TV News LIES

The head of a U.S.-funded Arabic-language television and online news outlet that claims a 30 million-strong audience in the Middle East and North Africa terminated most staff and curtailed TV programming Saturday, accusing the Trump administration and Elon Musk of having “irresponsibly and unlawfully” cut off funding.

In notices to Al Hurra news staffers about their dismissals, chief Jeffrey Gedmin said he had given up on the U.S. administration’s freeze lifting anytime soon for the congressionally approved money for Al Hurra and its U.S.-funded Arabic language sister organizations.

Gedmin accused Kari Lake, President Donald Trump’s appointee to the American government agency overseeing Al Hurra, Voice of America and other U.S.-funded news programming abroad, of dodging his efforts to speak with her about the funding cutoff.

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A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump White House to let Associated Press journalists return to the Oval Office and other spaces immediately to cover news events, ruling it was unlawful to block the news service in a dispute over its choice of words.

Even so, an AP reporter and photographer were turned back from joining a reporting pool on a presidential motorcade early Tuesday evening, almost two hours after the decision came down.

The AP had angered the White House because it refused to call the Gulf of Mexico by President Trump's preferred name for it: the Gulf of America. The AP acknowledges in its coverage that the U.S. government now calls it the Gulf of America, but the news service still relies on the more familiar, traditional designation — especially as the AP serves clients internationally.

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Abed Shaat drifted off to sleep on Sunday night, exhausted after covering Israeli air strikes all day.

The 33-year-old freelance photographer had returned to a tent in front of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza where he’d been based along with other journalists since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Then, they were jolted awake.

“I woke up to the sound of a huge explosion nearby,” Shaat said. “My colleagues and I immediately rushed out of the tent. [I had] my mobile phone to film.

“The strike had directly hit the journalists’ tent nt across from us. I was horrified – to target journalists like this!”

The tent belonged to the TV station Palestine Today.

“I started taking pictures from a distance, but as I got closer to the burning tent, I saw one of my colleagues on fire,” Shaat said.

TVNL Comment: Israel will get way with this, as always. Where is the outrage?

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Data guru Steve Kornacki is leaving MSNBC to stay with NBC News full-time, becoming the cable network’s first big exit as it severs its ties with 30 Rock.

Famous for his friendly explanations of sometimes obtuse data points during election cycles, Kornacki will now become NBC’s chief data analyst and work across its news and sports divisions.

Kornacki, 44, frequently appears on NBC’s Meet the Press, and he has also popped up on NBC’s sports broadcasts, including Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football along with its coverage of the Olympics and the Kentucky Derby. He was previously a national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC.

The major exit comes as MSNBC and NBC separate their respective newsrooms as part of Comcast decision to spin off most of its cable networks. The decision has left the fates of multiple dual-role anchors, such as Today and Morning Joe mainstay Willie Geist, up in the air.

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The White House Correspondents' Association is walking back plans to feature comedian Amber Ruffin at its 2025 dinner after criticism from the Trump administration.

White House Correspondents' Association president Eugene Daniels announced the change Saturday in a note to press colleagues first shared by CNN's Brian Stelter. No comedian will be featured this year, Daniels said.

This year’s WHCA dinner is set to take place at The Washington Hilton on April 26 in Washington, D.C.

Daniels, who left Politico last month to join cable news network MSNBC, is the current president of the WHCA.

"At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists," he continued.

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