It's certainly true that an attack on the free press (and free speech) is and has been underway since the start of the Trump regime. They are now fighting a losing battle because a) the regime is so incompetent and unpopular and b) there are so many quality independent journalists now, like Terry.
In this regard, I worry less about the Trump regime and more about the corporate takeovers of the media from the standpoint of who will have the resources and manpower to do the independent investigation of our government (and others). I've never been in the journalism world, but it seems to me that a lot of independent journalism is based on analyzing and spreading the news based on the considerable leg work and resources of organizations like the NYT, the WSJ and previously the WP. As mainstream media gets consolidated, is our threat greater (in the long term) from the oligarchs who control the media (Ellison, Bezos, Murdoch, etc.) than from the Trump regime?
That's an excellent question, Wayne. We are in the very first days of the Next Media and the Next America. How the latter goes will decide the former. But I have confidence that all these new publications and newsrooms will win the day, and grow, and succeed at doing the legwork of reporting and getting out on the ground to cover stories firsthand. It's sort of like the media at the beginning of our Republic, a dizzying diversity of pamphlets and papers and correspondents covering the news, sharing insider info about the government, doing the reporting. Remember that Tom Paine's "The American Crisis" ("These are times that try men's souls...") was based on his own reporting journey to the front, to George Washington's army in New Jersey, in order to debunk rumors spread by the Loayalist press (the Fox News of its time) that the fledgling forces were disintegrating and the war would soon be over. Truth will find a way.
Thank you for sharing this article. This has worried me for a while now. And it should worry everyone because this is an important step towards fascism where any information flow is controlled by one person and their world view.
So, the counter has to be that the people have to start paying attention and reading and watching independent news. We need to fill the airways with independent journalism. Get the word out to people so they can be educated about what is actually going on.
Agree. People do indeed need to be educated. Voters need to be educated. But to get people to start paying attention and filling the airways in these chaotic times will be a challenge.
I'm so glad you left ABC, And can report without pressure. So important these tumultuous days. Sadly Trump is only the tip of the movement. It is the Ellisons, Musk, Bezos, Thiel and all, who will take the reins when Trump is thankfully underground. This all makes a James Bond film villain look positively cartoonish.
Right now, I think there's no lesson quite so important as learning the one FDR gave us. We've been ignoring it, particularly since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and we are paying mightily for that oversight. That needs to be corrected, and the correction cannot come soon enough.
Every time I see stories about suppression of the media, I think about this YA novel I read based on a true story in Nazi Germany: The Boy Who Dared!
The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a historical novel based on the true story of Helmuth Hübener, a 16-year-old German boy who defies the Nazis during WWII. Told through flashbacks, the story follows Helmuth, a devout Mormon, who rejects Nazi atrocities and secretly listens to forbidden BBC radio broadcasts, discovering the truth about the war. He distributes pamphlets with the truth. He was captured and executed at 17 years old for his actions.
She is probably right in the appropriate age range, but it is heavy.
From a review:
The Boy Who Dared is generally considered appropriate for middle school to high school readers (Grades 6-12, ages 11-18), with its subject matter of Nazi Germany, resistance, and execution making it suitable for older, mature readers who can handle serious themes, violence, and historical peril, though some younger readers might find the depiction of wartime realities too intense. Publishers often suggest ages 9-12, but the mature themes of treason, imprisonment, and war-related violence warrant parental discretion, often leaning towards 11+.
I read it when it was new and didn’t realize it was a true story and what happens at the end. I was so upset. He was too young.
"The third stage of the evolution of the media system in Russia started with Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in 2000. The new Russian president transformed the country’s political system from “polycentric” to “monocentric” under the slogan of increasing stability and security—the issues that brought him substantial public support. By building the so-called “power vertical” Vladimir Putin eliminated all alternative political forces and established control over the government, the parliament, the judiciary, and the media system to secure stability of the new regime. In early 2000s various state agencies took financial or managerial control over 70 percent of electronic media outlets, 80 percent of the regional press, and 20 percent of the national press [Vartanova]. As a result, Russian media continued to be used as tools of political control but now these “tools” were no longer distributed among competing political parties and businesses, but remained concentrated in the hands of a closed political circle that swore loyalty to President Putin."
And even before all this, the WH had played politics with the press room and the DoD barred any joutlrnalist who wouldn't sign their gag order. An excellent documentary--it is long-- if you can find it is 'My Undesirable Friends-Part1--Last Air in Moscow.
I have not seen 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin', but surely equally provoking awareness about attacks on free speech by authoritarians and wannabes. Just read an article about how professors are self-censoring, in many cases to protect students from unanticipated attacks.
