Media 2025, What happened?

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Article in Statusnews by Oliver Darcy, 12/23/25

Headline:  “Status Check: The Winners and Losers of 2025:”

Subhead:  “In a year defined by consolidation, political pressure, and audience upheaval, these are the media figures who finished 2025 on top—and those who watched their influence fade.”

“2025 was a bruising year for the media industry. Established giants from New York to Hollywood were pushed deeper into upheaval by relentless consolidation, fleeing audiences, and mounting political pressure. At the same time, artificial intelligence posed a growing dilemma for newsrooms, audience trust continued to fray, and Donald Trump’s return to power once again warped executive decisions. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/media-winners-losers-2025

From White House to TV Host?

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Article in Raw Story by Alexander Willis, 12/23/25

Headline:  ” ‘Would you like me to leave?’ Trump floats ditching White House for TV hosting gig”

“President Donald Trump floated the idea of ditching the Oval Office Tuesday to instead pursue a career as a television host, asking his followers whether they supported the idea of an abrupt career change.

“Whether serious or in jest, Trump made the remarks after announcing that he would be hosting the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony scheduled for Tuesday evening, which he said he’d be doing ‘at the request of the board, and just about everybody else in America.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2674824636/

For Uncensored US News, Turn to Canada

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Article in The Guardian by Jenna Amatulli, 12/23/25

Headline:  “60 Minutes episode on brutal El Salvador prison, pulled from air by CBS, appears online”

Subhead:  “Segment that Bari Weiss had removed provides in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison”

“A 60 Minutes episode investigating a brutal prison in El Salvador, which CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled from the air on Sunday, appeared online on Monday after appearing on a Canadian TV app.

“The segment, which runs for nearly 14 minutes and was viewed by The Guardian, provides an in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison in El Salvador. It opens with footage of the mega-prison and shows detainees being shackled upon arrival in El Salvador. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/23/60-minutes-cecot-appears-online

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Published on CBCRadio-Canada 12/22/25

“Bari Weiss is quoted as saying ‘My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason . . . happens every day in every newsroom.’

Watch the broadcast at:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cecot+cbs+video&kp=1

Grave News?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/22/25

Headline:  “Bari’ing The News”

Subhead:  “The decision to spike a ready-to-air ’60 Minutes’ segment has frayed trust at CBS News and renewed fears of interference by Paramount management amid its WBD bid.”

“In August, David Ellison and the new executive team for Paramount held a press conference with media reporters as the Skydance acquisition closed, where Status’ own Oliver Darcy pointedly asked whether executives would ;commit to not meddling or interfering in any way with ‘60 Minutes.’  Ellison refused to directly answer his inquiries about the editorial independence of CBS News, though investor Gerry Cardinale insisted that interference in editorial programming would be ‘bad business.’

“On Sunday, those concerns regarding CBS News’ editorial direction became tangible, as Bari Weiss, Ellison’s hand-picked editor-in-chief, pulled a ’60 Minutes’ investigation into conditions at El Salvador’s CECOT prison. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-60-minutes-segment-cbs-news

Trump, the Knife?

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 12/22/25

Headline:  “The numbers that defined the Trump administration’s attacks against the press in 2025”

Subhead:  “Nine hours into his term, Trump took his first action against the media. The attacks only escalated from there.”

“After waiting four years to return to the White House, President Donald Trump did not hesitate.

“Congratulations from foreign leaders were still pouring in on Inauguration Day when Trump signed his first directive. That day, he issued a raft of executive orders, proclamations and pardons that remade vast swaths of public policy and upended lives around the globe. Among those affected by his actions were journalists. Just nine hours into his term, Trump suspended hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid meant to support press freedom overseas. . .:

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/united-states-press-freedom-donald-trump/

Killing the News

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Article in Reporters Without Borders, 12/22/25

Headline: “2025, a deadly year for journalists: this is where hate and impunity lead”

Subhead:  “Journalists do not just die – they are killed. The number of murdered journalists has risen again, due to the criminal practices of military groups — both regular and paramilitary — and organised crime. . .”

