TV News LIES

"CBS Evening News" is going through another shakeup.

John Dickerson, who took over as co-anchor of CBS' evening news broadcast in January following the departure of Norah O'Donnell, is leaving the network at the end of the year.

Dickerson shared the news in an Instagram post on Monday, Oct. 27.

"I am extremely grateful for all that CBS gave me — the work, the audience's attention and the honor of being a part of the network's history — and I am grateful for my dear colleagues who've made me a better journalist and a better human," he wrote. "I will miss you."

Dickerson, who also serves as CBS News chief political analyst, did not share a reason for his departure. He will continue to co-anchor the "CBS Evening News" until the holidays, the network said.

In a statement, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski said Dickerson "epitomizes the very best of journalism," adding that "we'll have plenty of time to thank him for his work here and honor his contributions to our success" before he leaves at the end of the year.

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British journalist Sami Hamdi was reportedly detained on Sunday morning by federal immigration authorities at San Francisco international airport, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) says that action is apparent retaliation for the Muslim political commentator’s criticism of Israel while touring the US.

A statement from Cair said it was “a blatant affront to free speech” to detain Hamdi for criticizing Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza while he engaged on a speaking tour in the US. A Trump administration official added in a separate statement that Hamdi is facing deportation.

“Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice,” Cair’s statement said. The statement also called on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “to immediately account for and release Mr Hamdi”, saying his only “‘crime’ is criticizing a foreign government” that Cair accused of having “committed genocide”.

The press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, wrote of Hamdi in a social media post: “This individual’s visa was revoked, and he is in ICE custody pending removal”.

McLaughlin’s post also said: “Those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country.”

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The former executive producer of 60 Minutes, Bill Owens, said he faced intense internal pressure from his corporate bosses to avoid certain stories that had the potential to generate backlash for parent company Paramount, in his first public remarks since his sudden resignation in late April.

In January, 60 Minutes ran a segment featuring former state department employees who had quit over how Joe Biden’s administration handled the war in Gaza. The segment drew backlash from pro-Israel organizations and unnerved Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, a strong supporter of Israel.

“She didn’t like the story,” Owens told an audience at Colby College in Maine on Friday evening, where he accepted an award given for courage in journalism.

Afterwards, Owens says, he was basically told: “Well, you’re not going to do another Gaza story, are you?” While Redstone didn’t call him directly, “that message was relayed to me by people with authority over me”, he said.

The show continued covering the story. “When I said we were going to do another Gaza piece, that was like hitting a hornet’s nest,” he told the crowd. “This idea that we were doing stories that [lacked] balance, on the face of it – it’s just wrong.”

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After the recent departure of Pentagon reporters due to their refusal to agree to a new set of restrictive policies, the defense department has announced a “next generation of the Pentagon press corps” featuring 60 journalists from far-right outlets, many of which have promoted conspiracy theories.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted the news on X but did not provide any names.

The Washington Post, however, obtained a draft of the announcement, which stated that the new reporters, who agreed to the department’s new policies, were from outlets such as Lindell TV, started by Trump ally Mike Lindell; the Gateway Pundit; the Post Millennial; Human Events; and the National Pulse.

The list also includes Turning Point USA’s media brand Frontlines, influencer Tim Pool’s Timcast and a Substack-based newsletter called Washington Reporter, the Post reported.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for the list of journalists.

Parnell described the group as a “broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists”.

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News organizations including The New York Times, The Associated Press and the conservative Newsmax television network said Monday they will not sign a Defense Department document about its new press rules, making it likely the Trump administration will evict their ethreporters from the Pentagon.

Those outlets say the policy threatens to punish them for routine news gathering protected by the First Amendment. The Washington Post, The Atlantic and Reuters on Monday also publicly joined the group that says it will not be signing.

impartial and independent news,” the agency said in a statement. “We also steadfastly believe in the press prhttps://tse3.mm.bing.net/th/id/OIF.4fMuGRRVdY6PkT1jK5nmbQ?pid=Api&h=220&P=0otections afforded by the U.S. Constitution, the unrestricted flow of information and journalism that serves the public interest without fear or favor. The Pentagon’s new restrictions erode these fundamental values.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reacted by posting the Times’ statement on X and adding a hand-waving emoji. His team has said that reporters who don’t acknowledge the policy in writing by Tuesday must turn in badges admitting them to the Pentagon and clear out their workspaces the next day.

The new rules bar journalist access to large swaths of the Pentagon without an escort and say Hegseth can revoke press access to reporters who ask anyone in the Defense Department for information — classified or otherwise — that he has not approved for release.

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If you only just started paying attention to the inner workings of the media industry, you might think America’s information environment transformed overnight.

In the past few months, a president extracted settlements from media giants as his apparatchiks vowed state retribution against his opponents – all as they defunded public media at a time when the president’s biggest boosters own the algorithms that decide what information is amplified and suppressed.

Meanwhile, media companies are merging into ever-larger behemoths, some have muzzled White House critics as their companies seek presidential favors, and the White House is reportedly brokering a deal to hand yet another social media platform over to his billionaire allies.

And now, a media industry billionaire has placed CBS News under the control of the conservative provocateur Bari Weiss, who is empowered to shroud her culture war and oligarch-friendly economics in what she calls “journalism that is fair, fearless, and factual”.

But as abrupt as this Orwellian turn may seem, it is no sudden pivot – it is instead the culmination of a scheme launched a half-century ago by some of America’s most influential power brokers, as our new book Master Plan exposes. Sketched out in never-before-reported documents, this plot aimed to destroy accountability journalism and make news outlets into champions rather than adversaries of power.

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