Contact: kyle@kylecommunications.com

INSIDE YOUR OCTOBER ISSUE

• Your Free Speech or Mine?
• Trump's Media Moves
• Ethics Schmethics
• New IndyStar Boss
• WISH-TV Ups and Downs

Whose Speech is Free?

From Free Speech to Doxxing

Is free speech practiced in the U.S.? You’d be hard pressed to follow the logic of its application here following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Within a week, our Indiana Attorney General posted a snitch page for anyone to report what they perceived to be objectionable comments made by teachers and educators about the murder. People from all occupations began to be fired all across the country – including journalists – for noting Kirk’s past trajectory and established history of his hate speech.

This was the AG’s message posted on Facebook Sept. 12: “Hoosiers: If you have evidence of Indiana educators or school administrators making comments that celebrate or rationalize the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we need to hear from you. These individuals must be held accountable — they have no place teaching our students. Submit evidence through our office's Eyes on Education Portal. Together, we can expose hate, protect students, and empower parents across Indiana.”

And then the governor warned Indiana teachers could lose their licenses for making negative statements about Kirk. So far, no such action has been taken.

New website domains are also sprouting up to doxx anyone whose comments seem objectionable.

This report via Alt National Park Service: “There is a new doxxing site circulating. A domain just registered through Namecheap (on Sept 10, 2025) and hosted on Squarespace is being used to publish private personal information. We have more information on who registered the domain and contacted the host and registrar with details. This is a direct violation of both companies’ Terms of Service, which prohibit harassment, doxxing, and threats.”

That site, due to pressure brought by this advocacy group on Facebook, was ultimately stalled.

Both doxxing and cancel culture are now encouraged by people from all walks and spread swiftly through social media.

Doxxing (also sometimes spelled doxing) derives from the phrase “dropping dox,” a term for disclosing another person’s “documents” or personal information.

It began out of the hacker culture of the 1990s, where it was often used as a revenge tactic to make the victim vulnerable to harassment or even legal repercussions. By the late 1990s the practice had become more common, and a number of more high-profile and political doxing incidents occurred outside the hacker community.

This tactic can include revealing the identity of a previously pseudonymous individual as well as making public an individual’s home address, phone number, workplace details, banking information, social security number, criminal/civil court history, private correspondences, personal photos, and embarrassing personal details. It is often used to encourage online shaming and harassment and as a tactic of intimidation and is sometimes associated with online activism or “hacktivism.”

One of the most popular is making an action known to a wider public audience in order to get the target terminated from any gainful employment.

The cancel culture trend gained momentum in the mid-2010s, notably during the #MeToo movement and through platforms like Black Twitter, which highlighted social justice issues. Cancel culture functions as a modern form of social ostracism and can manifest in two ways: as a boycott (think Target) or as an attempt to silence the target completely (a seemingly preferred method of this president).

Both doxxing and cancel culture are now encouraged by people from all walks and spread swiftly through social media.

And it has morphed into other nefarious practices like revenge porn or AI-generated porn that posts widely online. (An AI-generated fake topless video of Republican State Rep. Craigh Haggard’s wife is supposedly under investigation here in Marion County. And another more recent case was reported as “sextortion” by Democrat State Rep. Maureen Bauer, whose image was digitally altered. Bauer’s case is pending with the FBI and state police. No criminal charges have been brought in either instance nor have the culprits been found.)

Indiana doesn’t have an anti-doxxing law but in most cases a claim of harassment could be brought. It is not protected speech, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. True threats don’t get the blanket cover of free speech.

What is a litmus test for going too far?

Check if a post does the following:

• Name a specific person, group, or place.
• Describes how or when violence will happen (weapons, time, plan).
• Call on others to act.
• Is repeated and targeted in a way that would make someone fear for their safety.
• Or said in a such a way that shows serious intent, not just venting or joking.

So, could Indiana’s AG be held responsible for doxxing harm he causes to residents of Indiana – such as loss of a job, social media harassment or worse? We shall see who goes to court and for what.

Some bits for you to read or reference:

• What does free speech mean? (from the U.S. Courts website)
• The Brandenberg test for free speech (from Cornell University)
• The Clear and Present Danger test (from the Free Speech Center at MTSU)
• And an interesting opinion piece from 2019 (as published in The Washington Post)

QUOTE(S) OF THE MONTH

“They want to pick and choose what the news is,” said Jimmy Kimmel on his return to late night. “I know that’s not as interesting as muzzling a comedian, but it’s so important to have a free press and it is nuts that we aren’t paying more attention to it.”

