Global press freedom hits new low

The intro to this year’s report says “journalists are still being killed and imprisoned for their work, but the tactics undermining press freedom are evolving. Journalism is being asphyxiated by hostile political discourse towards reporters, weakened by a faltering media economy, and squeezed by laws being used as weapons against the press.”

Notably, of all the index’s indicators of threats to press freedom, the legal indicator “has declined the most over the past year, a clear sign that journalism is increasingly criminalized worldwide.”

When I’m feeling optimistic, which is most of the time, I point out that the US is still the envy of most other countries when it comes to press freedom. But this report asserts that dozens of other countries have a more supportive climate for journalists and journalism.

Norway ranks #1 (as it has for ten years). Countries like Germany, Canada, Australia and the UK all rank well ahead of the US, which ranks #64 this year, down seven places from last year. The researchers blame Trump’s “repeated attacks on the press and journalists” becoming “a systematic policy” during his second term.

They also say that Trump allies in other countries “have taken their cue from the White House in their approach to the media, with unsurprisingly similar results.”

They cite rising government hostility towards the press in Javier Meili’s Argentina and Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador.

The worldwide picture is bleak, but the report also notes that improvements are possible: “Post-Assad Syria has seen the biggest improvement in press freedom of all the countries and territories in the 2026 Index, climbing 36 places in the ranking.”

I highly recommend spending a few minutes with the data on the Reporters Without Borders website.

 >> 🔌: And if you want to hear more of my optimism, I’m the guest on this morning’s new episode of Alex Wagner’s “Runaway Country” podcast…

A new study by the Media Insight Project shows “significant stress and fatigue in Americans’ relationship with news.”

The findings, based on twin surveys of adults and teens, found that “while most feel capable of finding relevant content and identifying trustworthy information, the emotional toll they feel in doing so is considerable,” and thus many opt out.

This is another data set that shows widespread news avoidance. The study says people are “actively managing their exposure — not by rejecting news wholesale, but by avoiding specific topics or contexts.” Per the surveys, 62% avoid news about Trump and 57% avoid news about national politics. But, hey, an even greater percentage, 71%, say they avoid celebrity news! 

The Bulwark’s Evan Rosenfeld said these news-avoidance #s show “the result of a chaos presidency: America tunes out. And when people tune out, the loudest, worst actors get even more room to define reality.”

When chaos becomes mundane

Several commentators have said that they sensed the news avoidance phenomenon after the shooting outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. 

“People shrugged this off, but it’s not a good sign if this feels ‘normal,’” Nate Silver wrote, summing up the “social media vibes” he noticed.

Caitlin Flanagan made a similar point in her debut column for The Free Press yesterday: At a dinner party last Saturday, she read the shooting news on her phone, and it “just seemed like one more event that hovered on the edge of the real and the unreal.” When she told the other diners what had happened, “nobody reached for a phone to learn more, no one wondered about a motive; we had all absorbed the essential fact that nobody had been injured and we went on to other things. That’s when I realized that political violence is truly back…”

The ‘influencer’ difference

Going back to the Media Insight Project report for a moment, there are some intriguing findings about online “influencers” as well.

The study points out the well-established fact that “Democrats are more likely than Republicans to trust and regularly use local news sources, reflecting stronger confidence in traditional, community-based journalism.” However, “these partisan distinctions do not extend to influencers: Democrats and Republicans are likely to follow influencers and to trust the information they share at similar levels.“ 

If you’re a member of the media, or care about its health, the study is worth reading here…

👀 Amazon ‘Apprentice’ reboot idea

“The frontiers of lobbying Trump continue to be pushed to comically creative levels,” Sam Stein tweeted in response to this scoop:

“First it bought the ‘Melania’ documentary,” and “now Amazon is discussing a potential reboot of ‘The Apprentice,’” the WSJ’s Jessica Toonkel and Dana Mattioli reported last night.

Mike Hopkins’ exec team talked about casting Donald Trump Jr. as host, though “discussions are still in the early stages and Amazon hasn’t approached the Trump family.”

Well, if the Trumps didn’t know about the idea yet, they do now. Amazon acquired “The Apprentice” library through its MGM deal a few years ago…

Amazon doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to make this show. It’s noteworthy that Amazon’s internal discussions about a reboot started early last year, according to the WSJ, and yet still haven’t progressed very far. The show is not in active development. An Amazon rep reiterated this to CNN’s Betsy Klein overnight:

“Since our acquisition of MGM, we have had preliminary internal discussions about what’s next for The Apprentice as a property.  The show is not in active development, and any reporting on details of the show or names of potential hosts would be purely speculative.”

The Q I can’t answer: Does the Journal story make this show more or less likely to go forward?

Disney and Kimmel keep calm and carry on

Deadline’s Dade Hayes nailed it here: “Outrage moves at the speed of social media in the Donald Trump era, but the wheels of media regulation turn far more slowly.”

He says a “keep-calm-and-carry-on M.O. has taken hold” at Disney and at station owners like Nexstar amid this week’s pressure campaign against Jimmy Kimmel.  

At this point, many news stories have reiterated that ABC will likely prevail in any legal battle over its station licenses. “The process itself becomes the punishment,” Paul Farhi wrote for MS NOW.

Kimmel hasn’t referenced Brendan Carr or the FCC’s license challenge yet this week. But on last night’s show, he quipped that “Donald and Melania lately have seemed closer than ever, and I like to think I played a part in that…”

Broadcasters rally behind Disney — sort of

Yesterday, the National Association of Broadcasters, which represents big and small TV station owners across the US, expressed concern about the Trump FCC’s action against Disney, saying the order “runs contrary” to licensing principles laid out by Congress “and creates significant uncertainty for all broadcasters.”

