Media consolidation is shaping who folds under political pressure — and who could be next – Poynter

Hours after Brendan Carr — the head of the government agency responsible for regulating broadcast transmissions — threatened to use his power to go after ABC “the hard way,” the network caved.
ABC announced late Wednesday it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air “indefinitely.” Earlier in the week, Kimmel had attracted ire from some conservatives, including Carr, for his comments about the killing of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk. During his show Monday, Kimmel criticized the right for politicizing the killing by “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
Media watchers called Kimmel’s sidelining an alarming act of capitulation — one that fit into a larger pattern of media giants self-censoring in anticipatory obedience to President Donald Trump and his administration.
Kimmel’s show, though popular, was just one cog in the Disney media empire (ABC’s parent company), and its distribution relied in part on two other media behemoths, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcasting Group. That made it especially vulnerable to political pressure since both Nexstar and Sinclair are exploring acquisitions regulated by Carr’s agency, the Federal Communications Commission.
A similar scenario played out earlier this year between CBS News and the Trump administration. Before Trump took office, CBS News’ then-parent company Paramount was waiting for regulatory approval of its $8 billion merger with Skydance. The deal was expected to close during the first half of this year, but the FCC did not approve it until late July — after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit he had filed against them in October. (Carr has denied the approval was related to the lawsuit settlement.)
Since taking office, Trump has wielded the government’s regulatory and spending powers to cow institutions that don’t align with his political agenda. Universities, law firms, charities and media organizations have all self-censored or capitulated in an effort to preserve their business interests. (Poynter is maintaining a list of the Trump administration’s attacks against the press here.)
Increasing consolidation has made the media industry uniquely susceptible in some ways. Many news outfits belong to larger conglomerates that must weigh free speech concerns against other business interests. And as the deals between these companies get larger, they run the increasing risk of requiring approval from regulatory agencies.
Here is a list of media organizations, the vulnerabilities they may face and how they’ve responded to political pressure from the administration.
Television – Your local television station is likely owned by a large corporation like Nexstar or Sinclair. Every time a company wishes to transfer a broadcast license or acquire a company holding a license, it must receive approval from the FCC, which regulates content broadcast over public airwaves. That mandate allows it to fine stations and revoke their licenses, if necessary. The FCC also sets regulatory standards limiting the number of stations an individual company can own.
After Carr threatened ABC Wednesday, Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliates, announced it would stop airing Kimmel’s show and that it “strongly objects” to Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death. Nexstar is currently seeking approval from the FCC for its $6.2 billion deal to acquire Tegna.
Sinclair, the largest ABC affiliate, also announced Wednesday that it would not air Kimmel’s show. Instead, it would air a special remembrance about Kirk during Kimmel’s timeslot Friday. Sinclair is headed by billionaire David Smith, who once told Trump, “We are here to deliver your message.” The company announced last month it is undertaking a strategic review of its business and exploring “value-enhancing opportunities, including acquisitions.” Such acquisitions would likely be subject to FCC approval.
Print – Thanks to increasing consolidation within the industry, your local newspaper is also likely owned by a large chain like Gannett, Alden Global Capital or Hearst. A quarter of all newspapers and more than half of all dailies in the U.S. are controlled by just 10 companies, according to a 2024 study from the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. Large transactions — such as the $1.1 billion merger between Gannett and Gatehouse in 2019 — may require approval from the Department of Justice’s antitrust division.
Notable exceptions to this include The Minnesota Star-Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Boston Globe, The New Orleans Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate, and the Poynter-owned Tampa Bay Times, which are all locally owned.
Though many of Trump’s legal battles involve large national outlets, he and his companies have also gone after local papers. He currently has a lawsuit against Gannett and its newspaper, the Des Moines Register, for publishing a poll before the election that overstated Iowans’ support of then Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Trump first filed his lawsuit in federal court in December, and in July, Gannett reaffirmed that it will “continue to resist President Trump’s litigation gamesmanship.”
FILE – Brendan Carr, a Federal Communications Commission commissioner, speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2020. (Alex Wong/Pool via AP File)
Though the FCC does not issue broadcast licenses to the large national networks themselves, it does issue licenses to the networks’ local affiliates. As a result, the FCC holds significant power over national broadcasters like ABC and CBS. The FCC’s jurisdiction over the transfer of licenses, means it has the power to reject mergers and acquisitions between the large broadcasters. It cannot censor broadcast material or interfere with freedom of speech.
Under Carr’s direction, the FCC has opened investigations into multiple broadcasters.
ABC News – ABC is owned by the publicly traded Walt Disney Company, and both are currently the subject of an FCC investigation for “promoting invidious forms of (diversity, equity and inclusion).” In December, ABC agreed to donate $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit he had filed against the company despite legal experts calling Trump’s case weak. On Wednesday, after Carr called on ABC and Disney to take action against Kimmel — threatening “there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead” if they did not — ABC suspended Kimmel’s show.
CBS News – CBS is now owned by Skydance after a protracted merger process that required approval from the FCC. In October, Trump sued CBS News for airing two different clips from a “60 Minutes” interview with Harris. In January, the FCC reopened a complaint into CBS over the same Harris interview. At the time, CBS was owned by Paramount, which was awaiting approval from the FCC for its $8 billion merger with Skydance. In July, Paramount agreed to settle the lawsuit for $16 million.
Days later, CBS announced it was cancelling Stephen Colbert’s talk show for financial reasons. Critics, however, noted that Colbert has been outspoken against Trump.
In late July, the FCC approved the merger after Skydance promised to eliminate DEI initiatives and appoint an ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias. Skydance appointed Kenneth Weinstein, the former head of conservative think tank The Hudson Institute, to ombudsman, and it is currently in talks to acquire The Free Press and make Free Press founder Bari Weiss the head of CBS News.