AND

Marc Maron on his WFT podcast citing the number of U.S. comedians appearing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia - “I mean, how do you even promote that? ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11. Two weeks of laughter in the desert, don’t miss it!’ I mean, the same guy that’s gonna pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bone-saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a (expletive) suitcase. But don’t let that stop the yuks. It’s gonna be a good time!”

TRUMP'S MEDIA MOVES

GOOGLE SETTLES: Google’s YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit Trump brought after the video site suspended his account following the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol following the election that resulted in him leaving the White House for four years. The settlement of the more than four-year-old case earmarks $22 million for Trump to contribute to the Trust for the National Mall and a construction of a White House ballroom, according to court documents. The remaining $2.5 million will be paid to other parties involved in the case, including the writer Naomi Wolf and the American Conservative Union. Alphabet, the parent of Google, is the third major technology company to settle a volley of lawsuits that Trump brought for what he alleged had unfairly muzzled him after his first term as president ended in January 2021.

SUPREMES RULE: The Supreme Court has ruled that Trump can fire the remaining Democrat commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission. The justices overturned a lower court injunction that reinstated Rebecca Slaughter to her position with the agency that oversees antitrust and consumer protection issues while litigation over her removal works its way through the courts. The ruling — while provisional — is significant because the high court also said it will hear arguments in December on overturning a 90-year-old precedent that allowed Congress to set up independent, nonpartisan agencies insulated from political interference if they do not wield executive power. In 1935, the justices ruled that President Franklin D. Roosevelt could not fire a board member of the FTC, William Humphrey, simply because he opposed the president’s New Deal policies. Congress had stipulated members could only be fired for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.” The case is known as Humphrey’s Executor.

LEAKPROOFING: The Trump administration unveiled a new crackdown on journalists at the Pentagon, saying it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. Under the policy, the Pentagon may revoke press passes for anyone it deems a security threat. Possessing confidential or unauthorized information, under the new rules, would be grounds for a journalist’s press pass to be revoked. “DoW remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust,” the document says, using an acronym for the newly rebranded Department of War. “However, DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”

AND MORE LEAKPROOFING: The Pentagon also plans to impose strict nondisclosure agreements and random polygraph testing for scores of people in its headquarters, including many top officials, according to two people familiar with the proposal and documents obtained by The Washington Post, escalating Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s war on leakers and internal dissent. All military service members, civilian employees and contract workers within the Office of the Defense Secretary and the Joint Staff, estimated to be more than 5,000 personnel, would be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that “prohibits the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process,” according to a draft memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg. 

ANOTHER BIG-LY LAWSUIT: Trump filed a $15 billion federal defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, four of its reporters and Penguin Random House over coverage of his 2024 campaign. But this one was quickly dismissed with a four-page ruling. “A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner,” wrote Judge Steven Merryday. The judge is an appointee of former President George H. W. Bush, who also wrote that his court was not a venue for Trump to “rage against an adversary.” The suit had accused the newspaper of attempting to ruin his reputation as a businessman, sink his campaign and prejudice judges and juries against him in coverage of his campaign. The Times called it frivolous and Random House called it meritless. The reporters included Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner, Peter Baker and Michael S. Schmidt. The complaint against Penguin Random House was for a book about Trump written by Craig and Buettner.

KIMMEL-CARR: Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show HAD BEEN indefinitely suspended – or pulled from the air. It lasted about a week with ABC network owner Disney capitulating – but also saying Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s death were insensitive. FCC head Brendan Carr decided to mention licensing in the wake of Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk. And since Nexstar is awaiting approval by the FCC of its Tegna deal, that made sense to Nexstar to curry some favor here and also pull the show – as did Sinclair. But nothing is quite over yet. The conservative Center for American Rights (CAR) filed a complaint against KABC-TV in Los Angeles, alleging Kimmel acted with “callous disregard of the facts” claiming he wrongfully implied that a man suspected of shooting Kirk was politically aligned with supporters of Trump. KABC is the West Coast flagship of ABC or what’s called an O&O station. Meanwhile, both Nexstar and Sinclair relented with their short-term pulls and put Kimmel back on air.