I will definitely look for those. I first went to Russia in 1998, and I've been back many times over the years. Saw and felt the Putin shadow fall over the people, first slowly, then very hard. Thanks, Ana.
(curiosity piqued about where to watch since i originally watched on an independent film awards site w/ finite availability)
‘Undesirable Friends part 1’ is available on MUBI where Part 2 will be avail. in 2026. Wasn’t familiar with MUBI but 7 day free trial offered :).
*yes, I know what you mean about Russia. It was just on the cusp of providing economic fruit to the Russian People, but Putin decided he wanted it all.
I am always nonplussed by people who are uninformed or misinformed because they get their news from Fox news or Tik Tok etc. I get more out of the ABC news half hour than someone who watches Fox all day.
If Trump's skin were any thinner, its thickness could be measured on a scale of single-digit nanometers. For those of you not familiar with that parameter, one nanometer is one BILLIONTH of a meter, or:
.000000001 meters.
That makes a human hair look like a California redwood trunk by comparison.
My point being that poor ol' Donnie can't stand being criticized or having anything other than an unmodified positive light shown on him. Sadly, with his utterly inept handling of the Iran War (yes, it IS a war!), he has invited what he hates most upon himself. So naturally, he wants to squelch any criticism aimed at him, and Brendan Carr is playing wheel-horse for him in this effort. He is also aided by the likes of Bari Weiss, who has all but ruined the news division of CBS, while doubtless similar shots are being taken at other broadcast news media.
Problem: those of us who value accurate reporting will drop those venues that are caving in to Trump's tactics like a bad habit, to fall back on reports like those that Terry is providing us here. Putting a damper on THOSE (and there are a LOT of "THOSE!") will be a LOT HARDER.
And once again, Trump and his cronies will wind up only having shot themselves in the foot ... AGAIN.
Media in general is evolving and I believe corporate media is going to wind up dead like the newspaper. Independent media is growing because people know they are being lied to.
But remember the lies we faced daily regarding the injured and killed in Vietnam. Those graphic images we saw every night turned the tide. And the NYT when it was revered and how they fought for the Pentagon Papers. And how the media was complicit in the lies being spread about Iraq and Sadam Hussein?
This is the same media, but they don’t wield the power they had- if ever. How many Substacks get their news from MSM. There is no entertainment factor in the current media. Everything of note has moved or is moving to YouTube or Netflix.
Terry you are so knowledgeable and think how much smarter you have become after leaving that medium. Not only that you have informed your reader to new information we never would have had. Those oligarchs are controlling something that is so 20th century. Those of us who care have moved on.
He's doing the bidding of "His Master's Voice," except that Carr can't hope to be as cute as the dog listening to that old Victrola. Just one more bootlicker in an administration of bootlickers.
The memo says that Stars and Stripes will continue to "operate with editorial independence." However, it also says that the newspaper must immediately begin implementing the Defense Department's new interim policies and stop publishing several types of content.
It also declares that the publication's content "must be consistent with good order and discipline," which is a phrase used in military justice...... staff reporters who are members of the U.S. military, and who thus can be court-martialed for violations of its uniform code of military justice.
"If they were to complete a story that the Defense Department did not like, and did not find 'consistent with good order and discipline,' would they be in legal jeopardy?" Slavin said.
Slavin said that he felt "deep concern for our staff and our readership" about the memo, since it "restricts what news sources can be published and directs that Stars and Stripes should publish official public relations stories."
"Service members and military families rely on Stars and Stripes for independent reporting, not for material shaped or dictated by the very officials the paper is supposed to hold accountable," Tim Richardson
the memo prohibits Stars and Stripes from publishing most stories from wire services, ....
The memo even explicitly bans Stars and Stripes from publishing comic strips.
It's certainly true that an attack on the free press (and free speech) is and has been underway since the start of the Trump regime. They are now fighting a losing battle because a) the regime is so incompetent and unpopular and b) there are so many quality independent journalists now, like Terry.
In this regard, I worry less about the Trump regime and more about the corporate takeovers of the media from the standpoint of who will have the resources and manpower to do the independent investigation of our government (and others). I've never been in the journalism world, but it seems to me that a lot of independent journalism is based on analyzing and spreading the news based on the considerable leg work and resources of organizations like the NYT, the WSJ and previously the WP. As mainstream media gets consolidated, is our threat greater (in the long term) from the oligarchs who control the media (Ellison, Bezos, Murdoch, etc.) than from the Trump regime?
