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#journalism

81 posts64 participants8 posts today

Trump's attack on the media continues.

"In an executive order signed on Friday, President Donald Trump outlined seven federal agencies to be reduced in size, including the United States Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America. The reduction was made to agencies Trump saw as "unnecessary," the order states.

"President Trump is delivering on his promise to make our government more efficient," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told USA TODAY on Saturday. "American taxpayers should not be funding anti-American propaganda in the name of journalism."

usatoday.com/story/news/politi

USA TODAY · Trump slashes Voice of America with executive order, employees put on leaveBy , USA TODAY

The President of Radio Free Asia posted this statement on the RFA website, presumably before the staff were locked out

"The termination of RFA’s grant is a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party, who would like nothing better than to have their influence go unchecked in the information space."

rfa.org/english/about/releases

NPR's Fresh Air just broadcast an absolutely infuriating interview about the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education: <npr.org/2025/03/12/nx-s1-53257>
This is the message I just sent Fresh Air and NPR's Public Editor about it.
If you care about the future of our democracy you may wish to send feedback as well. Fresh Air: <help.npr.org/contact/s/contact>, Public Editor: <help.npr.org/contact/s/contact>
#politics #USPol #NPR #journalism

Raúl Irán Villarreal Belmont was killed yesterday in San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato, becoming the fifth journalist killed in Mexico so far this year.

"The director of the media 'Observatorio Ciudadano' was kidnapped and found dead with signs of violence. His work denouncing corruption and local government had made him an uncomfortable figure in San Luis de la Paz."

somoselmedio.com/asesinan-a-ra

Continued thread

Multiple workers at #VoiceOfAmerica, an international #media broadcaster that operates in >40 languages, shared w/Reuters an email that placed them on administrative leave w/full pay & benefits "until otherwise notified."

The emails, sent by a HR executive at the #US Agency for Global Media, the #VOA's parent agency, instructed them not to enter their work premises or access internal systems.

Employees at #VoiceOfAmerica were placed on paid leave on Saturday & funding for 2 US #news services that broadcast to #authoritarian regimes was slashed, one day after #Trump signed an #ExecutiveOrder gutting the govt-funded #media outlets' parent & 6 other #FederalAgencies.

#VOA #FourthEstate #FreePress #journalism #censorship #propaganda #trumpaganda
reuters.com/business/media-tel

Continued thread

Trump adopted the Russian double standard: he was permitted to lie all the time, but any minor error by a journalist discredited the entire profession of journalism. … He referred to them as an “enemy of the American people” and claimed that what they produced was “fake news.” Trump was proud of both of these formulations, although both were Russian.
—Timothy Snyder, The Road To Unfreedom (2018)
#trump #russia #journalism #journalists

"AI models incorrectly answered more than 60 percent of queries about news sources."

"Perplexity provided incorrect information in 37 percent of the queries tested, whereas ChatGPT Search incorrectly identified 67 percent (134 out of 200) of articles queried. Grok 3 demonstrated the highest error rate, at 94 percent."

arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/ai-

I'm saving a ton of money over the last year. Here's my secret:

-Cancelled NYT subscription
-Cancelled WaPo subscription
-Cancelled Amazon Prime
-Cancelled Spotify

Turns out I'm saving money and also giving my more directly to smaller businesses, true journalists, and artists.

Really not that hard, people.