DOJ DISAPPEARING REPORTS: The Department of Justice, in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, has removed from its website a report documenting that right-wing attacks outpace those by the left. The 2024 study, in which several criminal justice researchers reviewed National Institute of Justice data, found far more instances of deaths credited to right-wing groups. “Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives,” the study states. “In this same period, far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.” The removal of the study was first reported Tuesday by 404 Media, which credited Daniel Malmer, a Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is studying extremism, with first noticing the removal of the study Sept. 13. The Justice Department did not respond to request for comment on the removal of the study, but the page now says the department is “reviewing its websites … in accordance with recent Executive Orders.” Who is 404 Media? More here. Substacks and independent sites seem to be scooping mainstream media more regularly.

MORE DISAPPEARING: Other government websites disappearing information – the Environmental Protection Agency. Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, which ensures drinking water is safe, have been instructed by Trump officials to halt publishing ongoing research. Staffers at the agency’s research office told the Washington Post they were summoned to a town hall this week and told that their studies would be subject to a new review process, a change they said was ordered by political appointees. The EPA called the claims “patently false,” saying there was no town hall and that scientists were transitioning to new roles. As reported earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control already took down information. How are disappearing websites tracked? These large-scale, non-profit initiatives capture snapshots of a vast portion of the public internet over time.

• The Wayback Machine (Internet Archive): This is the most well-known digital library, holding over 916 billion archived web pages. You can enter a URL into the Wayback Machine to browse its calendar of stored snapshots and see how a site looked on a specific date, even if the original has been deleted. The Internet Archive also collaborates on specific archiving projects, such as preserving U.S. government websites at the end of each presidential term.
• Common Crawl: This non-profit provides open datasets of petabytes of web crawl data, which researchers and others can use to track and analyze changes across the web.
• Archive.today: This is another archiving tool that saves a copy of a web page at a specific moment in time.

AND EVEN MORE DISAPPEARING: A story in The New York Times indicates that the Department of Homeland Security has been deleting or simply not saving text messages since April. Lauren Harper from the Freedom of the Press Foundation said agencies can’t degrade their record capabilities to avoid FOIA: “This is like a fire department saying, ‘We don’t have a hose, so we’re not going to put out the fires anymore.’” Journalists have expressed similar frustrations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement brushing them off, according to a Sept. 22 story in Columbia Journalism Review.

ONGOING BERATEMENT: Trump and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took turns knocking CBS News' "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan, calling her "stupid" and "so bad." Speaking with the Daily Caller, Trump took a victory lap over his settlement with CBS' parent company, Paramount, after accusing the company of election interference for its handling of a "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. He then pivoted to speculating about the future of Norah O'Donnell, who left "CBS Evening News" earlier this year but remains at the network. "Pay her $12 million a year, and she’s not going to be there very long," Trump told the Daily Caller. "But if she’s not already out, I mean, she’s pretty close, I would say she’s pretty close."

SINGLING OUT REPORTERS: Trump personally attacked NBC News reporter Yamiche Alcindor at the White House as she questioned him about a jarring social media post in which he appeared to threaten “war” in Chicago. The blistering tirade recalled previous clashes with Alcindor and other Black female journalists during his first term, and drew swift criticisms from Black leaders, including the president of the nation’s largest association for Black journalists. When Alcindor attempted to get the president to explain a social media post about threatening to invade Chicago, he fired back, “When you say that, darling, that’s fake news.” Alcindor quickly responded, “Well, why would you use the Department of Defense?” He responded: “Listen. Be quiet. Listen. You don’t listen. You never listen. That’s why you’re second rate.”

CBS REACTS: CBS News has altered its rules for editing interviews on the long-running political show “Face the Nation,” days after Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, accused the network of deceptively editing her appearance on the program. “Face the Nation” will now air only interviews that are conducted live, or prerecorded with no cuts or edits, according to a CBS News spokeswoman. A statement attributed the change “to audience feedback over the past week.” “This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS, and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online,” the network added. Noem reacted angrily after “Face the Nation” aired an edited version of her interview with Ed O’Keefe, a CBS White House correspondent, on Sunday’s “Face the Nation.” She said the network had “shamefully edited” her appearance and cut out some of her comments about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March.

