How US news outlets became the tools of the super rich — The Listening Post

[0:00] American oligarchs have infiltrated the White House and the U.S. media. [0:05] In this special edition of The Listening Post, we examine the implications of that. [0:10] Starting with the news organizations that have become the playthings of the super-rich. [0:15] Let's negotiate in front of the media. [0:17] At the expense of their journalism, their credibility. [0:20] Sounds like a good deal to me, Mr. Prosecutor. [0:22] Why are these billionaires gobbling up more and more media outlets? [0:27] It's not as though they're philanthropists. [0:28] And Donald Trump's two-sided relationship with the Fourth Estate. [0:35] How is it that he is so critical of the White House press corps, yet so accessible? [0:45] The American media landscape is growing more concentrated. [0:49] Some of the country's most storied news organizations are being bought up by a tiny group of elites, [0:55] putting those outlets at risk. [0:57] The buyers are more likely to cozy up to power the Trump White House than to speak truth to it. [1:02] These buyouts tend to go one of two ways. [1:05] There are the high-profile acquisitions that give Trump allies, [1:09] like the Ellison family, control of a network such as CBS, [1:12] where the editorial changes are quick and coming. [1:16] Then there is the more cunning kind of rebrand under someone like Jeff Bezos, [1:20] who bought the Washington Post back in 2013, [1:23] but slow-played the changes before eventually tempering the paper's once-critical coverage of Trump. [1:29] The president keeps strong-arming media outlets he does not like, [1:34] and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has exacerbated things. [1:38] Trump has said that certain journalists should be charged with treason. [1:43] His lieutenants have lectured reporters on what patriotic coverage looks like, [1:47] and threaten to strip news outlets of their licenses if they do not get in line. [1:53] In the second half of this program, we will speak with two White House reporters [1:57] from opposite ends of the political spectrum about what has changed during this presidency. [2:04] But first, the media institutions landing in the hands of billionaires [2:08] who are invested in many things. [2:11] Quality journalism, not among them. [2:13] Billionaires that have hollowed out media have made their billions [2:17] in a system which values profit-seeking and not democracy. [2:23] We want to be in the truth business. We want to be in the trust business. [2:26] If there's only one newspaper lift printing, it's going to be us. [2:29] I would say at this point, most of U.S. media is owned by oligarchs. [2:34] We're working to become a national and to some degree global newspaper. [2:39] It's very clear that billionaires don't necessarily see media ownership [2:44] as a charity or philanthropy, but for many of them, it's a business venture. [2:49] We are in the business of building long-term value for shareholders, [2:52] and I think we've done that successfully. [2:53] They want to see the money and be on top of the next wave of business, [2:57] not necessarily the next Watergate. [3:00] They're interested in weaponizing their connection to a government [3:03] that will give them the tools they need. [3:06] And that is not a new phenomenon. [3:11] The American media space has been shaped by tycoons of one kind or another [3:16] for a century and a half. [3:18] Many people have the sense of acquisitive possessiveness, [3:22] but William Randolph Hearst was the only man ever able to indulge it to the hilt. [3:26] Through men like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer [3:30] and the newspapers they owned starting back in the late 1800s. [3:35] Fast forward 150 years to today, the Internet age, [3:41] and more than half of the traffic on major news sites in the U.S. last year, [3:46] more than 25 billion visits, were to outlets controlled by just seven families, [3:52] like the Ellisons and the Murdochs, or their corporate entities. [3:55] They now own news organizations that, due to fierce competition [4:00] for dwindling online ad revenues, were ripe for the picking, [4:05] often at the cost of their editorial independence. [4:08] The oligarchs know that the return on their investment [4:11] under a president like Donald Trump is political influence. [4:15] It increases with each outlet they acquire. [4:19] If we look at it by the newspapers, we have Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post. [4:23] We have the Boston Globe being owned by John Henry. [4:27] We have the Los Angeles Times owned by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. [4:30] And if you look at TV networks, [4:32] one of the most notable billionaire owners is Rupert Murdoch. [4:35] There's so much of the media landscape he owns. [4:37] He is truly one of those media moguls of the past with News Corp, with Fox. [4:43] Now you look at the Ellison family owning Paramount Skydance [4:46] and wanting to do further consolidation. [4:48] That, to me, feels more like what Murdoch