Several dozen sidelined Voice of America staffers have suddenly been called back to work as the Israel-Iran conflict escalates – a dramatic turn of events for the US government-funded broadcasting system that was shut down by the Trump administration in March 🧵 >> @W7VOA says VOA specifically brought back Farsi language speakers who had been on paid administrative leave. The move suggests that the US government wants to bolster its programming into Iran. Here's my full story cnn.com/2025/06/13/med…

The timeline of Terry Moran's suspension deserves some unpacking.

This morning Trump White House aides publicly pushed ABC to discipline Moran. Lots of people have well-reasoned objections to that. But let's also note: ABC didn't "need" to be pressured >>> As soon as ABC News execs woke up, it was obvious that they'd have to say something. Moran's post lit up group chats and Slack channels because it was so shocking to see from a network correspondent (and someone who had just interviewed Trump a matter of weeks ago!)

"If you have the courage to speak, we are saved. If you fall silent, the country is doomed."

Scott Pelley had some strong words to share on tonight's CNN special after the telecast of "Good Night, and Good Luck" >>> "People are silencing themselves for fear that the government will retaliate against them, and that's not the America that we all love," Pelley told Anderson Cooper in an exclusive sit-down cnn.com/2025/06/07/med…

Hollywood producers are thinking twice about liberal-sounding storylines. Media companies are downplaying diversity initiatives. "The Apprentice" struggled to gain US distribution last year. That's what makes the timing of "The Handmaid's Tale" finale all the more remarkable... The acclaimed Hulu drama, which streamed its final episode yesterday, was unavoidably and unapologetically political.

"Handmaid's" launched a few months into Trump's first term and now it has concluded a few months into Trump's second term...

In 2023, Dan Bongino, star podcaster, demanded to know: "What the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?"

In 2025, Dan Bongino, FBI deputy director, disappointed the 2023 version of himself. "I have reviewed the case. Jeffrey Epstein killed himself," he wrote yesterday. Bongino was flooded with replies here on X from people who don't believe him. And that backlash is part of a broader phenomenon. Listeners accustomed to conspiracy theories and "just asking questions" innuendo aren't accepting the answers they're getting. cnn.com/2025/05/19/med…

Since the beginning of this year, The Atlantic has hired twelve journalists away from The Washington Post. The New York Times has poached at least ten Posties. CNN has picked up half a dozen. The exodus is deeply distressing to Post staffers.🧵 The Post exodus is one of those things that rival editors whisper about, sounding mystified as they ask, "How is Jeff Bezos letting this happen?" @ClareMalone has some answers in a comprehensive new story about Bezos and the Post newyorker.com/magazine/2025/…

In an especially worrisome development this week, the Justice Department reinstated a rule that allows federal investigators to secretly go after journalists’ records in leak investigations. The DOJ cited "growing concerns" about government employees leaking to the media. Protections for journalists were put in place by Merrick Garland, the Biden-era attorney general, after Trump-era prosecutors covertly pursued internal communications from several major news outlets, including CNN.

Trump's firing spree has hit the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity that disperses federal funds to public TV and radio stations across the country. There's only one problem... Under the 1967 law that created the private corporation, Trump does not have the authority to fire them. You can read the 1967 law for yourself here. It's pretty clear. cpb.org/aboutpb/act

Kudos to NBC News for releasing the transcript of @kwelkernbc's phone interview with Trump. The details are really revealing. Trump's stated premise about seeking an unconstitutional third term is predicated on his popularity, which he wildly exaggerates. 🧵 "We're very popular," Trump said, based on his imaginary "high 70s" approval rating. "And you know, a lot of people would like me to do that," remain in power for a third term. "I basically tell them, we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration."