NBC News – NBC is owned by the publicly traded Comcast, and both are currently the subject of an FCC investigation for “promoting invidious forms of DEI.” Trump has repeatedly criticized NBC and has called on the FCC to revoke its broadcasting licenses.
CNN – CNN is owned by the publicly traded Warner Bros. Discovery. Because CNN is a cable network, it is not subject to the FCC’s regulations. However, Skydance is reportedly seeking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Such a transaction may require approval from the Department of Justice’s antitrust division.
NPR and PBS – Both NPR and PBS are the subjects of FCC investigations for allegedly violating federal laws prohibiting them from running commercial advertisements. For decades, both broadcasters — along with their local stations — received funding from the government, but Congress voted in July to cut off that funding at Trump’s request. Before losing their funding, both companies walked back certain DEI initiatives. PBS closed its DEI office in February and laid off two staffers who had worked in the office. A month later, NPR eliminated a diversity policy surrounding hiring.
Though some of the largest publications in the country are independently owned and have the financial backing needed to resist political pressure, that hasn’t stopped a few from adopting policies that appear to be designed to cater to Trump. Publications owned by billionaires may be particularly susceptible as those billionaires try to protect the financial interests of their other, often more lucrative, businesses.
The New York Times – Arguably one of the most financially stable news operations in the country, The Times is owned by a publicly traded company controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family. It faces a $15 billion lawsuit from Trump who alleges the paper defamed him over the course of three articles leading up to the 2024 presidential election. The Times has called the lawsuit meritless, and executive editor Joe Kahn vowed to fight it “to the end.” The Times previously fought a defamation lawsuit from Trump, who sued them in 2021; a judge dismissed it in 2023 and ordered Trump to pay the Times’ legal fees.
The Washington Post – The Post, which has struggled financially in recent years, is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. Until last year, Bezos largely remained hands off. In the lead-up to the 2024 election, however, Bezos killed a planned endorsement for Harris. The Post has since revamped its opinion section. In February, Bezos announced that the paper would not publish opinion pieces opposing “personal liberties and free markets.” Multiple opinion contributors alleged that they’d had their pieces spiked. Last week, Karen Attiah, the Post’s last full-time Black opinion columnist, was fired for her social media posts in the wake of Kirk’s death; her only post mentioning Kirk featured a quote from him. Critics have accused Bezos, whose companies Amazon Web Services and Blue Origins have billions of dollars in government contracts, of reshaping the Post’s opinion section to appease Trump. Bezos has denied this accusation.
The Wall Street Journal – The Journal is owned by the publicly traded News Corp, which is controlled by Lachlan Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch. Though Rupert Murdoch has been a powerful figure in conservative politics and media, the Journal’s news operation has remained editorially independent. In July, it broke the news that Trump had allegedly sent convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a lewd birthday note in 2003. Trump subsequently sued the Journal for defamation. The Journal has stood by its reporting and a spokesperson said at the time that the company would “vigorously defend” against the $10 billion lawsuit.
Los Angeles Times – The Times is another billionaire-owned paper that has bled money in recent years. Its owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, stopped the paper from endorsing a presidential candidate in the lead-up to the election, even though the editorial board had already decided to endorse Harris. Soon-Shiong then invited conservative commentator Scott Jennings to join the Times’ editorial board. Over the past year, Soon-Shiong has been openly critical of the Times and complimentary of the Trump administration. Soon-Shiong, who works in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, sought a position within Trump’s first administration. He has denied accusations that he has tried to appease Trump.
The Atlantic – The Atlantic is owned by The Emerson Collective, which gives money to entrepreneurs working for social change around economic mobility, education, immigration and the environment. Billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs founded and heads the Collective. The Atlantic announced last year that it had hit 1 million subscribers and become profitable. It has spent 2025 expanding its defense and national security reporting, among other coverage areas, as well as adding back two more print issues per year.
Politico – Politico is owned by German media company Axel Springer, whose CEO, Mathias Döpfner, reportedly suggested to executives that they meet on Election Day in 2020 to pray for Trump. (Döpfner later claimed he was being “ironic.”) Döpfner has also made complimentary remarks about those in Trump’s circle, including Vice President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk.
The Trump administration has reportedly explored ways to strip nonprofits of their tax-exempt status. Federal law prohibits the president from requesting that the Internal Revenue Service investigate or audit a particular organization or person. Yet, Trump repeatedly threatened to take away Harvard University’s tax-exempt status earlier this year. In the wake of Kirk’s killing, Trump administration officials have threatened to go after left-leaning nonprofits, including philanthropic organizations. A retreat by nonprofit funders could in turn leave nonprofit newsrooms reliant on those funds vulnerable.
The Associated Press – The AP is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative. As a wire service, its reputation — and subsequently, its business — is reliant on its ability to provide independent and nonpartisan reporting. In February, the AP became one of the Trump administration’s first media targets after it refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Trump retaliated by banning AP journalists from certain presidential spaces and kicking them out of the rotating pool of reporters permitted to follow and report on him and his daily activities. The AP in turn sued Trump, and its case is still open.
ProPublica – ProPublica is an independent nonprofit that generates most of its revenue through donations. As an investigative newsroom, it has a long track record of reporting critically on Trump and his administration. On Thursday, in the wake of ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel’s show, ProPublica posted on X, “How does ProPublica stay independent? We’re a nonprofit. That means no owners, no shareholders, no corporate interests or political pressure.”
Poynter managing editor Ren LaForme contributed reporting.
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