did with building a true media empire. [4:52] It's not just billionaires. It's not just bad apples. [4:56] It's a system of private equity, of corporations run by the billionaires [5:01] or tied to the billionaires that have hollowed out media in the last decades. [5:05] Billionaires like to use the tools of media to advance their personal interests, [5:10] which we've seen through time and history. [5:12] But it's at a scale now, without countervailing force in so many instances, [5:17] that it's become dangerous for democracy. [5:19] I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear. [5:22] The Trump regime-taking control of the U.S. government, [5:26] I think it created both an opportunity but also pressure [5:29] for these individual oligarchic owners of U.S. media [5:33] to sort of merge their interests with the state. [5:37] They have much larger businesses, in some cases defense contracts, [5:41] billion-dollar contracts, that have nothing to do with news. [5:43] And if news becomes inconvenient to their larger businesses, [5:46] this is bad for their shareholders. [5:49] And most of these CEOs are paid in stock, [5:51] so it's bad for their personal finances as well. [5:54] And so when you get a Jeff Bezos in charge of The Washington Post, [5:57] it should surprise no one that he says, [6:00] hey, what we'd really like to cover is the economy and capitalism [6:03] and the glories of capitalism. [6:05] The Washington Post is a case study of the new era of billionaire media ownership. [6:12] In 2013, the paper was threatened by insolvency. [6:16] Jeff Bezos used his fortune to swoop in and rescue it. [6:21] Initially, Bezos did not interfere editorially. [6:24] In Donald Trump's first term, the Post stood up to the president. [6:28] Just prior to the 2024 election, though, Bezos changed course. [6:33] He announced that for the first time in 30 years, [6:36] the paper would not endorse a presidential candidate. [6:39] It wasn't going to influence the election either way. [6:42] No independent voter in Pennsylvania at that time was going to say, [6:45] oh, is that what The Washington Post thinks? [6:46] Well, then I'll do that. [6:48] That decision quickly cost The Post around 250,000 subscribers, [6:53] roughly 10% of its paying customers. [6:56] Then Bezos announced an ideological shift, [6:59] that he was ordering The Post's editorial board to focus on, quote, [7:03] personal liberties and free markets, [7:06] meaning that certain voices and perspectives, [7:08] the kind that might challenge Bezos and his corporate beliefs, [7:12] would no longer be platform. [7:14] And The Washington Post is not just any American newspaper. [7:18] In the 1970s, it was considered the gold standard for journalism in the U.S. [7:23] Some people have even gone so far as to talking about Congress impeaching the president. [7:27] When it's reporting on the Watergate scandal brought down a president, Richard Nixon. [7:33] The Post has gone from the glory days of Woodward and Bernstein to the age of Bezos. [7:39] Right, right. [7:40] Marty Baron was The Post's executive editor for part one of the Bezos era. [7:45] He left the paper in 2021. [7:48] Our conversations with Jeff Bezos after he acquired The Post in 2013, [7:52] I think were very good. [7:53] He set out a very ambitious strategy and vision for The Washington Post. [7:58] He said that he would give us runway, that he would invest in us. [8:01] He also committed to giving us our independence, and he did that. [8:05] He did not interfere at all in our news coverage, and we expanded. [8:09] He was long perceived as a political enemy of Donald Trump for one reason and one reason only, [8:14] and that was the coverage of The Washington Post. [8:17] He defended us. [8:17] He stood by us throughout my time at The Washington Post, but then when it appeared that Donald Trump [8:22] would re-enter the White House, he started to work at really repairing his relationship with Trump. [8:29] It's been described a bloodbath. [8:31] The Washington Post has laid off more than 300 journalists. [8:35] Save the Post! [8:36] One year into Donald Trump's second presidency, Jeff Bezos gutted over a third of The Post's newsroom [8:43] through cuts to multiple departments. [8:46] The justification from executive editor Matt Murray, the need for a strategic reset. [8:51] Great journalism is central, but the journalism alone isn't enough. [8:55] The notion that The Post's journalists too often wrote from one perspective, for one slice of the audience. [9:02] The Washington Post was hemorrhaging money, around $100 million a year. [9:07] But for Jeff Bezos, that's pocket change. [9:10] He's worth around $250 billion. [9:14] What's interesting about The Washington Post layoffs is there's a broader understanding outside [9:18] of the media bubble about how important that news organization is. [9:22] Day in and day out, they have covered amazing stories about the administration. [9:26] They are the true local paper of D.C., which is the political center of America. [9:31] And so clearly you would think that that paper would be producing