Tim Karr

Our Age of Zombie Culture Zombies are the least eloquent monster. But they have a lot to say about us.

Read the rest:

www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

Now that's a line.

c/o ‪@xwaldie.bsky.social‬ at the New Yorker:

www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

Exclusive | Two Big TV Broadcasters in Advanced Deal Talks A deal between Nexstar and Tegna could be a litmus test for the FCC’s deregulation push

Congress set the national TV station ownership cap at 39% of the country. This deal would exceed that limit. It's illegal.

This would be the #1 chain by revenue buying up #4.

They're betting that FCC Chair Brendan Carr doesn't care so long as they promise to kiss Trump's ring.

Block this deal!

How Public Media Can Survive this Crisis Without Losing Its Soul “Our strategy is simple: Stick to the mission,” Chris Hastings of WXXI tells Pressing Issues.

Really enjoyed connecting with @chrishast.bsky.social of @wxxirochester.bsky.social about what #publicmedia should do right now. My latest for Pressing Issues, the new biweekly newsletter from @freepress.bsky.social

tbd

... In essence, Tiktok would be merely trading one propaganda overseer (CCP) for another (DJT).

Opinion | Trump Is Letting TikTok (and China) Win

The NYTimes ed. board misses a major factor driving Trump's reluctance to implement a law that effectively forces ByteDance divestiture of ownership:

He has yet to line up a new owner who's reliably in the president's back pocket — who can be counted on to amplify pro-Trump propaganda.

The Skydance Sidestep David Ellison admirably showed up to take tough, unscreened questions from a room full of reporters—but he danced around the biggest ones about Donald Trump, “60 Minutes,” and more.

Read about @oliverdarcy.bsky.social's dogged pursuit of a straight answer from the new bosses at Paramount Global (CBS)

www.status.news/p/david-elli...

'Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens': Media Conglomerates Continue Trump Capitulation: Today's #BradCast

Guest: @timkarr.bsky.social of @freepress.bsky.social; Also: MI, RI, DE, WA election results; RFK Jr. cuts funding for COVID, flu vaccines...

FULL STORY, LISTEN: bradblog.com?p=15464

Washington Post: “Is fascism bad? The answer may surprise you”

Teen Vogue: “Here are three fun tips you can use this summer to disable an armored personnel carrier”

Trump Ridiculed for Claiming He Didn’t Know About Maxwell’s Jail Move The president’s latest comments have left some experts baffled.

In response to CNN's @kaitlancollins.bsky.social, Trump pleads ignorance about any deal to transfer Ghislaine Maxwell to a country club prison.

He adds that his attorney's meeting with the former friend and convicted child sex offender is "not unusual" and "totally above board."

Got that? Good.

Hoboken dashboard view:

Let’s Make the End of CPB the Start of Public Media’s Revival The fight for public media’s future is a fight for democracy and against authoritarianism.

"At a time when we’re being told to settle for less, we should actually be asking for more," @notaaroncraig.bsky.social writes in response to the CPB's demise.

"The crisis in journalism and the ongoing dismantling of our democracy call for a fundamental rethinking of what public media can be."

Press Freedom Groups Tell FCC: Media Consolidation Poses Grave Threat to Independent News and Information in the United States Leading press freedom groups urge the FCC not to move forward with plans to loosen media ownership limits before it fully assesses the negative impacts consolidation has had on local news and informat...

The FCC letter ties the history of runaway media consolidation to growing threats to a vibrant and independent media in the United States.

Thanks to @rsf.org, @wgawest.bsky.social, @newsguild.org , @openmarkets.bsky.social, @projectcensored.bsky.social, @fairmediawatch.bsky.social & others.

Trump is Getting Desperate We're in an extremely dangerous moment

"Right now, Trump has immense power, thanks in large part to the cowardice of many of the institutions that should be holding him in check," writes @pkrugman.bsky.social.

"But he’s also rapidly bleeding support, in large part because he’s completely failing to deliver on his economic promises."

