The 4th Estate Thread Has Surrendered

[Blackhawk]

Hopefully it's just one of those places that removes "DEI" language, but keeps quietly maintaining the practice.

[Kraken]

Hopefully it's just one of those places that removes "DEI" language, but keeps quietly maintaining the practice.

I think (hope) that's what most are doing. The new watchword is "belonging."

[Smoove_B]

"Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office."

This timeline is something else...

[Holman]

I expect that they will now style it as "The Trump-named Gulf of America, internationally known as the Gulf of Mexico" or something similar. And whether or not the AP does so, every other international press organizational organization will.

It's one thing to act ridiculously. It's another to actually declare that you are ridiculous.

[Blackhawk]

That already happened.

Also, remember when they kicked a bunch of non-MAGA journalists out of the Pentagon and replaced them with the likes of OANN? Round 2

CNN, The Washington Post, the Hill and War Zone will be asked to leave their spaces, with Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, the Daily Caller and the Free Press moving in, according to a memo from John Ullyot, acting assistant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

[Enough]

So as all probably saw, NPR caved and will end DEI programs. What a bone-headed move! Our local station has a $5 million budget of which $300k comes from federal funding.

I called and left a voicemail to our local station I have a emotional connection with, as over 25 years ago they were on the verge of being taken over and my mom while having coffee with the neighbor was like NOT ON MY WATCH. Fast forward a year and my dad ran the fundraising while they organized and the station was saved and is one of the few decent news outlets left in CO's news desert. So the news this morning was like a blade to my heart. I called and left a passionate message discussing how we all know they were going to lose that money no matter what after several years of slowly decreasing funds. This will make this look like a horrid decision and now how will they get the next generation of station-savers to show up when they caved to the Nazis for such a small portion of their budget? To my happy surprise I just got a call back from the KUNC corporate giving manager. And she thinks I have the message to take to corporate and is going to take it to their president including my voicemail. So maybe our voices actually do matter some times.

Nice work but I'm I'm not clear. Are you looking for the local station to ditch the NPR affiliation or to influence NPR policy?




Our local NPR affiliate (WBEZ) is owned by CPM and generates most of its own funding. Only 6% is federal/other funding. I'm sure they could survive losing an affiliation and any government funding. Wouldn't be easy but could survive. So do I say, "I'm not contributing unless you ditch NPR" or "I'm not contributing unless you tell NPR to do [something]"?

Hoping if they carry my message up through NPR corporate it might have an impact, but not naive. Also, letting the local station know that we have their back if they have ours. So maybe a little of both options on the table. Also stating the obvious that this will not be great for fundraising appeals to Joe Q. Public when they lose the rest of their funding, hoping I might have a little weight by reminding them of why they even exist today is that they have a strong connection to the local community and that community saved them in the past and can again. Just look at Wired's subs increase since the election to see the market is real. In 2016 I subscribed to Wash Post even though I can get it free through work to support the 4th estate checks on Trump, and now many of us are not returning this time and are looking for places to send our money for local and indi media, along with strong national media with guts to support with our dollars. I was happy to get a callback and actually felt a small wave of hope and that reminded me of how important keeping hope alive will be to persevere through this BS.

[Holman]

If NPR and PBS lose all of their federal funding, the natural progression would be for them to attach themselves to local colleges or universities. This isn't ideal, but it's at least a lifeline. And of course colleges and universities will also be under fire.

In Philly I listen to the following radio stations, all partially publicly supported:

WHYY (90.9), NPR news and the native home of Terry Gross and other significant reporters,
WRTI (90.1), a brilliant classical station all day until dinner time, when it becomes a brilliant jazz station,
WXPN (88.5), amazing college radio in all genres with important home-grown programming supported by U Penn.

All three of these rely on at least a small amount of public funding, but that's because they are our go-to sources for up-to-date information about weather events and other issues of public concern. I believe they all also have some connection to local universities.

Trump/Musk cutting off their funding hopefully wouldn't kill them, but I hope it would radicalize them. It would certainly be part of radicalizing me.