some of the best journalists [9:36] of our time and wanting to produce incredible stories. [9:39] That also includes foreign correspondents. [9:42] The Washington Post had people posted all over the world. [9:45] They've very much retreated from that. [9:47] Virtually all of the Black editorial staff is gone. [9:50] Karen Atiyah was summarily dismissed. [9:54] They got rid of, effectively, all of their coverage of race and ethnicity. [9:59] That's all gone. [9:59] And the message, I think, that's been sent to that newsroom is that they have an audience [10:05] of two, Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump. [10:07] And I'm not sure that that's a comfortable place to be if you're a journalist that just [10:11] wants to do news and bring the truth without fear of favor. [10:14] I'm terribly upset about what's happened there. [10:16] I think it's a disgrace, actually, what has occurred. [10:19] I think there's been managerial malpractice, even ownership malpractice over the last five [10:25] years or so. [10:26] They call it a reset. [10:27] It looks more like a retreat to me. [10:29] Bezos changed the direction of the editorial page and the opinion pages generally, such that [10:34] there are now essentially no opinion columnists who are to the left of center, not even a little [10:40] bit to the left of center. [10:41] We had a motto, and they still have a motto at The Washington Post, democracy dies in darkness. [10:47] Knowing keeps us free. [10:50] In fact, Jeff Bezos, the owner, called it not a motto, but a mission statement. [10:55] And I would like to hear the leadership of The Post and the ownership of The Post in the [11:00] form of Jeff Bezos articulate what they want the news organization to be today and tomorrow. [11:06] Jeff Bezos has remade The Post, changes that Donald Trump would approve of. [11:14] But he does not have the sway in the White House that another rising media mogul has, Silicon [11:19] Valley billionaire Larry Ellison. [11:22] That's Ellison in the Oval Office, right next to another pro-Trump, pro-Israel media owner, [11:29] Rupert Murdoch. [11:30] Ellison moved into the mainstream media business last year, buying Paramount, which owns CBS. [11:36] He and his son, David, then set their sights on CNN through the acquisition of its parent [11:44] company, Warner Brothers. [11:46] At CBS, the Ellisons quickly installed Barry Weiss as the editor-in-chief. [11:51] Weiss had made her name online through her conservative publication, The Free Press. [11:57] The more elite the institutions, the more the people that populate them shouted, globalize [12:02] the intifada. [12:03] The more they glorify the evil. [12:05] But Weiss had exactly zero experience working in television news. [12:10] What the Ellisons saw in her, though, was a perfect fit. [12:13] Weiss is a self-described Zionist fanatic. [12:18] Barry Weiss, who was a very ideological, conservative actor inside of The New York Times, and then her [12:24] sub-stack gets suddenly acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars and then given control [12:29] of CBS News, and you can see the immediate results of that. [12:33] You can see CBS News suddenly look at 60 Minutes as not an independent, journalistic bulwark of [12:40] truth and, you know, without fear or favor. [12:44] And suddenly, it's got some fear and favor. [12:47] Suddenly, it's being limited in what it can do, in what it can show, in what it can say. [12:51] Barry Weiss has overhauled the CBS newsroom, remaking it in her own image. [12:59] I think it's about redrawing the lines of what falls in the 40-yard lines of acceptable [13:05] debate. [13:06] And she has not stayed behind the scenes, the way news execs usually do. [13:11] You will not agree with everything you hear tonight, or in any of these other broadcasts, [13:15] and that is exactly the point. [13:18] Weiss has brought in a range of new commentators, virtually all of them conservative, pro-Israel, [13:24] and pro-Iran war. [13:26] Because what you want to do is you want to escalate at this point to defeat this horrible regime. [13:31] And she has imposed her ideological stamp on CBS through who she has entrusted with the top [13:38] anchor job there, Tony DeCoppo. [13:40] I'm Tony DeCoppo, the anchor of the CBS Evening News. [13:44] Hold me to it. [13:45] Tony DeCoppo's CBS News has a mandate to go out into the country to meet the real Americans [13:51] because Barry Weiss feels that CBS has been infected with liberal bias. [13:57] What's interesting is that the ratings of Tony DeCoppo's CBS Evening News plummeted in [14:03] the first week or two because people, I think, are not stupid. [14:06] For the record, I do think I'd have this job even if the other guys won. [14:09] Yeah, but at a lesser salary. [14:10] He's perceived as Barry Weiss's kind of puppet. [14:13] And the range of choices and voices that are brought on in times of crisis, for example, [14:19] like Iran, they are putting on people who are pro-war. [14:23] The Iranian people, what are you hearing from them tonight? [14:26] We know they're celebrating. [14:28] What's