NO PROTESTS PLEASE: U.S. Open organizer, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), has asked broadcasters to refrain from airing "distractions," in response to the attendance of President Donald Trump at the men's final on Sunday, Sept. 7, according to reports from multiple outlets. In a statement sent to Newsweek via email, a spokesperson for the USTA said "We regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions." This was Trump’s first visit to the Grand Slam tennis event in New York since 2015. Prior to the launch of his political career, he attended the event regularly. This outing follows many that the president has made to sporting events since he returned to office in January.

ETHICS SCHMETHICS

FROM OPEN SECRETS: Oracle invested millions in government influence before winning a major stake in TikTok

Oracle isn’t quite a household name on par with other American technology companies such as Microsoft, Meta or Apple. But Oracle nevertheless ranks among the most influential corporate forces in America — something underscored by the leading role the company is poised to play in Trump’s deal to decouple TikTok’s U.S. operations from its Chinese parent, ByteDance. Oracle is slated to house the data of American TikTok users on its cloud computing servers. The Trump administration has also confirmed that Oracle will be a cornerstone partner and investor in the new TikTok spin-off entity, which will oversee the security and algorithm that undergirds the social video platform. Dave Levinthal breaks down six ways Oracle has helped make itself a political force in Washington, D.C.

• Oracle found Larry Ellison has forged a strong connection with Trump, although Ellison has not been a Trump megadonor.

• Oracle has spent at least $11 million on federal-level government lobbying during each of the past four full years. And the company is on pace to match that level of spending in 2025.

• Oracle sponsors the Oracle America Inc. Political Action Committee, which typically contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars each election cycle to federal political candidates and party committees

• Hundreds of other Oracle executives and employees have made sizable political contributions of late, including former CEO Safra Catz, now the company’s executive vice chairwoman. Catz, who served on Trump’s 2016 presidential transition team, gave $1 million last year to Preserve America PAC, a super PAC advocated against the election of former Vice President Kamala Harris and, earlier, President Joe Biden before he quit the race.

• Trump and several members of Congress hold shares of Oracle stock. Trump's most recent personal financial disclosure indicates he owned Oracle shares worth between $32,004 and $130,000 during 2024.

• Oracle has engaged in Trump-friendly public relations activity, including lauding “President Trump’s leadership” on a health care data initiative and sponsoring the June military parade in Washington, D.C

ANTI-SEMITISM PROSPERS ON X: Elon Musk’s X is the “go-to platform for antisemitic posters,” according to a new year-long study shared exclusively with CNN. The research, by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, found that not only is antisemitism rampant on the platform, but also that the crowdsourced community notes are failing to effectively moderate posts — with just over 1 percent of the most-viewed antisemitic posts the group studied getting a community note fact-check. X sued the CCDH in 2023 over its research, accusing the group of violating the company’s terms of service when it studied and then wrote about hate speech on the platform following Musk’s takeover. X said it suffered tens of millions of dollars in damages from CCDH’s publications. But a federal judge threw out the lawsuit in March 2024, excoriating the platform’s case as plainly punitive rather than about protecting the platform’s security and legal rights.

WAITING FOR FALLOUT: Pfizer will be part of the White House's new direct-to-consumer website for Americans to buy drugs, called TrumpRx, that will launch in 2026. The Big Pharma company cut a deal to lower prescription drug prices in the Medicaid program to what it charges in other developed countries in exchange for tariff relief. Trump also said Pfizer would offer that most-favored-nation pricing on all new drugs launched in the U.S. and flagged that other drugmakers will follow suit. Reuters reported that sources at five large drugmakers said the announcement caught their companies by surprise and that they watched the White House press conference to gauge its implications. New Medicaid prices are also set to launch in 2026. The most-favored-nation pricing is based on the lowest price paid in eight other wealthy countries after fees and rebates. At the heart of the agreement is Pfizer’s $70 billion commitment to U.S.-based manufacturing and an exemption from tariffs for three years - putting them in line as favored pharma with the president. Meanwhile, the prices of almost 700 prescription drugs have increased since President Donald Trump took office, according to a report released today by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Twenty-five drugs have more than doubled in price, according to the report. “Millions of Americans take one of the 688 drugs that have increased in price since Trump entered office in January of this year,” the report says. “More than one in three of the drugs are indicated for neurological disease, cancer, or cardiovascular disease.” You can find the report here.

