“Chilling and unconstitutional” — @attorneynora.bsky.social @freepress.bsky.social

The "60 Minutes" segment Bari Weiss doesn't want you to see: archive.org/details/60mi...

I am outraged but not surprised that “60 Minutes” pulled a segment critical of the Trump administration. This is the chilling effect of an administration that has made it clear that it expects censorship in exchange for regulatory favors.

The Associated Press has an excellent story about how FCC boss Brendan Carr bullied a Bay Area AM radio station for the crime of reporting on local ICE activity. facing existential collapse it immediately demoted journalists end replaced political coverage with safe public interest cack:

The Weiss Effect: Reporter Sharyn Alfonsi "sent an indignant internal memo to colleagues saying that pulling the segment 'is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.'The memo was immediately leaked..." ca.news.yahoo.com/60-minutes-p...

Has anyone asked Brendan Carr whether he told staff to scrub the word "independent" from the FCC websites so that it retroactively aligned with his shocking (and incorrect) claim that the agency served Donald Trump instead? www.youtube.com/live/cHY0dP5...

What Cruz said (words I never thought I'd write): "Govt officials threatening adverse consequences for disfavored content is an unconstitutional coercion that chills protected speech... Democrat or Republican, we cannot have the govt arbitrating truth or opinion." www.youtube.com/live/cHY0dP5...

tired: a federal moratorium blocking states from regulating AI wired: local moratoriums blocking tech companies' AI-fueled resource grabs me for @techpolicypress.bsky.social with a big thanks to the folks I talked to and everyone in these fights across the US www.techpolicy.press/the-real-rac...

"Carr’s fast-talking lies about the FCC’s broadcast jurisdiction don’t obscure just how eager he’s been to violate the First Amendment and weaponize the agency to threaten the media," says @mattfieldwood.bsky.social. #FCCOversight. www.freepress.net/news/trumps-...

Carr routinely refuses to admit that his harassment and strong-arming of news outlets—effectively bullying them into silence—is designed to weaponize his authority in service of Trump. Sen. Baldwin calls these actions "blatant attacks on the First Amendment." #FCCOversight

Surprise! Surprise! The FCC retroactively changes its website to align with Chairman Carr's testimony today, claiming that the FCC is no longer an independent agency but instead answers to Chief Trump: #FCCOversight c/o Axios' @sarafischer.bsky.social

Sen. @kim.senate.gov with perhaps the most succinct and on-message comment of the entire FCC oversight hearing: "Trump is not your boss. The American people are your boss." And the American people overwhelmingly disapprove of Chairman Carr's attempts to silence views Trump disagrees with ...

Carr routinely refuses to admit that his harassment and strong-arming of news outlets—effectively bullying them into silence—is designed to weaponize his authority in service of Trump. These actions Sen. Baldwin calls "blatant attacks on the First Amendment." #HouseOversight

And let’s say it once more: Carr’s fellow GOP chairman Pai denied that Sinclair/Tribune merger over Sinclair’s lack of candor on its ownership structures. NOT because Markey signed a letter, which Pai rejected explicitly too. #FCCOversight #SenateCommerce #1stAmendment

Imagine that Carr is right, and that Markey and Dems were wrong to send that letter. How then can Carr cite it as JUSTIFICATION for his own threats to broadcasters, and all of Carr’s lies about what the FCC’s news distortion says. #FCCOversight #SenateCommerce #1stAmendment

Sen. @markey.senate.gov to Trump's censorship czar: "Chairman Carr, you are not reinvigorating the public-interest standard. You are weaponizing the public-interest standard. That is what the Carr FCC is doing every single day." #HouseOversight

FCC Chairmen Brendan Carr is being called out on his attacks against free speech at today’s #FCCOversight hearing in the #SenateCommerce Committee. Here, Free Press offers a 🧵 that highlights his fellow Republicans who also agree that Carr's threats are dangerous to the independent agency: 1/x

Cantwell’s questions about cybersecurity are important in reality, of course; but of course Carr would rather joust over Chinese hackers than talk about his complete abandonment of his supposed free speech principles to assuage Donald Trump. #FCCOversight #SenateCommerce #1stAmendment

The FCC chair is accused by his own party of "unconstitutional coercion" while running corrupt shakedowns of media companies, harassing and censoring broadcasters, etc. And the Democrats lead with ... Salt Typhoon and spectrum?

As @agomezfcc.bsky.social notes, the Carr FCC’s remarkable actions to pressure its critics and attack the media have undermined its credibility entirely. She thanks Senator Cruz for his bouncing concern over Carr’s threats to Kimmel et al. too. #FCCOversight #SenateCommerce #1stAmendment

Here’s my thread for today’s #FCCOversight hearing in the #SenateCommerce Committee, where Trump’s Censorship Czar Brendan Carr finally answers for trashing the #1stAmendment. Before it starts: my @freepress.bsky.social piece explains how Carr will dodge and spin. pressingissues.org/another-carr...