the feeling? [14:29] It's the Iranian people that have been telling me over and over and over again, [14:33] we want this. [14:34] So far in her role of running the company, we've seen 60 Minutes fall in the respect [14:41] that they have internally and also lose talent. [14:44] I'm Anderson Cooper. [14:45] That story and more next week on another edition of 60 Minutes. [14:49] Anderson Cooper not signing is a huge example. [14:51] And 60 Minutes is seen as one of the gold standards of good journalism. [14:56] It is a true TV magazine, a magazine brought to life in video that still amasses so much [15:02] attention and power in our fragmented media landscape. [15:06] A CBS News producer is jumping ship and shared a fiery letter against the network's leadership. [15:11] This is really a severe blow, it seems, to the network's credibility here. [15:16] And another thing that she's done is essentially alienate and polarize talent there who have [15:22] been these longtime respected leaders. [15:23] We contacted The Washington Post and CBS asking for comment. [15:29] Neither responded. [15:30] The new owners at both outlets are driven by something that has more to do with political [15:35] clout than journalism. [15:37] And the real prize? [15:39] The Ellison family's pursuit of CNN is still out there. [15:43] While still a long way from being finalized, that sale cannot happen quickly enough for the [15:48] Trump administration. [15:49] More fake news from CNN. [15:51] And then, the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better. [15:57] And should that deal go ahead, the U.S. news landscape will grow even more concentrated, [16:02] even less reflective of the interests of ordinary Americans. [16:07] So the deal I'm thinking about, Larry, let's negotiate in front of the media. [16:10] And more in line with the personal agendas of the billionaires who still wield so much power [16:16] in America. [16:18] What do you think? [16:19] Sounds like a good deal to me, Mr. President. [16:20] Yeah. [16:21] He can afford it, too. [16:23] I've been in this business for a long time, just about half a century. [16:27] I've seen every type of ownership. [16:30] I wish there were a perfect form of ownership, but I haven't seen one yet. [16:34] Wealthy individuals like Jeff Bezos, they have all sorts of conflicts of interest because [16:37] they have other businesses, and that's a point of vulnerability. [16:41] And then you look at, like, private equity firms or hedge funds. [16:44] They hope to extract as much cash as quickly as possible from them. [16:48] They have no concern about the long-term future and no commitment to the mission of journalism. [16:52] And then you look at the non-profit model, and most of these non-profits are going to [16:56] foundations to help support them. [16:59] And the foundations, they're the elite, too. [17:01] They are controlled by people who are essentially part of the elite. [17:05] So there is no perfect form of ownership. [17:08] That is the context, the increasingly concentrated ownership picture in American media. [17:15] Then there are the changes that are taking place below in the daily task of covering national [17:21] politics there. [17:22] In this, his second term, Donald Trump has installed a press operation that is at once [17:27] more open and more hostile. [17:30] His presidency offers reporters extraordinary levels of access, while he repeatedly attacks [17:36] news outlets, threatening them in various ways. [17:39] The White House routinely sidelines and shuns established news organizations while making [17:44] room for a new breed of more sympathetic or supine media types. [17:49] The by-product is a White House press corps that looks different, sounds different, and [17:55] works under a new set of rules. [17:57] To get an idea of how that system functions, or not, we spoke with two journalists who cover [18:03] the presidency from opposite corners of the media world. [18:06] Hugo Lowell is a White House correspondent for The Guardian, a liberal, mainstream news outlet. [18:12] John Fredericks also covers the White House, but does it through a conservative radio talk show. [18:18] He describes himself as part of the MAGA media movement. [18:22] I'm a White House correspondent with The Guardian in Washington. [18:26] I cover the Trump administration and its national security and legal policy. [18:31] I've covered Trump for about five years. [18:34] We're coming up to the briefing room now, where there's exactly the space where Caroline [18:40] Leavitt, the press secretary, will brief. [18:41] There's space in here for a bunch of reporters. [18:44] My name is John Fredericks. [18:47] I'm a TV and radio talk show host. [18:50] I get to cover the president. [18:52] Occasionally, I get to go into the Oval Office. [18:55] I was a Trump supporter even before he announced in 2015. [19:00] What's your time frame to make a decision on running for president, Mr. Trump? [19:05] I would say June, July. [19:07] And I think people are going to be very shocked. [19:09] So, I've been around the block, a Trump