• Please be aware we've switched the forums to their own URL. (again) You'll find the new website address to be www.steelernationforum.com Thanks
  • Please clear your private messages. Your inbox is close to being full.

The Official Thread Dedicated to "Trump Winning"

This is huge.

Media's MAGA makeover​

Trump-friendly billionaires are consolidating control over American media, steering legacy brands and social platforms in a new conservative direction.

Why it matters: The media landscape of 2016 is unrecognizable. Once dominated by critics of President Trump, today's fragmented ecosystem is increasingly controlled — or threatened — by forces aligned with the White House.

Driving the news: ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel off air "indefinitely" on Wednesday in response to the late-night host's comments about Charlie Kirk's assassination.
  • The extraordinary move came after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr warned ABC that it could face fines or license revocations if it did not "operate in the public interest."
  • Trump celebrated Kimmel's removal — just as he did CBS's decision to cancel Stephen Colbert's show — and called for NBC to take action against remaining late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon.
The big picture: The media's MAGA makeover is unfolding on two fronts — high-profile acquisitions that give Trump allies control of marquee platforms, and quieter rebrands that soften once-critical coverage or policies.

1. Acquisitions: No modern media deal has more profoundly reshaped U.S. politics than Elon Musk's 2022 takeover of Twitter (now X), which turned the digital town square into a platform dominated by MAGA voices.
  • It soon may be eclipsed by another seismic deal: Oracle, chaired by Trump ally Larry Ellison, is seeking to take control of TikTok's U.S. operations as part of a consortium that includes Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz.
  • The proposal — if green-lit by China — could give one of Trump's billionaire allies unprecedented sway over a platform central to youth culture and political organizing.
Meanwhile, Skydance's acquisition of Paramount this summer handed Ellison's son, David, control of CBS News, where he appointed a conservative ombudsman to review complaints about the network's coverage.
  • Paramount-Skydance is in advanced talks to acquire Bari Weiss' conservative news site, The Free Press, and give her a senior editorial role at CBS.
  • The Ellisons are also working on a cash bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN — potentially putting two of America's most iconic TV news brands under the purview of one Trump-aligned family.
2. Rebrands: Major tech and media executives made a series of overtures to Trump in the wake of the 2024 election, promising a more conciliatory approach toward his second administration.
  • Meta's Mark Zuckerberg pivoted hard after years of tensions — appointing Trump allies to top jobs and eliminating the platform's fact-checking program as part of a slate of changes targeting "censorship."
  • Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos killed the paper's endorsement of then-Vice President Harris and announced in February that its opinion page would shift its mission to promote "personal liberties and free markets."
  • L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong spiked his paper's Harris endorsement and vowed on Fox News to balance out his editorial board with conservative voices......
 
Continued....

The intrigue: Univision, the largest Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S. and onetime left-leaning voice for Latinos, has ingratiated itself with the Trump administration under its new owner, Mexican media giant Televisa.
  • The Baltimore Sun, Maryland's largest newspaper, has shifted notably to the right since being sold to David Smith, the executive chairman of conservative local broadcaster Sinclair.
  • Public MAGA media companies like Newsmax have seen valuations skyrocket by riding the "meme stock" wave initiated by Trump Media, which owns the president's Truth Social platform.
Between the lines: Mainstream outlets that remain adversarial to Trump have come under heavy financial, political and regulatory pressure.
  • Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times this week, claiming the paper is a "full-throated mouthpiece of the Democrat Party."
  • He's also accused ABC and NBC of functioning as arms of the Democratic Party, and said last month he would be "in favor" of the FCC pulling their broadcast licenses.
  • The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was forced to shut down after Congress cut nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding for PBS and NPR, which Trump had accused of liberal bias.
Reality check: Even amid the tectonic shifts, America's newsrooms are still producing hard-hitting, independent journalism.
  • Trump is actively suing his ally Rupert Murdoch over The Wall Street Journal's coverage of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — a reminder that friendly ownership doesn't guarantee friendly coverage.
 
Tim Steelersfan said:
This is huge.

Media's MAGA makeover​

Trump-friendly billionaires are consolidating control over American media, steering legacy brands and social platforms in a new conservative direction.
Click to expand...
Lotta billionaires are Liberals because they think that since they're rich they're smarter than everyone else (Bill Gates, George Soros, two real-life James Bond villians) and they will be in charge.
More sensible billionaires (Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Jamie Dimon) are recognizing that the Democrat Party base has turned Communist and eventually will be coming for them and their companies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top