SWIFTIE MAD: First granddaughter Kai Trump is not only sparking controversy by modeling her branded clothing line at the White House, but also for styling her logo in a way that closely resembles the logo for Travis Kelce. The Daily Beast reported that Kai Trump's logo has caught the attention of Taylor Swift fans (commonly known as "Swifties") who allege she copied Kelce's emblem to use on her own clothing. The insignia on the first granddaughter's clothing line shows a K and a T on top of each other, though the symbol seems to duplicate Kelce's "Tru Kolors" brand, which the Kansas City Chiefs tight end is marketing with American Eagle.

MEDIA MOVES

ON THE INDIANA FRONT

NEW BOSS: IndyStar has named Ryan Martin as its new executive editor, which is good news for all of us readers. Martin knows this market. He is steeped in the practices of solid investigative reporting. He has worked previously at The Star, Mirror Indy and State Affairs. He has been around the news block and back at various news outlets (and not just in Indy). And he won a Pulitzer for the Gannett-owned flailing Star back in 2021. His promotion and return to the paper also bypasses other senior Gannettoids already there – which is also good news. Many of the senior staff brought in from elsewhere have been disasters. That’s my view and I’m sticking to it. Now bring on the scoops and hold government accountable. If I were a reporter there, I’d be pretty damn happy about this choice. Doesn’t look like Martin has much management experience – but Gannett training should be part of his new indoctrination as EE.

MASS EXODUS: More than 20 employees, including the VP of news/news director, have left or been terminated at Circle City Broadcasting, the parent company of WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23. It’s being called the midnight massacre. They either quit or were fired after failing to sign a new contract addendum with an expanded non-compete clause. While most television stations have a non-compete clause in their employee contracts, the new agreement would have prevented WISH employees from working in nearly any form of media — including podcasts and social media channels — for a year after leaving the station. The contract would restrict the employees from working not only in news but also in any "entertainment, sports or related programming" developed for the public. Not just for those on camera, but also for those behind the scenes. In the wake of it all, Erika Facey was named the new news director via a news release at WISH. And Adam Krent was named assistant news director (after having been at the station for 29 years in various roles). Facey joined WISH-TV in 2019 as content manager. She was promoted to news brand manager in 2023 and assistant news director earlier this year. Station owner DuJuan McCoy has been mum on all of it. See more legal stuff below. Those reported as gone from the station: Al Karl (who had been serving as VP of news and news director), Kody Fisher, Felicia Michelle, Brittany Noble, Reyna Revelle and Kyla Russell. One freelancer/contributor was added to staff in this storm - Derricke Dennis. Here’s the take from FTVLive: “New Bosses Named at Struggling TV Station. It’s sort of like taking over the Titanic after it struck the iceberg.”

TV OWNER LOSES: A Marion County judge has denied Circle City Broadcasting's request to force a pending court case by a former employee into arbitration – and has blocked the enforcement of a non-compete. Circle City Broadcasting, the parent company of WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23, asked the court to enforce a clause in meteorologist Ashley Brown Elliott's contract that would have required private mediation instead of a lawsuit. The court denied that request but allowed Circle City Broadcasting to file an immediate request to have the Indiana Court of Appeals review the ruling. On Sept. 4, the appeals court also denied the request to take the case to private mediation. Once that decision was made, the Marion County Court was tasked with reviewing the non-compete clause and ruled it unenforceable. Brown, WISH-TV's chief meteorologist for more than six years, announced earlier this year that she was fired after questioning the TV station's treatment of Black women employees. The company's owner, DuJuan McCoy, previously called Brown's claims "utterly false and defamatory." He did not comment on his latest court loss or the mass exodus above. (ICYMI - in 2023, McCoy was awarded a trailblazer award from the Indianapolis Association of Black Journalists.)

SPEAKING OF MCCOY: McCoy will be a speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters event in November “Forecast 2026.” He will be discussing “firsthand perspectives on transactions, financing, and growth strategies shaping the industry’s next era of M&A.”

IN TRANSITION: Brandon Smith, host of Indiana Week in Review at WFYI, lands a job overseeing PR clients at Hirons, an Indianapolis ad agency. Smith lost his post in the massive public broadcasting cuts that are rippling across the nation. Meantime, regular guest Jon Schwantes takes over as interim host of the weekly TV show.

