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Category: Journalism/Media

German newspaper publishes op-ed by Elon Musk supporting far-right AfD party; opinion editor resigns

German newspaper publishes op-ed by Elon Musk supporting far-right AfD party; opinion editor resigns

The Guardian reports: The tech entrepreneur and close adviser to Donald Trump Elon Musk has taken a stunning new public step in his support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), publishing a supportive guest opinion piece for the country’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper that has prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest. The commentary piece in German was launched online on Saturday before being published on Sunday in the flagship paper of the Axel Springer…

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Colorado man accused of attacking TV reporter while yelling: ‘This is Trump’s America now’

Colorado man accused of attacking TV reporter while yelling: ‘This is Trump’s America now’

The Associated Press reports: A Colorado man is facing possible bias-motivated charges for allegedly attacking a television news reporter after demanding to know whether he was a citizen, saying “This is Trump’s America now,” according to court documents. Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested Dec. 18 in Grand Junction, Colorado, after police say he followed KKCO/KJCT reporter Ja’Ronn Alex’s vehicle for around 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the Delta area. Alex told police that he believed he had been followed…

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Trump signals plans to use all levers of power against the media

Trump signals plans to use all levers of power against the media

The Washington Post reports: For many years, Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to sue the press but often didn’t follow through. When he did, he almost always lost. But Trump’s recent settlement with ABC News and a cascade of lawsuits and other complaints against media entities from him and his allies signal a ramped-up campaign from the president-elect. Together, the action has spurred concerns that his efforts could drastically undermine the institutions tasked with reporting on his coming administration, which Trump…

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Trump and allies are waging campaign against media to stifle dissent, experts warn

Trump and allies are waging campaign against media to stifle dissent, experts warn

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump and his allies have started to wage a campaign against media organisations in the US that are critical of the president-elect by launching lawsuits that media experts warn are designed to stifle dissent and potentially put them out of business. The tactic appears to be to aggressively pursue legal action against news organisations – which Trump has long dubbed “enemies of the people” – by asking for often hefty sums in damages. The cases are…

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Journalist arrests surge in 2024 amid Israel-Gaza war protests

Journalist arrests surge in 2024 amid Israel-Gaza war protests

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reports: While revelers and protesters alike gathered near New York City’s Times Square on Dec. 31, 2023, a freelance reporter rang in the new year from a holding cell 10 blocks away. Roni Jacobson was attempting to cover a pro-Palestinian demonstration for the New York Daily News when she said she bumped into a rookie officer and was quickly arrested. She was released after nearly 24 hours in custody when the charges against her for obstruction…

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Emboldened by ABC settlement, Trump threatens more lawsuits against the press

Emboldened by ABC settlement, Trump threatens more lawsuits against the press

CNN reports: President-elect Donald Trump had not been terribly successful in suing media organizations until this weekend when ABC News agreed to settle a closely-watched defamation case he brought against the network to the tune of $16 million. Now, Trump is expanding his threats of legal action against the news media as he prepares to move back into the White House, stating he wants to “straighten out the press.” On Monday, Trump said he has a new target: The Des-Moines…

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Questions ABC News should answer following the $16 million Trump settlement

Questions ABC News should answer following the $16 million Trump settlement

Richard J. Tofel writes: As someone who practiced press law for more than twenty years, and served as a senior executive of news organizations for just as long, I was shocked by the decision of ABC News last week to pay $16 million to settle Donald Trump’s libel case over George Stephanopoulos’s This Week broadcast in March. The shock came, and still lingers, because I—and every experienced press lawyer not involved in the case with whom I have discussed it—considered…

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Trump chooses Kari Lake to lead Voice of America

Trump chooses Kari Lake to lead Voice of America

The New York Times reports: President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday night chose Kari Lake to lead Voice of America, aiming to put a fierce loyalist who has called journalists “monsters” in charge of a federally funded news outlet that reaches hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Mr. Trump was accused of using his appointees to try to turn Voice of America, whose aim is to offer unbiased news to audiences around the world, into a pro-Trump propaganda…

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Journalists flock to Bluesky as X becomes increasingly ‘toxic’

Journalists flock to Bluesky as X becomes increasingly ‘toxic’