That's an excellent question, Wayne. We are in the very first days of the Next Media and the Next America. How the latter goes will decide the former. But I have confidence that all these new publications and newsrooms will win the day, and grow, and succeed at doing the legwork of reporting and getting out on the ground to cover stories firsthand. It's sort of like the media at the beginning of our Republic, a dizzying diversity of pamphlets and papers and correspondents covering the news, sharing insider info about the government, doing the reporting. Remember that Tom Paine's "The American Crisis" ("These are times that try men's souls...") was based on his own reporting journey to the front, to George Washington's army in New Jersey, in order to debunk rumors spread by the Loayalist press (the Fox News of its time) that the fledgling forces were disintegrating and the war would soon be over. Truth will find a way.
Super. Glad you are optimistic about the changing future of journalism. Your knowledge in the matter is 1000 times bigger than mine.
Seems like this piece answers your question.
These media outlets will eventually be forced to break up under monopoly laws
Once we get an administration that follows the laws anyway.
aka: State media. This is how it begins.
Thank you for sharing this article. This has worried me for a while now. And it should worry everyone because this is an important step towards fascism where any information flow is controlled by one person and their world view.
So, the counter has to be that the people have to start paying attention and reading and watching independent news. We need to fill the airways with independent journalism. Get the word out to people so they can be educated about what is actually going on.
Agree. People do indeed need to be educated. Voters need to be educated. But to get people to start paying attention and filling the airways in these chaotic times will be a challenge.
Yes! Starts with spreading the word with everyone you meet and know on a daily basis!!
Nobody "READS" anymore. They listen with half an ear!
As a veteran TV News reporter I say
thanks for standing up for free speech, free press and the public’s right to know.
Thanks, Chris! It's a brave new world, isn't it?
Stay brave my friend.
I'm so glad you left ABC, And can report without pressure. So important these tumultuous days. Sadly Trump is only the tip of the movement. It is the Ellisons, Musk, Bezos, Thiel and all, who will take the reins when Trump is thankfully underground. This all makes a James Bond film villain look positively cartoonish.
Thanks, Dan! The billionaires a a billion times worse than the Graham family or Bill Paley.
Terry, do you remember THIS one:
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚 – 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙, 𝑏𝑦 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝.
-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Right now, I think there's no lesson quite so important as learning the one FDR gave us. We've been ignoring it, particularly since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and we are paying mightily for that oversight. That needs to be corrected, and the correction cannot come soon enough.
Every time I see stories about suppression of the media, I think about this YA novel I read based on a true story in Nazi Germany: The Boy Who Dared!
The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a historical novel based on the true story of Helmuth Hübener, a 16-year-old German boy who defies the Nazis during WWII. Told through flashbacks, the story follows Helmuth, a devout Mormon, who rejects Nazi atrocities and secretly listens to forbidden BBC radio broadcasts, discovering the truth about the war. He distributes pamphlets with the truth. He was captured and executed at 17 years old for his actions.
What a story. I'll look for it; my teenage daughter might like it. Thanks, Emkaykay.
She is probably right in the appropriate age range, but it is heavy.
From a review:
The Boy Who Dared is generally considered appropriate for middle school to high school readers (Grades 6-12, ages 11-18), with its subject matter of Nazi Germany, resistance, and execution making it suitable for older, mature readers who can handle serious themes, violence, and historical peril, though some younger readers might find the depiction of wartime realities too intense. Publishers often suggest ages 9-12, but the mature themes of treason, imprisonment, and war-related violence warrant parental discretion, often leaning towards 11+.
I read it when it was new and didn’t realize it was a true story and what happens at the end. I was so upset. He was too young.
Lots of great stuff like this as many authoritarian regimes emerge. The problem is they all end up dead.
A cautionary tale:
"The third stage of the evolution of the media system in Russia started with Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in 2000. The new Russian president transformed the country’s political system from “polycentric” to “monocentric” under the slogan of increasing stability and security—the issues that brought him substantial public support. By building the so-called “power vertical” Vladimir Putin eliminated all alternative political forces and established control over the government, the parliament, the judiciary, and the media system to secure stability of the new regime. In early 2000s various state agencies took financial or managerial control over 70 percent of electronic media outlets, 80 percent of the regional press, and 20 percent of the national press [Vartanova]. As a result, Russian media continued to be used as tools of political control but now these “tools” were no longer distributed among competing political parties and businesses, but remained concentrated in the hands of a closed political circle that swore loyalty to President Putin."
https://www.interpretermag.com/a-brief-history-of-the-russian-media/
Putins’s playbook, Orban’s playbook, Hitler’s playbook. All the same
And even before all this, the WH had played politics with the press room and the DoD barred any joutlrnalist who wouldn't sign their gag order. An excellent documentary--it is long-- if you can find it is 'My Undesirable Friends-Part1--Last Air in Moscow.
