News Outlets Protest Trump's Media Bans, Trump At UNGA, Paramount Merger Settlement

Media outlets, including NPR, are protesting President Trump's ban on CNN, MSNOW, and political. Organizations from Fox News to the New York Times are refusing to use shared audio, video, and photographs of the President. I'm Steve Inskeep. That's Layla Fawville. And this is up first from NPR News. President Trump addresses the UN today. The war he started with Iran hangs over that gathering. He will also meet privately with leaders from the Gulf, Ukraine, and Venezuela. Can he turn those meetings into diplomatic progress? The state's doing to stop Paramount's merger with Warner Brothers' discovery are dropping their opposition. What promises did Paramount make to acquire Warner Brothers, and with CNN part of the deal, will it affect its independence? Stay with us, we'll give you the news you need to start your day. The country's biggest news organizations are banding together in protest of President Trump's attacks on journalists. Media outlets, including the New York Times and Fox News, are suspending their use of what's called pool audio, video, and photographs of the President. That's where a small group of reporters follows the President around. NPR is a leader in the radio pool and will not use audio from White House events until further notice. Here's what they're all responding to, reporters from CNN, MSNOW, and Politico were banned from entering the White House because the President didn't like what they reported. Those news organizations have sued the administration. NPR's Brian Mann is following the developments and joins me now. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Leyla. So this expanded fast yesterday. What happened? Well, really something we haven't seen before. Trump's worked throughout his second term to pressure news organizations. He's used lawsuits in the power of regulatory agencies to threaten media companies when he doesn't like their coverage or their portrayals of him. But his latest move, blocking White House access for journalists from these three major news organizations, it triggered a very different, more unified response. First, we saw five major TV networks that provide that pool coverage, Steve mentioned of Trump. They all announced their suspending shared efforts as a protest against Trump's action. This decision to push back against the White House was made in part by Brian Bowton, who chairs the TV pool. And he announced the boycott in an email to pool video subscribers. Bowton is the Washington bureau chief of Fox News, an outlet that's often been perceived as friendly to Trump. Here's how Fox News reported on the network's joint decision. Now, the White House television pool, which includes Fox News, releasing a joint statement that reads the following. The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting and quote, now they love that protest and expanded through the day on Monday as other organizations, including the New York Times and PR and the Washington Post announced they too were suspending use of shared pool photographs and audio. It's unclear how long this will last, but we did see it play out at one Trump event yesterday. There was a ribbon cutting for the new White House helipad and you couldn't hear what the president was saying. Yeah, I saw that. He was definitely talking, but we didn't hear anything that he said. What's Trump saying about the media's response? Well, he really doubled down yesterday, writing on his truth social platform. He called CNN, MSNOW and Politico dangerous and a threat to democracy in a statement sent to NPR. The White House argued that media access is a privilege for journalists, not a right. And during an appearance in New York City with Mayor Zaron Mamdani, he mocked the media protest. He said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me. So I wasn't very worried about that. Then late yesterday, Trump and the White House announced they're launching their own 24 seven video stream. They're calling it Trump TV. A lawsuit was filed yesterday aimed at overturning Trump's ban. Where does that stand? Yeah. So in their legal filing and federal court, these news organizations that are blocked from the White House called Trump's action an unprecedented attack on press freedoms in the first amendment. That case is going to be heard by Judge Timothy Kelly, who heard a previous case in 2018 where the White House rescinded press access for a CNN report of the judge sided with CNN. In that case, media organizations are asking them to do much the same and there's a hearing expected on Wednesday. This is all happening, of course, with the midterm elections just over 40 days away. And many of Trump's Republican allies have urged him to focus on issues like the economy, inflation, and high gas prices instead, much of the president's attention appears to be focused on his anger toward journalists. And Pierre is Brian Mann. Thank you, Brian. Thank you. President Trump will address world leaders later this morning at the United Nations General Assembly. The leaders will see a president who's under pressure at home and abroad. He's faced legal and political setbacks, as well as concerns about the economic effects of the war he launched against Iran. And Pierre White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is following it all and he joins us now. Good morning. Good morning, Lila. So what do we know about Trump's UN speech? Yeah. I mean, what we do know is that there's going to be a lot of attention on it. And that's largely because he's often made big news here in the past. I mean, remember in his first speech during his first term, how he threatened to totally destroy North Korea or last year when he blasted the UN for not living up to its potential. Now based on conversations with the White House, Trump today is expected to paint himself as a problem solver highlighting peace deal that he's announced around the world. And speaking of wins, I expect he'll tout his new deal with Denmark over security of Greenland. He actually has a signing event immediately after the speech. He's also going to be defending his Iran policy, which will be very interesting because he's going to be doing that in front of the Iranian president who will also have a chance to speak the likely the following day. Who's he going to meet with one-on-one on the sidelines? Yeah. Trump's got meetings with Ukraine, President Vladimir Zelensky, the British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, as