supporter, part of the MAGA media movement. [19:15] Wow. [19:18] The approach to the press is certainly more combative overall. [19:21] We've seen the White House pull the Associated Press out of the press pool. [19:26] The AP is not allowed to go in with the rest of the pool. [19:29] And certainly, you see his senior advisors be very combative towards the media on Twitter [19:35] and on Truth Social and on other social media. [19:38] And they'll, you know, consistently attack them. [19:40] This White House communications team has made significant changes. [19:44] The first is they control the press pool rotation that covers the president on a daily basis. [19:53] I think they've opened it up to other media other than, you know, the very left-wing, entrenched [19:59] legacy media. [20:00] And probably the most significant thing is they opened up a seat on a rotation basis to what [20:06] they call new media, which means you get to sit and ask the first question. [20:10] In the White House, we are fully embracing new media. [20:14] They call it the new media seat. [20:16] And I think this is the biggest difference that has been implemented in this White House. [20:20] Typically, it's someone who works for a conservative outlet or an outlet that is friendly towards [20:27] the president and Republicans, podcasters, right-wing hosts, people who do streaming on their phones. [20:33] And all of a sudden, the White House has implemented this new seat for someone that they are sympathetic [20:39] to and will typically ask them easier questions that the admin can then use to play off and [20:46] deliver their messaging. [20:47] A lot of legacy media, some people in the front row, seem to want to call this an affordability [20:52] crisis right now, forgetting the fact that over the last four years... [20:56] When Eric Bolling asked Caroline Levitt the question about gas prices and affordability, [21:01] he had this long preamble that effectively set up a straw man to say, the media is reporting [21:07] on this affordability crisis, but it's not real. [21:09] The White House, what is your response? [21:11] And Caroline quite effectively uses that to deliver her messaging. [21:16] Well, it's a great question, Eric, and it's a point of frustration for the president. [21:20] The question that was asked by Eric, I could have asked in 20 seconds. [21:25] He took two and a half minutes because he wanted to make a statement. [21:28] They want to get on TV. [21:30] They want to be able to make a statement. [21:31] They want to get clicks. [21:32] They want to put it on social media. [21:34] I'm not criticizing him. [21:36] I wouldn't do it. [21:37] The role of the media in that room is supposed to be to hold the White House to account. [21:42] It's to grill the press secretary and say, what is the White House doing about these issues [21:48] that are affecting Americans' lives every day? [21:51] I think really what it shows is the White House trying to find new ways to make it seem [21:56] like they have control of an atom. [21:57] Yeah, because you're a left-wing hack. [21:59] You're not a reporter. [22:01] You mentioned that, you know, you're part of the MAGA media movement. [22:05] You've even had a few photos taken with Trump. [22:07] Are you concerned that people might see your journalism as untrustworthy, that you are pro-Trump [22:12] rather than- [22:13] I could care less. [22:14] Most of the people that are in there have an agenda. [22:18] When you sit there and say, are you a journalist? [22:20] The questions the left-wing liberal media asks every day when I'm in there, the majority [22:26] of them are gotcha ridiculous. [22:28] So they have their own agenda. [22:30] At least I'm honest about it. [22:31] I'm a Trump supporter. [22:33] And I ask questions that I believe are of interest to my audience, which is, you know, very informed. [22:39] Trump is certainly really accessible to reporters now, between the phone calls and the number [22:46] of events he does in the Oval Office, which he opens up to the wall. [22:50] He also truths on social media at all times. [22:53] So it is in many ways true that he is much, much more accessible to individual reporters [22:59] than has been the case in previous administrations. [23:01] Obviously the one major difference is that Trump picks up reporter calls. [23:05] And a lot of people on the Trump beat have the president's personal number. [23:10] And in particularly Newsy situations, for instance, the start of the conflict around, [23:14] you see a lot of reporters dial up Trump, and Trump's quite happy to engage with these [23:18] reporters. [23:19] Hey there. [23:20] So I just got up the phone with President Trump. [23:23] It was a nine-minute phone interview, and we talked just about the war. [23:29] It's a very convenient vehicle for Trump because he knows that if a reporter calls him up, it's [23:35] a very, very short interview. [23:36] They probably get a couple questions in. [23:39] He can end the interview at any time. [23:40] He can say whatever he wants. [23:42] And because it is a conversation with the president, that