President Trump says he is "not joking" about the possibility of a third term in the White House, even though it's unconstitutional. "There are methods" for doing so, he says, but "it is far too early to think about it." NBC's lead: "Trump did not rule out the possibility of seeking a third term in the White House, which is prohibited by the Constitution under the 22nd Amendment, saying in an exclusive interview with NBC News that there were methods for doing so..." nbcnews.com/politics/donal…

Radio Free Europe streamed unflinching coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine to Russians when the Kremlin banned its citizens from calling it a war. (1/4) Radio Free Asia bravely exposed China’s mass detention of the Uyghurs, a predominately Muslim ethnic minority in the far west of the country. (2/4)

The Voice of America may not live up to its ambitious name for much longer.

Today the staff was told to stop working. Some were told to hand in badges. And contracts with other American-funded networks were cancelled. This is a massive purge. 🧵 Employees expect VOA's worldwide news coverage to grind to a halt, according to half a dozen sources who spoke with me today. "The Voice of America has been silenced, at least for now," a veteran correspondent said.

Early efforts are underway to turn the Voice of America into the Voice of Trump. Here's what sources inside VOA are saying... 🧵 One of VOA's chief correspondents, Steve Herman, has been benched and subjected to an HR investigation just weeks after one of Trump's allies publicly attacked him. Another correspondent, White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, has been abruptly moved to a new beat.

New: A letter from AP executive editor Julie Pace to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles signals a likely legal challenge now that the Trump admin has twice singled out the AP for punishment over its use of "Gulf of Mexico." The actions "were plainly intended to punish the AP for the content of its speech," Pace writes.

"This is viewpoint discrimination based on a news organization's editorial choices and a clear violation of the First Amendment."

Out with the oldspeak. In with President Trump's newspeak – or else.

The AP being barred from Trump's events is part of a much larger weaponization of language to advance the MAGA agenda 🧵 The Trump White House is punishing The AP because the newswire hasn’t changed its stylebook entry for Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America." AP reporters were blocked from covering Trump events twice yesterday. So this was not a one-off. It is a standoff. cnn.com/2025/02/12/med…

Think about it: A year ago you could go days without seeing or thinking about Joe Biden. Now you’re lucky if you can go hours without thinking about President Trump. He’s inescapable. And that’s just how he likes it. Today: The Super Bowl is also the Trump Bowl 🧵 White House aides have indicated the president's ubiquity is partly a strategy to impress Republican voters and disorient Democratic opponents. It also satiates his own ego. cnn.com/2025/02/09/bus…

Today the FCC published the full, raw "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris from last October 🧵 The tape and transcript refutes President Trump’s assertions that CBS committed “election interference.”

He charged that “they took the answer out in its entirety, threw it away, and they put another answer in.”

That’s been proven false.

🧵 In a highly unusual move, the FCC has asked CBS News to hand over the unedited transcript and tapes from its interview with VP Kamala Harris last fall. CBS says "we are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do." CBS owns stations that are licensed by the FCC, and the stations are obliged to respond to reasonable requests from the government agency. But those requests are typically about technicalities like broadcast transmission signals, not the raw materials of a news program.

Let's not mince words. If Paramount settles Trump's "60 Minutes" lawsuit, it will look like a payoff. Specifically, it will look like a big check to Trump (or his presidential library) in exchange for regulatory approval of Paramount's pending deal with Skydance Media. That's why journalists, including some inside CBS News, are expressing alarm about the NYT's report that Paramount is trying to settle. Trump's lawsuit was legally dubious when it was filed on Halloween and it's just as dubious now.

Mark Zuckerberg's rightward shift "worked" yesterday, in that the announcements attracted lots of attention; won some approving words from President-elect Donald Trump; and put everyone else on notice. Elon Musk has grown fond of saying "you are the media." Zuckerberg is joining him and saying "you are the fact-checkers." Figure it out for yourselves. But...

Happening now on Fox & Friends: "Meta is announcing major changes to its censorship policy. The company's chief global affairs officer is here in the studio, he's going to join us in a moment." "We're going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X, starting in the U.S," Mark Zuckerberg announces