Harold Feld, a leading comms law expert, said he thought NAB’s statement was “pretty meek” and assessed the situation this way: Station owners want deregulation “goodies” from Carr, “but it cannot allow a major member to get assaulted like this (with the knowledge that once this happens, it can get regularized against all its members).”

CBS hosting town hall event with Artemis II crew 

CBS News is doing something unusual with its morning show tomorrow: It will convert part of “CBS Mornings” into an hour-long town hall event with the astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission. The 7:30 a.m. broadcast, to be moderated by Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil, will “connect the crew with an audience of kids — and some very special guests,” CBS says. And it’s being produced as part of the “Things That Matter” series that Bari Weiss conceived last winter.

 >> CBS did something similar with its Ben Sasse interview last Sunday, hosting a town hall with Sasse after his “60 Minutes” sit-down, and streaming it across CBS and The Free Press properties.

 >> Public media on the rebound after last year’s federal funding halt: GBH “is relaunching its history program American Experience a year after laying off staff and pausing new productions,” Aidan Ryan reports. (Boston Globe)

 >> “SiriusXM reported 31.2 million paid subscribers in the first quarter, down 109,000 subscribers from the year-ago period.” Caitlin Huston notes that podcasting was an “area of strong performance” for the company. (THR)

 >> Divine, the Jack Dorsey-backed project “to bring back Vine’s six-second looping videos,” is now available for download. (TechCrunch)

Saudis back out of LIV Golf

”LIV Golf will look to restructure and seek new investment after its Saudi backers are pulling funding from the league at the end of the season,” CNN’s Amanda Davies, Ben Church and Kyle Feldscher report. “While the loss of funding has been characterized by some as a death knell for the organization, LIV officials have been quick to point out that the league has been increasing its revenue this year,” the trio report, noting that ESPN has reported “that multiple representatives for LIV players have started to reach out to the PGA Tour about exploring a path to play on the circuit again…”

Today’s Musk v. Altman update

”Elon Musk sparred with OpenAI’s attorney under cross-examination on the second day of his testimony, as lawyers for both sides zeroed in on his souring relationship with the organization that kicked off the AI race,” CNN’s Samantha Delouya and Hadas Gold report. The pair has more details on what happened yesterday here — and Musk takes the stand for a third consecutive day later today…

YouTube posts double-digit ad revenue growth 

A couple of media-centric takeaways from yesterday’s huge tech earnings day:

 >> “Time spent viewing on YouTube, the internet’s most massive video platform, keeps growing at a healthy clip — and with it, YouTube continues to see a double-digit uptick in ad revenue,” Todd Spangler reports, noting that “YouTube generated ad sales of $9.88 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 10.7% year over year,” though that came in slightly under Wall Street expectations. (Variety)

 >> Overall, Google “has added another 25 million paid subscriptions to its services over the past quarter,” with YouTube and Google One plans “driving the recent growth,” Sarah Perez writes. (TechCrunch)

 >> Over at Meta, “revenue climbed 33% from $42.3 billion a year earlier, marking the fastest quarter for growth since 2021,” which Jonathan Vanian writes “reflects Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s focus on artificial intelligence investments, which have yet to produce new revenue streams but have strengthened the company’s core advertising business.” (CNBC)

Universal Music makes moves to revive stock 
 

”Universal Music Group said it will sell half of its stake in Spotify and increase its share buyback program, addressing concerns about the company’s undervalued stock raised by billionaire investor Bill Ackman in his recent offer for the world’s largest record label,” Bloomberg’s Charlotte Hughes-Morgan reports. Still, shares fell 6.5% yesterday…

‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ is going to be huge this weekend

”The Devil Wears Prada 2” is “targeting a massive debut of $75 million to $80 million from 4,100 North American theaters,” Variety’s Rebecca Rubin reports, noting that “some are expecting ticket sales to near $90 million to $100 million, given the original’s enduring appeal as well as the recent over-performance of ‘Michael.’” The flick “should earn another $100 million at the international box office, which would bring global ticket sales to roughly $175 million to $190 million for the weekend,” Rubin writes.

 >> The sequel is pulling generally favorable reviews, with 61 on Metacritic and a 78% Tomatometer score. Rolling Stone’s David Fear writes that the film “dresses up the death of journalism,” acting as “a sober reminder of how much has changed in 20 years.”

 >> “Disney+ has landed the rights to a TV take on beloved character Casper the Friendly Ghost in a competitive bidding war,” a project that “hails from Rob Letterman and Hilary Winston …  as well as Steven Spielberg,” Loree Seitz reports. (TheWrap)

 >> “After seven days and more than 170 bids, the huge lighted sign that’s hung on the set of CBS’ 11-year-old ’The Late Show with Stephen Colbert‘ is off the charity auction block,” with the winning bid offering up $102,100, or $400 per square inch, Matt Webb Mitovich reports. (LateNighter)

 >> Christopher Nolan told Lindsey Bahr that at three hours, “The Odyssey” will be shorter than “Oppenheimer.” “It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands,” the director said. “But it is shorter.” (AP)

 >> With HBO Max and Paramount+ poised to merge, Lucas Manfredi asks: What happens to Peacock next? (TheWrap)

 >> Roku’s “affordable subscription service, Howdy, has now passed 1 million subscribers,” Lauren Forristal reports. (TechCrunch)