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Category: Journalism/Media

The BBC must not be cowed by Trump’s threats

The BBC must not be cowed by Trump’s threats

Alan Rusbridger writes: There’s one way the BBC could retrieve some dignity from the smoking rubble of the past week. It should send Donald Trump a four-word reply to his blustering threat to sue the corporation in Florida for $1bn in damages: “See you in court.” There’s barely a notable news organisation in the US that Trump hasn’t yet sued. ABC News and CBS News have demonstrated the resolve of a jellyfish in stumping up millions to settle lawsuits that…

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Trump takes on BBC with $1bn lawsuit threat after bosses quit

Trump takes on BBC with $1bn lawsuit threat after bosses quit

  The Guardian reports: A BBC board member with links to the Conservative party “led the charge” in pressuring the corporation’s leadership over claims of systemic bias in coverage of Donald Trump, Gaza and transgender rights, the Guardian has been told. Sources said Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former communications chief who was appointed to the BBC’s board during Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister, amplified the criticisms in key board meetings that preceded the shock resignation of the director general,…

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A veteran journalist opens up on the censorship that led to his resignation

A veteran journalist opens up on the censorship that led to his resignation

Alan Greenblatt writes: The censorship you never hear about may be the worst, or at least the most insidious. Thankfully, many journalists are speaking out at a crucial moment for the press. Virtually every major outlet refused the Pentagon’s edict that they publish or broadcast only information handed to them by the Department of Defense (which the administration calls the Department of War). And there have been several other examples just in recent days of journalists leaving their jobs in…

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Top U.S. media, including conservative outlets, reject new Pentagon press restrictions

Top U.S. media, including conservative outlets, reject new Pentagon press restrictions

  The Department of Defense has introduced a new press policy requiring the Pentagon to authorize any reporting on itself. Top TV news outlets have rejected the pledge; only the far-right outlet One America News has agreed to sign on. Dozens of reporters with the Pentagon Press Association turned in their government-issued press badges and left the building Wednesday rather than agree to the rules. “The Trump administration has made the suppression of speech that it doesn’t like a governing…

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Pope Leo urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

Pope Leo urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

The Associated Press reports: Pope Leo XIV encouraged international news agencies on Thursday to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation, as he strongly backed a free, independent and objective press. History’s first American pope called for imprisoned journalists to be released and said the work of journalists must never be considered a crime. Rather, journalism is a right and a pillar upholding “the edifice of our societies” that must be protected and defended,…

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Retaliation: State violence is targeting journalists

Retaliation: State violence is targeting journalists

David Wallace-Wells writes: Last Friday, the 48-year-old Emmy-winning reporter Mario Guevara was deported to El Salvador from an ICE detention facility in Folkston, Ga. He was held in detention there for over 100 days. The state’s filings concerning his detention seem to largely focus on the crime of committing journalism. Guevara was arrested in June at a No Kings rally outside Atlanta, where, while filming the protest for his livestreaming platform MG News, he (clearly wearing a press vest and…

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The corruption and Bari Weiss-ification of the media

The corruption and Bari Weiss-ification of the media

  Eoin Higgins writes: Only a billionaire could look at the sclerotic state of network television news and conclude that the problem is that coverage is not sufficiently to the right. Yet that seems to be exactly the conclusion drawn by David Ellison, the billionaire whose company Skydance just bought CBS through a purchase of its parent, Paramount. Ellison’s latest move was to acquire the conservative outlet The Free Press and make the site’s founder Bari Weiss the editor-in-chief of…

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The rapid MAGA media takeover

The rapid MAGA media takeover

David Karpf writes: American mass media has been transformed in these early months of President Donald Trump’s second administration. We’re about 35 weeks into a term that will last for 173 more, and in that time, we have seen a tech titan gut a once-great newspaper in an apparent act of capitulation to the commander in chief, government accounts gleefully spreading hateful memes on X (the far-right platform owned by a billionaire tech oligarch), a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump…

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FCC Chief Brendan Carr has defined himself by his total fealty to Donald Trump