Trump's efforts to distract the American public from the truth —about inflation, tariffs, jobs, failed diplomacy, Epstein, etc. — seems NOT to be working.

(c/o: gelliottmorris.com)

Trump’s latest moves against free speech are ‘really scary stuff’ - Poynter Trump’s latest action against the Bureau of Labor Statistics is just the latest in his ongoing attack on the free flow of information

"Trump is like a football coach who wants the referee fired because his team didn’t score more touchdowns," writes Tom Jones (@poynterinstitute.bsky.social).

"But this isn’t a game."

www.poynter.org/commentary/2...

Learn more about our plans to continually update the Media Capitulation Index and 'award' more chickens to the cowering conglomerates and stars to those with more courage.

www.freepress.net/who-owns-media

'I fixed that for you': Why mainstream headlines keep failing Plus: one journalist's brave plunge into independence; and my rant about a supposedly positive article about Buffalo

“The U.S. network TV divisions have lost their mind, nerve and soul all at once,” a friend tells @sulliview.bsky.social in her latest for American Crisis.

Newsroom decisions to "play it safe" with headlines and ledes are a part of a larger problem of big-media compliance.

Thanks Melissa!

A better media is possible.

Free Press' @timkarr.bsky.social s recent paper is a great start.

Read and share A MORE PERFECT MEDIA: Saving America’s Fourth Estate from Billionaires, Broligarchy and Trump.

www.freepress.net/sites/defaul...

Trump’s Efforts to Control Information Echo an Authoritarian Playbook

Echo??

The New York Times (🐔) continues to dance around calling this regime what it actually is.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

Read @msifry.bsky.social 's always thoughtful take on the warped left-right politics surrounding the mass-violence in Israel-Palestine.

theconnector.substack.com/p/the-israel...

YouTuber Tim Pool Wants Answers—and Trusts No One The right-wing streamer built an empire by stoking suspicion of the government and mainstream media. Will President Trump be his next target?

The WSJ thinks the world wants to read a fluffy 2,500-word profile of YouTubing propagandist Tim Pool.

The many readers who commented on the story told the newspaper otherwise.

www.wsj.com/business/med...

The Sweeney Spectacle Sydney Sweeney’s cheeky American Eagle ad became the week’s biggest culture-war flashpoint—distracting from far weightier stories.

"The Sweeney uproar wasn’t a meaningful controversy, but it became a major media story because that’s how today’s information ecosystem functions," @passantino.bsky.social writes in his Saturday column for @status.news. www.status.news/p/sydney-swe...

Fox News Channel headquarters, NYC.
Oct. 2015

Shuttering the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Will Undermine Democracy and Endanger Communities Nationwide The end of CPB is the direct result of the deep and corrupt failure of Congress and the Trump administration to invest in informing the American public. They have trashed decades of democracy-building...

It's official: Republicans killed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This is devastating, and many stations and newsrooms will follow. They have trashed decades of democracy-building work and will deny many journalists, artists, educators and creators the opportunity to be heard.

.... Darcy has spoken with former FCC chairs and commissioners from both parties, who've told him of their concern's about Carr's inconsistent behavior.

"The FCC now has been fully weaponized for Donald Trump," Darcy says.

#MediaCapitulation #Censorship

YouTube video by Status Gaza Famine Denial, Sydney Sweeney Drama, & FCC Chair Disbarment?

Here, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social and @passantino.bsky.social ‬ discuss FCC Brendan Carr's "dubious and purely politically motivated investigations" into news outlets that make Trump unhappy (see CBS & NBC).

"The way Brendan Carr is behaving is so outrageous and so against precedent," says Darcy.

​Why Is So Much of Corporate Media Caving to Trump? | Common Dreams A new ranking of the 35 largest media conglomerates finds a systemic failure to protect democracy against authoritarianism.

We need to... understand how such accumulation of power and wealth makes it next to impossible for these media giants to fulfill the social compact embodied in the notion of the Fourth Estate, writes @timkarr.bsky.social of @freepress.bsky.social.
www.commondreams.org/opinion/corp...