NBC News reports: When Ashton Pittman, an award-winning news editor and reporter, first joined the app Bluesky, he said, he was the only Mississippi journalist he knew to be using it. Until about five weeks ago, he said, that was the case. But now, Pittman said, there are at least 15 Mississippi journalists on Bluesky as it becomes a preferred platform for reporters, writers, activists and other groups who have become increasingly alienated by X. Pittman’s outlet, the Mississippi Free…

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A Trump field director was fired for being a white nationalist

A Trump field director was fired for being a white nationalist

Amanda Moore writes: A white nationalist worked on the Trump campaign in an important position in Pennsylvania for five months — until Friday, when the Pennsylvania GOP fired him after learning about his views from my reporting. Last week, I confirmed that Luke Meyer, the Trump campaign’s 24-year-old regional field director for Western Pennsylvania, goes by the online name Alberto Barbarossa. As Barbarossa, he co-hosts the Alexandria podcast with Richard Spencer, organizer of the 2017 white nationalist Unite the Right…

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‘I couldn’t cry over my children like everyone else’: the tragedy of Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh

‘I couldn’t cry over my children like everyone else’: the tragedy of Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh

Nesrine Malik writes: Wael al-Dahdouh was live on air when he realised something was wrong. It was 25 October 2023, about 5pm, and Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza was standing on the roof of the channel’s office building, speaking about the day’s airstrikes. “It’s going to be a bloody night,” said Dahdouh, his voice playing over live images of the skyline, as explosions flared on the horizon. Out of the corner of his eye, Dahdouh noticed his nephew Hamdan,…

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Over 200,000 subscribers flee Washington Post after Bezos blocks Harris endorsement

Over 200,000 subscribers flee Washington Post after Bezos blocks Harris endorsement

NPR reports: The Washington Post has been rocked by a tidal wave of cancellations from digital subscribers and a series of resignations from columnists, as the paper grapples with the fallout of owner Jeff Bezos’s decision to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president. More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, according to two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters. Not all cancellations take effect immediately. Still, the figure…

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Billionaire cowards at the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times are obeying fascism in advance

Billionaire cowards at the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times are obeying fascism in advance

Will Bunch writes: In a famous monologue [in the Watergate movie, All The President’s Men], [Washington Post executive editor, Ben] Bradlee (played by Jason Robards, who won an Oscar) tells Woodward and Bernstein to keep reporting the story, that “nothing’s riding on this except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country,” adding his trademarked newsroom cynicism, “not that any of that matters.” Yet perhaps an even more revealing scene occurs…

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Jeff Bezos killed WaPo Kamala Harris endorsement through ‘quid pro quo’ with Trump, asserts ex-columnist

Jeff Bezos killed WaPo Kamala Harris endorsement through ‘quid pro quo’ with Trump, asserts ex-columnist

The Daily Beast reports: The Washington Post’s outgoing editor-at-large and longtime columnist has made explosive claims that its owner Jeff Bezos struck a deal with Donald Trump in order to kill the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. Robert Kagan, who resigned from his position on Friday after more than two decades at the publication, told the Daily Beast that Trump’s meeting with executives of Bezos’ Blue Origin space company the same day that the Amazon founder killed a plan to…

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Jeff Bezos overrode his own publisher to kill Washington Post’s Kamala Harris endorsement

Jeff Bezos overrode his own publisher to kill Washington Post’s Kamala Harris endorsement

The Daily Beast reports: Multibillionaire Jeff Bezos alone made the decision to block The Washington Post, the newspaper he owns, from endorsing a presidential candidate. The Daily Beast has learned that even Will Lewis, Bezos’ hand-picked publisher, fought Bezos “tooth and nail” to prevent him from squelching the prepared editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for president. It’s a surprising twist, given that it was Lewis who announced the paper’s decision. The news organization’s most senior opinion columnists Friday night fired back…

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Trump is gaining ‘anticipatory obedience’ from media owners who bow to tyranny

Trump is gaining ‘anticipatory obedience’ from media owners who bow to tyranny

Parker Molloy writes: I woke up this morning thinking about authoritarianism. In his 2017 book On Tyranny, historian Timothy Snyder introduced the concept of “anticipatory obedience,” warning that “most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.” He argued that in uncertain times, individuals and institutions might preemptively adjust their actions to align with what they believe a more repressive regime would want—often without being asked. Forward to the final weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, and Snyder’s warning feels…

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