FCC Chief Brendan Carr has defined himself by his total fealty to Donald Trump

Jonathan Reiss writes: The FCC holds tremendous sway over broadcast media, but few administrations have pushed the boundaries of its power — and few appointees at the agency have openly talked about doing so with such nakedly political aims the way Carr does. In his effort to bring the media to heel, Trump could not invent a better ally than Carr, who has laid out a program for weaponizing the FCC against Trump’s enemies. Do you even understand the level…

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Pentagon imposes censorship restricting how reporters cover the country’s largest federal agency

Pentagon imposes censorship restricting how reporters cover the country’s largest federal agency

Politico reports: The Pentagon on Friday said reporters who cover the agency could access the building only if they agreed not to publish certain information, an unprecedented move that demands media outlets hand the department vast control over what they publish. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a Friday evening email, said journalists could continue to enter the Defense Department only if they sign a note saying they will not publish classified information or some less sensitive documents that are not…

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Israel massacred 31 journalists as it destroyed newspaper offices in Yemen

Israel massacred 31 journalists as it destroyed newspaper offices in Yemen

Committee to Protect Journalists: Israel’s targeted strikes on two newspaper offices in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which killed 31 journalists and media support workers on September 10, signal that its deadly pattern of attacking reporters and newsrooms on the grounds that they publish “terrorist” propaganda has spread firmly across the Middle East. Yemen’s September 26 newspaper was the first to name the 31 killed by multiple strikes on its office and that of the Yemen newspaper, both in the government’s Moral…

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Why journalists are reluctant to call Trump an authoritarian – and why that matters for democracy

Why journalists are reluctant to call Trump an authoritarian – and why that matters for democracy

A free election can still result in authoritarian rule. Photo illustration: Douglas Rissing, iStock/Getty Images Plus By Karrin Vasby Anderson, Colorado State University In an authoritarian state, the leader engages in unconstitutional or undemocratic practices for the purpose of consolidating power. Key components of authoritarianism include rejecting democratic rules; denying the legitimacy of opponents; tolerating or encouraging political violence; and curtailing the civil liberties of opponents. Since he took office for a second time, President Donald Trump has sent National…

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Israel’s killing of journalists follows a pattern of silencing Palestinian media that stretches back to 1967

Israel’s killing of journalists follows a pattern of silencing Palestinian media that stretches back to 1967

A funeral ceremony takes place in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Gaza following the deaths of five journalists on Aug. 25, 2025. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images By Maha Nassar, University of Arizona Five journalists were among the 22 people killed on Aug. 25, 2025, in Israeli strikes on the Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Following global condemnation, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying Israel “values the work of journalists.” But…

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How tribal radio stations are preparing for a future without the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

How tribal radio stations are preparing for a future without the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Nieman Lab reports: In the most remote parts of Alaska, staying in touch can involve a bit more effort than sending a text. Cell service is spotty, highways are nonexistent, and the postal service remains a vital lifeline, delivering supplies and mail by plane. But for anyone who wants to broadcast a different kind of message — a reminder to pick up milk, for example, or birthday wishes — there’s always the Muktuk Telegram. Named for a traditional food of…

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‘Legitimization Cell’: Israeli unit tasked with linking Gaza journalists to Hamas

‘Legitimization Cell’: Israeli unit tasked with linking Gaza journalists to Hamas

+972 reports: The Israeli military has operated a special unit called the “Legitimization Cell,” tasked with gathering intelligence from Gaza that can bolster Israel’s image in the international media, according to three intelligence sources who spoke to +972 Magazine and Local Call and confirmed the unit’s existence. Established after October 7, the unit sought information on Hamas’ use of schools and hospitals for military purposes, and on failed rocket launches by armed Palestinian groups that harmed civilians in the enclave….

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‘If these words reach you … Israel has succeeded in killing me’ — the last words of Gaza journalist Anas al-Sharif

‘If these words reach you … Israel has succeeded in killing me’ — the last words of Gaza journalist Anas al-Sharif

Before his assassination by Israel, Anas al-Sharif wrote: This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings. Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of the Jabaliya refugee…

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