well as Gulf leaders, and Venezuela's interim president, Delce Rodriguez. I spoke to Richard Fontaine, who served in the George W. Bush White House and now runs the center for a new American security. He says the significance of those meetings really speaks to the changing role of the UN as an institution, and some would even say maybe a weakening role. The meat of the diplomacy will be done in the private meetings, not at the UN Security Council or in the UN General Assembly. Leyla, I mean, the reality is the members of the UN Security Councils, you know, often struggle to come to agreement on very key issues. A UN panel just called for stronger safeguards on artificial intelligence agents. How big of an issue will that be at this year's Assembly? Yeah. It's at the top of the agenda. Leaders will try to come to some kind of global agreement on guardrails. The dilemma as outlined to me by Heather Connelly, who worked on European issues in the Bush State Department, is that so many of these issues revolve around China, and President Xi Jinping won't be there. So this is the challenge, and I think what, in many ways, we have global leaders coming to New York to offer their own set-piece speeches, how they look at the world, but the world will not be looking towards New York on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. They're going to be looking at Washington. Yeah, instead of flying to New York, she's actually going to be traveling to Washington for a state dinner with Trump. I mean, doesn't that make sense that the focus will be on that meeting given those are superpowers? The issue is more timing, but also the weakening of the world body. I mean, you have all these global energy prices rising, you have global food prices rising. It's really a big moment where the world comes together in New York to tackle these global issues that are having a direct impact on the American people and the American economy. And just talking with Heather Connelly about this, in some ways, it's really going to be lost or perhaps drowned out by domestic, as well as international politics. It's White House correspondent Franco O'Donnells. Thank you, Franco. Thank you, Leylam. The biggest merger in Hollywood history is a bit closer to reality after states suing to stop it, agreed to a settlement. Paramount Skydance wants to buy Warner Bros. discovery in a deal valued at $111 billion. Paramount's owners have agreed to some concessions to resolve the antitrust lawsuit that was filed by various state attorneys general, including California's Rob Bonta. The settlement is not a vote of support for this merger. It is not a blessing of the broader merger. And PR Culture correspondent Mandelite Del Barco is covering this in Los Angeles and joins me now. Good morning, Mandelite. Good morning, Leylam. So tell us what Paramount's CEO David Ellison has promised in exchange for the settlement. Well, for one thing, Ellison and company agreed to operate Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. studios separately. For now, they promised to spend $300 million more to make movies in the U.S. and the court documents they signed say that in the first two years, the combined company will release at least 30 films a year, and at least for those independent films. But it's unclear what it means that half of those films would be produced jointly. What about the company's news businesses? Well, Ellison bought Paramount last year with the help of his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, who has ties to President Trump. Paramount runs CBS News, which has gone through many changes since then, and the state attorneys general worried that the merger would also affect news coverage of CNN. that's currently run by Warner Brothers. In the deal, Paramount agreed to create a board to establish editorial independence for CBS and CNN, but the decree says the members will be appointed by the directors of the merged company. And we should note, Layla, that Warner Brothers' discovery and one of Paramount's businesses' Paramount plus are financial supporters of NPR. - How are critics of the merger reacting to this settlement? - Well, some politicians and many writers, actors, and other workers in Hollywood fear that this merger will lead to layoffs, fewer choices, and price-gouging for audiences. They're skeptical of Paramount's promises, and they say they don't want so much consolidated power in the hands of the Ellicins. Adveiro Badoia is a former federal trade commissioner, and he advises one of the groups involved in the Block the Merger Coalition. He told NPR, he's upset that the attorney's general caved to Paramount after Ellicin and company threatened to move their studios out of California. - They censored and bullied their way to the top here. This is coming in a moment when people already perceive media freedom to be at risk. - The way a mode said, just last Friday, President Trump barred journalists from CNN and two other media organizations from the White House. - Paramount also settled another lawsuit filed by the writer's guild of America. What happened there? - Well, the WGA said in a statement that Paramount agreed to prohibit layoffs of CBS news writers. They also settled because it was too expensive to continue suing Paramount without support from the attorney's general. NPR also heard from screenwriter Jacob Tobiah, a WGA member who says two of his TV shows he sold were canceled during media consolidations, and he predicts this deal will be terrible for artists. - This mega merger will be used as a chance for the Ellicins to censor content that is politically inconvenient, or doesn't align with what they think America should look like. - David Ellicin defends his deal as being pro-worker and pro-consumer, and a judge still has to approve the merger. Ellicin thinks it could be done in two weeks. - NPR's Culture Correspondent Mandelite Del Barco in Los Angeles, thank you Mandelite. - Thank you. (upbeat music) - And that's up first, for Tuesday, September 22nd. I'm Leila Fauden. - And I'm Steve Inscape. Today's up first was edited by Kelsey Snell, Rebecca Metzler, Russell Lewis, Muhammad El Bardisi, and Ali Schweitzer. It was produced by Julie Depp and Brock and Neade Mosse. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Simon Laslow, Janssen, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Were you just saluting me right now, Carly? I'm saluting you. Our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson, join us tomorrow. (upbeat music)