This was the year in which public broadcasting was destroyed and hyper-partisan actors prospered, in which the First Amendment was lavishly praised and at the same time opportunistically abandoned.
It was the year media takeover came to America.
Before 2025, “media takeover” was a term used exclusively abroad. And described the infiltration of a free press in order to secure the favor of the ruling regime.
Media takeover as a political tool
Sometimes this was done through threats and intimidation. Fueled by party political groupthink. In other cases, money was the method of choice. Wealthy government allies bought up independent news organizations. And disempowered them in order to make them agree to the state’s desired version of the facts.
Hungary is often cited as a prime example of media takeover. So it seemed remarkable that Hungary’s elected autocrat Viktor Orbán was repeatedly praised by Donald Trump and Republicans during the 2024 election campaign. That was a clear signal of intent.
One year later: normalization of dependency
A year later, we have become accustomed to Baghdad Bob-esque lies from Trump administration spokespeople and absurd gibberish from Cabinet members. Spinelessness from the vast majority of Republican members of Congress was to be expected. What was surprising, however, was the lack of leadership within the news media when confronted with an explicitly hostile executive branch.
This deficiency was largely driven by corporate owners hiding behind a fig leaf of supposed “fiduciary responsibility” to shareholders. And gave in to threats. They shoveled millions to Trump for perceived slights. And there is always an alleged slight that would never have stood up in court.
Millions for intimidation
The total amount now amounts to more than 90 million dollars. ABC News agreed to pay Trump $15 million for his library after anchor George Stephanopoulos discussed Trump’s sexual abuse conviction of E. Jean Carroll. Likewise, Paramount paid Trump $16 million to routinely edit a CBS “60 Minutes” interview — in this case with then-Vice President Kamala Harris — during the 2024 campaign after Trump declined to participate.
Cutting a long interview for airtime is not evidence of bias. But a normal part of the news business. But apparently the parent company Paramount had to pay this protection money in order to be able to sell the company to the Trump-friendly Ellison family. And so it was paid. In a completely coincidental move, CBS announced it would be canceling one of America’s highest-rated late-night shows, hosted by popular comedian and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert.
Lawsuits as a means of pressure
Trump sued the New York Times, which he subsequently described as a “serious threat to our country’s national security.” And the Wall Street Journal because of their reporting on the Epstein files. Both commendably refused to back down. He sued YouTube, which decided to exceptionally abandon Section 230’s protections. And to pay Trump $24 million because his account was blocked after January 6th. Meta and X also paid millions.
The fact that capitulation only encourages further aggression was shown when Trump just announced an absurd lawsuit for five billion dollars against the BBC. Because she cut a speech he gave before the attack on the Capitol. It would be a bad joke. If it didn’t come from the President of the United States.
Silencing the American Voice Abroad
America’s leadership in the world has always rested as much on the power of our example as on the example of our power. Just as the ideals of “good America” as a beacon of freedom and democracy have been undermined, so too has America’s voice to the world. Right from the start, one of Trump’s first actions was to shut down Voice of America and other public diplomacy channels that gave autocratic states free access to information.
Vladimir Putin has long railed against Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, which broadcast to the Soviet Union during the Cold War and helped destabilize that totalitarian regime. Trump willingly gave Putin this gift. He froze more than $75 million in funding previously appropriated by Congress.
Gifts to autocrats
These stations’ struggle for new revenue streams led to the legendary band REM remixing and re-releasing their first single “Radio Free Europe” to generate attention. (Disclosure: My wife Margaret Hoover hosts “Firing Line” on PBS and sits on the board of RFE/RL.)
While Secretary of State Marco Rubio has long believed that the Cuban people should be freed from the communist Castro regime, he oversaw the abrupt shutdown of Radio Martí. A New York Times headline summed it up well. “Trump did what the Castros couldn’t. He took Radio Martí off the air.” Likewise, Trump’s people talk tough about taking action against Beijing, but strengthened the Chinese Communist Party by destroying Radio Free Asia. It’s spring for autocrats worldwide.
Attack on public broadcasting
Conservatives have been threatening to abolish the Corporation for Public Broadcasting since the 1960s, after Mister Rogers saved it with his congressional testimony. The costs are negligible. The benefit is immense. Children in remote rural areas as well as in inner cities have access to educational programs. And their parents on cultural content beyond the algorithms. Trump put the station on his hit list. Republicans in Congress obediently pulled the trigger.
Among the victims of these cuts is the award-winning documentary series “American Experience.” One of the greatest facilitators of civic education is being silenced just in time for America’s 250th birthday. It’s darkly ironic. And completely appropriate.
Power games in the media industry
The biggest unfinished media takeover of 2025 involved the fate of Warner Brothers Discovery, the parent company of HBO and CNN. During the negotiations, the Ellisons were considered to have an advantage in obtaining regulatory approval precisely because of their close relationship with Trump. This was presented as fact in sober news articles. Without addressing the break with the American system such partisan favoritism represents.
I understand David Ellison’s stated goal of creating news for the middle 70 percent of Americans. However, reports that the Ellisons gave Trump assurances that their program would be friendlier to his administration and even offered to fire certain CNN anchors with whom Trump was unhappy revealed the contradictions of that claim.
Loss of trust and open future
The recent news that CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss – a heterodox opinion journalist and founder of the now Ellison-owned “Free Press” – apparently stopped a “60 Minutes” segment about deportations to Salvadoran prisons shortly before it was broadcast and recommended that the perspective of Trump’s chief advisor Stephen Miller be included, did not help calm the situation. Netflix ultimately won WBD’s streaming and studio businesses. While CNN’s future remains unclear. But the world needs a strong and independent CNN.
One of the big debates of the 2024 election year in established newsrooms – including at CNN – was the question of whether Trump should be treated like any other candidate. I believed that fair reporting required crucial context. Including his previous attempt to overturn an American election based on a lie that led to an attack on our Capitol.
Truth as the North Star
Some executives said calling out Trump’s lies was divisive. And already priced into public opinion. But the day a news media decides to stop contradicting lies told by those in power, it loses its true north star.
A year later, the list of humiliations is endless. Anyone who rationalized their support for Trump 2024 by saying they disliked “woke” young people on social media got objective journalists completely removed from the Pentagon. Because real media outlets refused to sign a de facto declaration of loyalty in exchange for access.
Systematic exclusion of critical media
The White House press pool created special slots for right-wing bloggers, while the Associated Press was banned. Because she didn’t support Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” The Washington Post purged large parts of its editorial board to present a more Trump-friendly face. And said goodbye to its traditional liberal center. The Federal Communications Commission is led by a Project 2025 co-author who dropped his agency’s description as independent to make clear its allegiance to Trump. ABC threatened to revoke Jimmy Kimmel’s broadcast license.
Taken together, these measures amount to a cartoonish exaggeration of the worst scenarios warned about before the 2024 election.
Danger to democracy
This is not simply partisan warfare via the press. The Trump administration and its apologists are creating an architecture of alternative facts. The greater danger is that we as fellow citizens will no longer be able to reason together – and that is exactly what American democracy is based on.
The wrong actors are currently winning. But just because the truth is attacked, facts do not cease to exist. Trump can use his election lies as a test of loyalty for appointees, but that doesn’t mean American citizens have to abandon their conscience or common sense.
Courage instead of submission
The fact that so many corporations believe they are financially obligated to kiss the ring when threatened speaks volumes about the incentive system we have created. Going forward, it will be up to independent journalists and independent-minded media company owners to fuel a fearless, fact-based alternative to media takeover that keeps American citizens compliant in a time of despondency—just when we need courage.