Stephen Colbert no longer plays a right-wing blowhard, and now he no longer works for one. I wrote about the "lying weasels" who took out Colbert, and how we can seize on this authoritarian triumph to finally break free from billionaire-controlled media. New Pressing Issues! Subscribe and share!

The latest edition of Pressing Issues is by @notaaroncraig.bsky.social Stephen Colbert vs. The Lying Weasels

My first legal job was with the Georgia AG office prosecuting white collar & public official crimes. Preventing IRS inquiry into Trump is the biggest news of illegal activity. @froomkin.bsky.social has a great piece on media failure to cover this for what it is: presswatchers.org/2026/05/news...

New Pressing Issues! I talk to the co-founders of the Archival Producers Alliance about how media consolidation threatens to lock away our shared history.

Fascinating Q&A with two of the co-founders of the Archival Producers Alliance that @notaaroncraig.bsky.social filed for today's edition of Pressing Issues. "If only certain people have access to the historical facts, then we only learn it one way."

In true Trumpian style, Brendan Carr's FCC is trying to both claim the Nexstar deal is done and can't be reviewed and simultaneously that it isn't final and can't be reviewed. This deal is clearly unlawful. The courts should block it.

this is a masterpiece

With its Civic Information Consortium and new public media leadership, New Jersey has the chance to transform local news and show the rest of the country how it should be done. As @mikerispoli.bsky.social explains, it all starts with actually listening to the public. New Pressing Issues out now!

I spent the last six years closely following all of the claims by MAGA Inc. of so called "weaponization" of the Biden admin against them and literally every last bit of it was total and complete bullshit. It was fabricated nonsense. And now they're all gonna get rich.

The world has some questions for David Ellison ...

"A free press is not a partisan issue - it is the foundation of our democracy. We stand with ABC in this fight and call on the FCC to drop its politically motivated inquiry." thedesk.net/2026/05/abc-...

We sat down with @thrasherxy.bsky.social to discuss his upcoming book The Overseer Class (out 5/19). It's a deep conversation about power, identity, privilege, and how the legacy of slavery is felt in workplaces today. www.therevivallab.org/the-overseer...

This is INCREDIBLY sleazy. FCC apparently contacted a bunch of Texas stations AFTER Talarico appeared on The View urging them to file equal time paperwork (even though, as a news program, the show is exempt from that requirement).Then they abused this to go after an ABC station they never contacted.

Disney suddenly grew a spine, and in so doing showed the world "just how corrupt the FCC has gotten — and why Trump’s censorship czar, should be removed from office," writes @notaaroncraig.bsky.social for the latest Pressing Issues. Carr, not Kimmel, is the one who needs to be removed.

My take on Disney's newfound courage vs. FCC's censorial shenanigans. Plus all the sordid details of Brendan Carr's shady moves to try to entrap ABC's local station in Houston. New Pressing Issues! pressingissues.org/even-disney-...

Must read piece by @karlbode.com exposes Brendan Carr's intellectual dishonesty and corruption... www.techdirt.com/2026/05/12/a...

New at Pressing Issues: Vanessa Maria Graber interviews Amy Goodman and the directors of Steal This Story, Please! pressingissues.org/amy-goodman-...

The days of the FCC as a paper tiger are numbered. What the public will remember is who complied in advance and who fought back. I'm glad Disney is choosing courage over capitulation.

The NYT reports here on ABC's pushback against the Trump FCC/Brendan Carr for trying to warp the rules that govern talk shows. First, good on Disney for pushing back against this unconstitutional overreach. It's about time. And the filing itself contains some shocking details ...

When an immigration judge threw out this preposterous case, the Trump administration fired the judge. Now they're again trying to punish a peaceful protester for using his voice to advocate for Palestinians. If we don't defend the dissenters, none of us will be able to dissent.

🚨 New from me @therealnews.com I speak with 3 @pghguild.com members and now-former employees at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after they were laid off by the paper's new owners, The Venetoulis Institute, who also own the @thebaltimorebanner.com therealnews.com/venetoulis-i...

A dozen senators, led by @edmarkey.bsky.social, call out the FCC's Brendan Carr for his "unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of the Commission’s powers." www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

The @glaad.bsky.social Social Media Safety Index is essential research & record of the consistent failures by platforms to hold themselves to their own policies & their abandoning principles of integrity, trust, safety, and free expression. I always cite to this. Kudos @jenniolsonsf.bsky.social:

Hollywood workers are losing jobs. Production is fleeing the state. Further industry consolidation deserves close scrutiny. I led 30+ California Members of Congress in supporting @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov’s review of the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal. variety.com/2026/biz/new...