“. . .“This is where the hatred of journalists leads! It led to the death of 67 journalists this year – not by accident, and they weren’t collateral victims. They were killed, targeted for their work. It is perfectly legitimate to criticise the media — criticism should serve as a catalyst for change that ensures the survival of the free press, a public good. But it must never descend into hatred of journalists, which is largely born out of — or deliberately stoked by — the tactics of armed forces and criminal organisations. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/2025-deadly-year-journalists-where-hate-and-impunity-lead

Disappeared People, Disappeared News

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Article in Mediaite by Jennifer Bowers Bahney, 12/21/25

Headline: “Critics Lash Out at Bari Weiss After 60 Minutes Yanks Segment on Trump Deportations Last Minute: ‘SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!’ “

“New CBS News boss Bari Weiss was bashed by a number of media critics on Sunday night, immediately after 60 Minutes abruptly postponed a report on a “brutal” El Salvador prison that President Donald Trump deported suspected gangsters and illegal immigrants to. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/critics-lash-out-at-bari-weiss-after-60-minutes-yanks-segment-on-trump-deportations-last-minute-shame-shame-shame/

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Article in Daily Beast by Julia Ornedo, 12/22/25

Headline: “ ‘60 Minutes’ Suddenly Drops Segment on Major Trump Controversy”

“60 Minutes abruptly canceled a segment about a notorious El Salvador megaprison that houses deportees who have been kicked out of the U.S. by President Donald Trump.

“The iconic CBS newsmagazine show announced that the scheduled segment covering the Terrorism Confinement Center—dubbed CECOT or Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo in Spanish—will air at a later date instead. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/60-minutes-suddenly-drops-segment-on-major-trump-controversy/

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Article in Showbiz411 by Roger Friedman, 12/21/25

Headline:  “CBS News Pulls ’60 Minutes‘ Story on Trump Sending Venezuelans to El Salvador Prison — and Torturing Them — Promoted, Then Erased (Photo, Teaser)”

“The story was about Trump and something called CECOT — aka Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, the El Salvadoran prison where he was sending Venezuelans.

“But now the newly conservative network has pulled the plug, announcing there will be no segment even though it was promoted. CBS says it will air sometime in the future. But it’s very rare for a ’60 Minutes’ piece to get axed right before showtime. This reeks of new CBS News editor in chief, conservative website owner Bari Weiss, who’s been given control of the department. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.showbiz411.com/2025/12/21/cbs-news-pulls-60-minutes-story-on-trump-sending-venezuelans-to-el-salvador-prison-and-torturing-them-promoted-then-erased

Media Imploding or Exploding?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Betsy Morais, 12/20/25

Headline: “A Year Under Pressure”

Subhead:  “Assaults on press freedom, at home and abroad—which CJR is uniquely positioned to cover.”

“This week, Jem Bartholomew writes about a new report shared with CJR by the US Press Freedom Tracker, led by the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), which documented thirty-two instances of journalists being arrested or charged for doing their jobs in America in 2025. The report also recorded a hundred and seventy assaults against journalists in the past year: ‘nearly as many as across the previous three years combined,” Bartholomew notes.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/editors-note/year-pressure-press-freedom-attack-journalism.php

Are Media Sick?

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 12/20/25

Headline:  “The tug-of-war over CNN shows how dysfunctional US media has become”

Subhead:  “The network’s fate has become a battle of corporate ownership, not a question of what benefits Americans”

“. . .Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“America’s media system isn’t set up for that lofty goal. It’s set up for corporate profitability, for shareholder gain, for ever-increasing size and ever-decreasing competition. . .”

“Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/20/cnn-us-news-media-corporate-ownership

Unlimited Coverage?

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Article in AP by Bill L Barrow, 12/19/25

Headline:  “Trump gave an unusually partisan White House address. Should networks have given him the TV time?”

“ATLANTA (AP) — When Donald Trump delivered the first White House address of his second presidency Wednesday night, all major U.S. networks beamed his image and voice onto their airwaves, cable feeds and online platforms.

Americans ended up watching the Republican president stand in the Diplomatic Reception Room and deliver 18 minutes of aggressive, politically motivated arguments that misstated facts, blamed the nation’s ills on his predecessor, exaggerated the results of his nearly 11 months in office and amplified his characteristically gargantuan, immeasurable promises about what’s to come. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-address-tv-networks-c9704130f09f607f82f9e0054dfc3c02