And there it is: "In its letter, Warner said the Ellison family is using a revocable trust to fund the deal and that documents provided by Paramount about the commitment 'contain gaps, loopholes and limitations that put you, our shareholders, and our company at risk.'” www.wsj.com/business/med...

Yo La Tengo at the Bowery Ballroom

Today, we saw a raft of business (and politics) news stories indicating that Paramount's hostile bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery is in shambles ...

A 2000% hike in in Star Trek licensing fees? This is what monopoly market power looks like. And now Paramount/Skydance wants to add WBD to its portfolio: www.reddit.com/r/ClassicTre... [fixed]

"Netflix or Paramount? isn’t the only choice here, and it’s the wrong question to ask," writes @notaaroncraig.bsky.social. "A better one: Do media mega-mergers like this ever do anything good for anyone who isn’t a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) lawyer or investment banker?"

A 2000% hike in in Star Trek listening fees? This is what monopoly market power looks like. And now Paramount/Skydance wants to add WBD to its portfolio: www.reddit.com/r/ClassicTre...

More of that left-wing media bias that Carr keeps warning about:

It seems the "attention economy" doesn't translate to money on the barrell.

Weiss' talk of "journalistic values" gives a similar scent as Brendan Carr's rhetoric about serving the "public interest" as he pressures another media outlet to transform its newsroom into a pro-Trump megaphone. www.poynter.org/commentary/2...

Is this what Zuck means by "masculine energy?" Looks more like masculine insecurity from here: www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Trump preaches austerity for working-class Americans using China as an example of excess.

Paramount refuses to comment to @status.news on the White House meeting its new owner & nepo-billionaire David Ellison had with Trump, reportedly including a discussion of the president's concerns about certain CNN anchors and reporters... www.status.news/p/cnn-paramo...

With Netflix and Paramount both vying to absorb Warner Bros. Discovery, media watchdog Craig Aaron says such massive mergers have proven "disastrous" in the past, including for workers, consumers and even the businesses themselves. https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/9/warner_bros_discovery_sale

In an era of runaway consolidation and corrupt shakedowns, we need independent media more than ever. Which is why I'm always so grateful for @democracynow.org every day and especially for having me on today to talk about NetflixBrosParaMax, hostile takeovers and how to stop the merger madness.

Paramount’s hostile bid for WBD is backed by billions from Saudi Arabian & Qatari sovereign wealth funds. Additional money comes via Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's Saudi-financed equity firm. Now, Trump says he's going to be "involved" in any final ownership decision. Let's unpack that ...

In a new report, @freepress.bsky.social’s @attorneynora.bsky.social examines the Trump administration’s hostile relationship with dissent and free expression, and analyzes how Trump and his political enablers have sought to undermine and chill the most basic freedoms protected by the First Amendment

Wait until they hear that the FCC plans to let billion-dollar media companies get even bigger at the expense of local news and community-driven reporting.

In her new Free Press analysis of 2025 attacks on First-Amendment rights @attorneynora.bsky.social pierces the chaos of Trump censorship to reveal a methodology involving close coordination among the White House, government agencies and Trump allies in the media. Learn more:

This critical report on free speech imperiled comes from THE @freepress.bsky.social (NOT Bari's so-called Free Press). Chokehold: Donald Trump’s War on Free Speech & the Need for Systemic Resistance www.freepress.net/attack-on-fr...

I am not live posting the whole argument here because I want to listen closely to Trump v. Slaughter. But the solicitor general for Trump just said the point here in killing the independence of agencies like the FTC is that executive branch officers must “fear and obey” the president. Wow. #SCOTUS

The last few months, I’ve been working on a major project: analyzing the Trump admin’s hostile treatment of the First Amendment. That has led to today’s release of our @freepress.bsky.social report “Chokehold.” @brianstelter.bsky.social @cnn.com details our findings: www.cnn.com/2025/12/08/m...

Trump’s return to office has kept @freepress.bsky.social busy, writes @brianstelter.bsky.social. But a new report by @attorneynora.bsky.social reveals the patterns behind White House systemic efforts to undermine the First Amendment. www.cnn.com/2025/12/08/m...

Trump scores an own goal.

Based on the Netflix-WBD transaction price of $27.75 per share, CEO David Zazlav will get in the neighborhood of $660 million at the deal's conclusion. But, of course, the official spin emanating from both PR shops will be that this merger serves the "public interest" — a public of one.

The history of media mega-mergers is all lies, broken promises and strategic blunders. Merger madness only leads to disaster. Netflix may have won the bidding war. But the losers in these deals are always creators, writers, workers and the rest of us sitting in the audience. New Pressing Issues!

The both-sidesing here (by Bessent to be clear) is off the charts:

Irony is dead

All eyes now on the Trump White House and their lackeys at the FCC and FTC, who were hoping Paramount-Ellison would have the winning bid, and — as we've seen — will do anything legal or otherwise to twist the media in their favor. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/b...

Actress and author @janefonda.com writes that the economic fallout from the WBD acquisition would be "dangerous," but "what terrifies me—& should terrify anyone who cares about a free society—is how this administration has used anticipated mergers as tools of political pressure and censorship."