Good to see. This is also means your calls and petitions are working. Block the merger! variety.com/2026/biz/new...

Nexstar's Perry Sook was full of hubris on today's earnings call while pretending he already owns Tegna and touting the "fulsome approval process" at FCC/DOJ vs. "state AGs that have shown no real concern or support for local media, local journalists, local television, until this election year."

A bad decision celebrated by the worst FCC Chairman ever. The result will be more discrimination, more redlining, higher prices, and a wider digital divide that we could have closed by now with sensible policies. Instead, we get Orwellian claims that fighting discrimination is discriminatory.

NEW in Ragebait: A Palestinian guide who was interviewed for a 'CBS Sunday Morning' story complained to the network that he was "deceptively edited" to falsely portray his comments. Sources told me that Bari Weiss "meddled" with the piece, making last-minute edits. zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss...

Excellent piece by @markruffalo.bsky.social + @mattstoller.skystack.xyz on growing movement against WarnerMount merger: “The most revealing thing about that letter wasn’t the people who signed. It was the people who didn’t. Not because they disagreed — because they were afraid.” Block the merger!

Finally, a major American newspaper whose editorial board is courageous enough to stand up for the rights of big tech companies.

New Pressing Issues! @newsjawn.bsky.social on the information network of "comunicadores” who keep people safe in places like Philadelphia. It’s time for this country to understand why the work of Spanish-speaking media workers is so essential — and why it needs to be fully supported and funded.

Trump’s administration is slapping immigrants with civil penalties as high as 1.8 million dollars for staying in the US, a mass fining scheme that advocates say is designed to terrorize people into self-deporting rather than assert their rights.

“The only sensible recommendation at this time is for this commission to leave Lifeline as-is,” read Free Press’ comments, “until such a time when the commission is once again led by someone who cares about the public interest, and demonstrates intellectual and moral integrity.”

Visas revoked for journalistic outlet board members who criticized Trump allies. Very bad for First Amendment freedoms of the press & to speak truth to power. Fits alongside the attacks on Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, & tech researchers for their free speech. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/w...

Thanks @thr.com for this handy guide to why we can't have nice things. #BlockTheMerger #BlockAllTheMergers

Very proud of this piece today. Rising authoritarianism worldwide means journalism & dissent matter more than ever.

NEW from me and @zeyiyang.bsky.social: @rightscon.org, the biggest digital human rights conference was effectively canceled this week after the Chinese government put pressure on the host country, Zambia, over the presence of attendees from Taiwan. For @wired.com www.wired.com/story/the-ch...

This is terrible. Why should readers or philanthropy ever support an outlet that treats its workers like this?

New Pressing Issues! @attorneynora.bsky.social marks World Press Freedom Day with a call to stand in solidarity with truth-tellers everywhere.

“The scale, concentration, and sovereign nature of this foreign ownership present serious and unresolved questions about national security, foreign influence over American media, and public interest obligations the Commission is duty-bound to uphold.”

“It wasn’t an isolated editorial argument. In my view, it was the result of a more aggressive contagion: the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear.”

State AG opposition to Nexstar/Tegna is now bipartisan:

I especially like the part where they ask for his receipts from Mar-a-Lago.

"For all the talk from this FCC about serving the public interest of local communities, this action has nothing to do with local communities," @agomezfcc.bsky.social said about Chairman Carr's efforts to silence Jimmy Kimmel & punish ABC stations for airing him... www.youtube.com/live/fH6f42s...

We at @freepress.bsky.social are outside & inside the FCC today, as the monthly public meeting takes place. The agenda is mostly technical issues. But we’re here to keep watch on Brendan Carr and demand accountability for his blatant censorship. #OpenMeeting #FirstAmendment #ImpeachCarr

Carr needs to be impeached. He is nothing more than a tool and lickspittle Trump’s every perverse and unconstitutional whim.

“Today, 42 Democrats joined 192 Republicans to co-sign Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s domestic surveillance agenda, jeopardizing the civil rights and liberties of every person in the United States." Shameful. The Senate must fix this.

I disagree with the NAB on many things, but good to see them speaking up here (even if in more measured tones) against the FCC's unconstitutional retribution against ABC. nab.org/documents/ne...

Even Ted Cruz sees the problem with government censorship.

Yesterday we saw a flurry of hot takes about FCC Chair Brendan Carr's move to initiate an early license review of ABC stations following the Trump family's call for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel. Today I provide a deeper dive into just how unusual and corrupt this is. www.freepress.net/blog/brendan...