices, terminating her access to the confidential sources she developed and to all the tools she needs as a working journalist,” Porter said in the filing. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5753794-justice-dept-reporter-devices/

CNN Anchor Points Out . . .

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Article in Comic Sands by Alan Herrera, 2/23/26

Headline: “CNN Anchor Calls Out The Brutal Truth About The Countries That Joined Trump’s ‘Board Of Peace’ “

“CNN anchor Abby Phillip pointed out the brutal truth about the countries that joined President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace,’ noting that citizens of half the countries that have joined the initiative . . . can’t even get a visa to the U.S. . .”

Phillip said, “The point is we have found those countries to be so unreliable and so risky and perhaps even nexuses of danger and terrorism that we won’t even let their citizens get a visa, but they’re on a ‘board of Peace’?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.comicsands.com/phillip-board-peace-visas

MAGA Defector Bridge-Burning?

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Article in Raw Story by Robert Davis, 2/23/26

Headline:  “This MAGA media figure is about to cause ‘a whole lot more drama’ for Trump: analyst:”

“A MAGA media figure is about to cause ‘a whole lot more drama’ for President Donald Trump, according to one analyst.

“Last week, Tucker Carlson released an interview with Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, where he accused a former Israeli Prime Minister of visiting the infamous Epstein Island and other remarks that left pro-Israel Republicans steamed, Will Sommer at The Bulwark reported on Monday. For instance, pro-Israel voices like Laura Loomer and Dave Rubin spoke out against Carlson’s interview. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2675303066/

Who Will be Future Journalists?

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Article in Poynter by Barbara Allen, 2/23/26

Headline:   “Cash-starved and censored, America’s student newspapers are fighting to survive”

Subhead:  “Shrinking budgets and university pressure are squeezing the next generation of journalists”

“Andrew Frazier expected to spend his senior year as the sports editor of The Vista, the student newspaper at the University of Central Oklahoma.

“Instead, he became editor-in-chief of a new student-run publication, The Independent View, after his university said printing The Vista wasn’t worth the $12,000 annual cost. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/educators-students/2026/student-newspaper-challenges-business-censorship/

More CBS Grief?

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Article in The New York Times by Maggie Astor and Benjamin Mullin, 2/23/26

Headline:  “Peter Attia Leaves CBS News Amid Epstein Files Fallout”

Subhead:  “Emails showed that the longevity influencer had provided medical advice to Jeffrey Epstein and had made crude comments about women.”

“The longevity influencer Peter Attia has resigned from his position as a contributor to CBS News, about three weeks after the revelation of his relationship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. . .”

“Dr. Attia was one of several high-profile contributors recently named to CBS News by Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief, . .”

“The controversy over Dr. Attia is the latest setback for CBS News, which has found itself in the headlines since Ms. Weiss took over last year. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/well/peter-attia-cbs-epstein.html

New Media Companies

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 12/23/26

Headline:  “A CBS News personality is starting his own media company – but keeping his day job”

Subhead:  “David Begnaud is launching an independent media company using the beehiiv platform while remaining a contributor at the network”

“As media jobs disappear and the industry shifts even further to a focus on individual personalities, rather than global brands, many journalists are choosing to leave stable jobs and strike out on their own by starting paid newsletters on platforms such as Substack and beehiiv. . .”

“On Monday morning, the longtime CBS News personality David Begnaud announced that he would be keeping his day job as a contributor while starting an independent media company called Do Good Crew . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/23/cbs-news-david-begnaud-beehiiv

Feasting on the Remains?

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Shutterstock

Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 2/22/26

Headline:  “Picking off the Post”

Subhead:  “After The Washington Post’s retreat from local news and sports, rival outlets are racing to fill the void, scooping up displaced talent and capitalizing on the opportunity.”

“In the weeks since The Washington Post largely abandoned its local coverage of its namesake city—gutting its metro team and shuttering its sports desk—a question has hovered over Washington’s media circles: Will another outlet make a serious play for the territory?

“Washington is one of the country’s largest and wealthiest media markets, home to some 6 million residents across the metropolitan area. And in the aftermath of The Post’s sweeping round of layoffs that cut more than a third of the newsroom, a meaningful gap has opened in local coverage. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/washington-post-local-sports-coverage

Free Speech for All?

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Article in The Nation by Atarah Israel, 2/20/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Threats to Free Speech Aren’t New to Black Journalists”

Subhead:  “Two years after Trump’s infamous invitation to the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention, the organization is adapting and bracing for escalating hostility.”

“. . .NABJ’s decision to invite a hostile actor to a Black advocacy space in the name of journalistic tradition left many professional Black journalists reeling. Almost two years later, in the wake of the Trump administration’s blatant attacks against Black journalists, the decision seems even more incomprehensible. From the federally backed arrests of Georgia Fort, Don Lemon, and Jerome Richardson in January, to Trump’s recent racist social-media post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys, the president’s hostility toward Black people, immigrants, and anyone who questions power has been transparent. Even his social-media tribute to Jesse Jackson on Tuesday sparked heated backlash for using the civil rights leader’s death as self-inflating PR fodder. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/trump-free-speech-press-black-journalists-nabj/