I have not seen 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin', but surely equally provoking awareness about attacks on free speech by authoritarians and wannabes. Just read an article about how professors are self-censoring, in many cases to protect students from unanticipated attacks.
I will definitely look for those. I first went to Russia in 1998, and I've been back many times over the years. Saw and felt the Putin shadow fall over the people, first slowly, then very hard. Thanks, Ana.
Terry,
(curiosity piqued about where to watch since i originally watched on an independent film awards site w/ finite availability)
‘Undesirable Friends part 1’ is available on MUBI where Part 2 will be avail. in 2026. Wasn’t familiar with MUBI but 7 day free trial offered :).
*yes, I know what you mean about Russia. It was just on the cusp of providing economic fruit to the Russian People, but Putin decided he wanted it all.
Great reporting Terry
I am always nonplussed by people who are uninformed or misinformed because they get their news from Fox news or Tik Tok etc. I get more out of the ABC news half hour than someone who watches Fox all day.
If Trump's skin were any thinner, its thickness could be measured on a scale of single-digit nanometers. For those of you not familiar with that parameter, one nanometer is one BILLIONTH of a meter, or:
.000000001 meters.
That makes a human hair look like a California redwood trunk by comparison.
My point being that poor ol' Donnie can't stand being criticized or having anything other than an unmodified positive light shown on him. Sadly, with his utterly inept handling of the Iran War (yes, it IS a war!), he has invited what he hates most upon himself. So naturally, he wants to squelch any criticism aimed at him, and Brendan Carr is playing wheel-horse for him in this effort. He is also aided by the likes of Bari Weiss, who has all but ruined the news division of CBS, while doubtless similar shots are being taken at other broadcast news media.
Problem: those of us who value accurate reporting will drop those venues that are caving in to Trump's tactics like a bad habit, to fall back on reports like those that Terry is providing us here. Putting a damper on THOSE (and there are a LOT of "THOSE!") will be a LOT HARDER.
And once again, Trump and his cronies will wind up only having shot themselves in the foot ... AGAIN.
Well said dear friend!
Many thanks, Nadie. Every now and then, I find a few words that fit.
Media in general is evolving and I believe corporate media is going to wind up dead like the newspaper. Independent media is growing because people know they are being lied to.
But remember the lies we faced daily regarding the injured and killed in Vietnam. Those graphic images we saw every night turned the tide. And the NYT when it was revered and how they fought for the Pentagon Papers. And how the media was complicit in the lies being spread about Iraq and Sadam Hussein?
This is the same media, but they don’t wield the power they had- if ever. How many Substacks get their news from MSM. There is no entertainment factor in the current media. Everything of note has moved or is moving to YouTube or Netflix.
Terry you are so knowledgeable and think how much smarter you have become after leaving that medium. Not only that you have informed your reader to new information we never would have had. Those oligarchs are controlling something that is so 20th century. Those of us who care have moved on.
The biggest crack in the wall was when Walter Cronkite went to Vietnam and saw first-hand what was going on. Even LBJ admitted it:
𝐼𝑓 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑡𝑒, 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑀𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎
-- Lyndon Baines Johnson
Speaking of killing, WTF is up with this fascist fuck Brendan Carr?!?
He's doing the bidding of "His Master's Voice," except that Carr can't hope to be as cute as the dog listening to that old Victrola. Just one more bootlicker in an administration of bootlickers.
Stars and Stripes
Pentagon memo 3.9.26
The memo says that Stars and Stripes will continue to "operate with editorial independence." However, it also says that the newspaper must immediately begin implementing the Defense Department's new interim policies and stop publishing several types of content.
It also declares that the publication's content "must be consistent with good order and discipline," which is a phrase used in military justice...... staff reporters who are members of the U.S. military, and who thus can be court-martialed for violations of its uniform code of military justice.
"If they were to complete a story that the Defense Department did not like, and did not find 'consistent with good order and discipline,' would they be in legal jeopardy?" Slavin said.
Slavin said that he felt "deep concern for our staff and our readership" about the memo, since it "restricts what news sources can be published and directs that Stars and Stripes should publish official public relations stories."
"Service members and military families rely on Stars and Stripes for independent reporting, not for material shaped or dictated by the very officials the paper is supposed to hold accountable," Tim Richardson
the memo prohibits Stars and Stripes from publishing most stories from wire services, ....
The memo even explicitly bans Stars and Stripes from publishing comic strips.
see also
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-03-13/pentagon-modernization-plan-stars-and-stripes-21051529.html