reporter will go back to their respective [23:47] outlet and that will be the biggest item for that news outlet that day. [23:51] I mean, the number of journalist interviews he does one-on-one is pretty incredible. [23:57] I mean, it's every single week he'll talk to somebody. [24:00] When he is on the plane traveling with the press pool, it's very rare that he doesn't come [24:06] into the cabin and take questions. [24:08] Hello, everybody. [24:09] You guys good? [24:10] So we have a lot of links to talk about, but there's not much I can say to you about [24:18] them. [24:19] I mean, this is the most accessible president. [24:21] Trump has insulted reporters in several different settings. [24:25] Sir, have you talked about selling oil? [24:26] You're a very untaxious person. [24:27] Why do you blame the Biden administration? [24:32] Because they let him in. [24:35] Are you stupid? [24:36] Are you a stupid person? [24:38] I think the general takeaway from that is it seems very unpresidential for Trump to be [24:48] throwing ad hominem insults at reporters, especially women. [24:52] You're a loud person. [24:54] And yet, at the same time, the country kind of shrugs when this happens because it's kind [24:58] of already baked into his brand. [25:01] Quiet, quiet. [25:02] People see Trump as this freewheeling, spitballing president, and, you know, the White House likes [25:10] to play into this, and, you know, Caroline Levitt will defend Trump and say, well, you know, [25:15] he's just calling the shots as it is. [25:17] What did the president mean when he called reporter Piggy? [25:20] Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room. [25:25] President Trump is not going to tolerate stupid gotcha questions. [25:28] And so he's going to call you out. [25:30] So if you're willing to engage in that form with the president of the free world and you [25:35] want to ask a stupid gotcha question in order to get your sound bite on your network and make [25:41] it go viral on social media so that you can get notoriety and clicks, he's going to call you out. [25:46] As he should. [25:47] I would do the same thing. [25:48] Trump has really tried to pressure the press in new ways in his second term. [25:54] He has launched series of lawsuits. [25:57] He has had his FCC commissioner, Brandon Carr, threatened to pull broadcast licenses. [26:03] And the point of this, obviously, is to pressure the press into giving him more favorable coverage. [26:11] There is absolutely things you can do to lose your licenses. [26:15] And we have a lot of investigations going right now at the FCC. [26:18] So you have these two ideas of the White House saying, on the one hand, we are very transparent [26:25] and we have a lot of freedom for reporters. [26:27] And on the other hand, you have Trump engaging in litigation against media companies. [26:31] President Trump is suing The New York Times, its publisher and four journalists for libels. [26:35] I actually don't think those ideas exist in tension with each other. [26:39] I think that it's all kind of the same. [26:41] Both things can be true at the same time. [26:43] It's certainly true that access is far greater to Trump than it was under Biden or under Obama [26:50] or under even kind of previous administrations dating back decades. [26:53] I also think it's probably upfront and quite honest for the Trump administration to say at the same time, [26:58] yeah, we're suing you because we don't like your coverage. [27:01] I mean, do you realize how many credentials the Biden administration revoked when they got in there? [27:11] Do you have any idea the number? [27:13] If they're getting very nasty, unfavorable things, they have the right to revoke your credentials. [27:20] I think the president has every right to defend himself if he's defamed. [27:24] I mean, we have laws in this country that are against that. [27:28] And then you let judges and juries decide who is right and who is wrong. [27:33] Certainly any administration that finds certain outlets to be hostile, uninformed, [27:42] and their objective is to not get the truth out, but it is to find a way to embarrass the administration. [27:49] Well, then they have every right to revoke their credentials. [27:52] I was revoked by the Biden administration. [27:54] I didn't say a word. [27:55] I never complained. [27:56] I didn't say a word. [27:57] Took my hard pass away. [27:59] No problem. [28:00] I understand it. [28:01] I get it. [28:03] I didn't say anything. [28:04] Like, man up. [28:05] This is the way it works. [28:06] And you know, I never get a fair break from the fake news, which is back there. [28:11] That's a lot of fake news. [28:13] You've been watching a special edition of our program on journalism in the U.S. [28:25] and what it is up against these days. [28:27] A White House that is out to change the way that politics there is covered, [28:31] and the help that Donald Trump is getting on that from some monopolistic American billionaires. [28:37] CELEтер Te sociaux [28:40] You're on the road. [28:41] You're on the road. [28:42] Go to NYU Effect in the past Они