[Kraken]

The right wing has had public broadcasting in their sights for as long as I can remember, so this hardly comes as a surprise. I've been giving WGBH membership money for almost as long, and hope other independent-minded viewers/listeners will step up when our tax dollars are cut off. GBH is behind much of PBS's content and has been ever since they discovered Julia Child, so if you don't have a local affiliate your money would be well deployed there.

Incidentally, GBH = Great Blue Hills, where their transmitter is...and the namesake of Blue Hills Editorial Services. vvvv

[Zarathud]

One of my wife’s friends is active in the AM radio trade and interrupted her birthday toast to talk about the importance of AM radio for minority voices in the communities and for resistance during wartime, as a transistor radio works during bombings when the power is out. She’s terrified, and very aware that once the antennas are pulled down, they’re not going back up. They are Cold War era dinosaurs intended as emergency backup in case of foreign invasion. She’s worried that they’ll be gone when they’ll really be needed.

[waitingtoconnect]

Trump is suing CBS for 20 billion. For diverting eyeballs away from Truth Social for interviewing Kamala. Trumps new FCC is “investigating”.

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/trump- ... 236301341/

[Unagi]

One of my wife’s friends is active in the AM radio trade and interrupted her birthday toast to talk about the importance of AM radio for minority voices in the communities and for resistance during wartime, as a transistor radio works during bombings when the power is out. She’s terrified, and very aware that once the antennas are pulled down, they’re not going back up. They are Cold War era dinosaurs intended as emergency backup in case of foreign invasion. She’s worried that they’ll be gone when they’ll really be needed.

We can't get 'good people' to give a shit about LGBT+ being tormented if they don't actually have one in their immediate family... And this woman thinks she can make people care about AM radio antennas. I feel for her. She's probably totally correct, but she may as well embrace the America she has.

[LawBeefaroni]

One of my wife’s friends is active in the AM radio trade and interrupted her birthday toast to talk about the importance of AM radio for minority voices in the communities and for resistance during wartime, as a transistor radio works during bombings when the power is out. She’s terrified, and very aware that once the antennas are pulled down, they’re not going back up. They are Cold War era dinosaurs intended as emergency backup in case of foreign invasion. She’s worried that they’ll be gone when they’ll really be needed.

Las time I was buying a car I told them not to bother showing me anything without AM radio.

The first step to killing broadcasts is to kill receivers.

[hepcat]

Wow, I didn't even realize a car audio system could come WITHOUT an AM radio. Shows you how out of touch I am, I guess. I only buy a car once every 9 or 10 years though, so I hardly ever check in on the state of things in that arena.

[LawBeefaroni]

Wow, I didn't even realize a car audio system could come WITHOUT an AM radio. Shows you how out of touch I am, I guess. I only buy a car once every 9 or 10 years though, so I hardly ever check in on the state of things in that arena.

There have been several fededal bills introduced to require AM in all new cars. As far as I know none have passed.

Notably, Tesla's don't have AM because of interference caused by the electric motor. Shielding the compnents increases cost. BMW is another big one as well.

[hepcat]

Yeah, the last time I bought a car, the Ford Model T and the other cards of that time all still had the AM radio.

[Zarathud]

Wow, I didn't even realize a car audio system could come WITHOUT an AM radio. Shows you how out of touch I am, I guess. I only buy a car once every 9 or 10 years though, so I hardly ever check in on the state of things in that arena.

There have been several fededal bills introduced to require AM in all new cars. As far as I know none have passed.

Notably, Tesla's don't have AM because of interference caused by the electric motor. Shielding the compnents increases cost. BMW is another big one as well.

My wife’s friend tried to get those AM car radio bills passed. Her hatred of Chuck Shumer was only slightly less loud than her anger at Trump. She was slightly drunk since she’ll be moving soon to Arkansas for family reasons and be stuck in MAGA country.

[waitingtoconnect]

AM radio is essential because it’s low power and in rural areas in particular is key during emergencies.

Saw this headline on NPR:

As judges block broad actions, White House says courts causing constitutional crisis

Never thought I’d see so much bending of the knee so quickly.

[Zarathud]

Every Republican accusation is a confession.