RECORDS LAWSUIT: The Indiana Citizen Education Foundation has sued Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State Diego Morales (both Republicans) over a list of voters those elected officials sent to the federal government last year. Rokita and Morales asked U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to verify the citizenship status of more than 585,000 registered voters last October. The list included those who registered to vote without providing a driver's license number or Social Security number; registered voters located overseas; and those who registered simply without a driver's license number. And the request included those voters' names and birth dates. The Indiana Citizen sought access to the list last year under the state's public records law. The previous state Public Access Counselor said earlier this year that Rokita and Morales should share the information. And the lawsuit said the attorney general's office had agreed to give the Citizen some access to the list. But the Citizen said Rokita's office then rescinded that access and asked the new Public Access Counselor to reconsider the original opinion. That's prompted the lawsuit, which has been filed in Marion County. Copy here.

NOW APPEARING ON WXIN: You’ve probably caught this long-winded guy on the local Fox station in Indy – Leland Vittert. Vittert is the anchor and national correspondent for NewsNation (also owned by Nexstar as is this station). He worked for Fox News from 2010 to 2021, initially as a foreign correspondent based in Jerusalem and later as a news presenter. He was a substitute host on Fox & Friends, America's Newsroom, and Happening Now. Vittert has waxed long on the AM news show here and he is mostly annoying though the local anchors gave him PLENTY of time to wax on. It’s not a great addition to this morning news show. Here is NewsNation’s promo for his latest endeavor: “On Balance with Leland Vittert/Weeknights at 9/8c on NewsNation Leland Vittert asks "why?" about the most pressing matters of the day, with an intellectual, balanced and sometimes irreverent take on the news. "On Balance with Leland Vittert" airs weeknights at 9/8C.” Vittert is Nexstar’s attempt to provide a conservative voice to news – just as IndyStar’s marketing with its second op-ed hire.

GONE AND GONE: Print veterans Tim Evans and John Tuohy have retired from The Indianapolis Star. They were among the few remaining print journalists there who had decades of experience in this local market. Evans, who also has Parkinson’s and has shared his health updates on social, was last listed as the investigations editor and Touhy was covering Fishers and Noblesville communities. Narely a soul left there who worked in the bigger better days of this newspaper. Sadly, as our readers noticed, the print edition of the paper printed a profile on Evans as if he were still working there – after he retired.

AND ONE MORE GONE: Brittany Carloni departs IndyStar to head to Wisconsin. She was at the paper for four years and covered Hamilton County and eventually was part of the Statehouse crew. She has joined Wisconsin Watch as a state government reporter.

GONE FROM RADIO: Sean Matthews (aka Matt Barnett) has left Urban One/WIBC after 26 years.

SPEAKING OF INDYSTAR: The paper’s politics team of three announced they’re traveling statewide to listen to you all. Here’s the reader memo: “To better understand what issues drive voters, our team will be visiting different parts of the state throughout September and October as we prepare for the upcoming legislative session and another election year. Each week, we'll write about what we learned during our visits and use that knowledge to inform our coverage.” Here’s the schedule so far – but with no specific locations or times announced, so unclear by the invite if these are actually open to the public. Just an ask for “who” they should meet with on these trips. Also, the names of the reporters are not listed in the text but if you follow the attached video you can catch their names – Hayleigh Colombo, Kayla Dwyer and Kaitlin Lange.

• Sept. 24: Delaware County

• Oct. 1: Daviess County

• Oct. 8: Perry County

• Oct. 15: Boone County

• Oct. 22: Lake County

UPDATING: WXIN’s Krista McEnany, who has been missing from the station’s weather reports since April, provided an update in early September in a one-on-one interview for the morning show. She suffered a stroke with a brain vessel anomaly known as AVM and has been rehabilitating. She also reported that she is now pregnant and due this October with the good news side effect that pregnancy hormones are expediting her healing.

STUDENT PRESS: International students can no longer work at the student paper at Purdue University after the administration made a host of changes to distance itself from the outlet and pulled out of its long-term contract. Exponent leadership said the paper was no longer a contracted vendor with the university, and thus, it could not employ international students, who are bound to specific work requirements. According to IndyStar reporting - Purdue is a top destination for international students as one of the highest-enrolling campuses for such students in the country. In fall 2024, the university enrolled over 10,000 international students, making up 17.2 percent of the student body.

UPDATE IN EVANSVILLE: Griffin Glasscock now anchors the weekday noon news at Allen Media Group’s WEVV-TV and continues as Chief Meteorologist, appearing on the 4 and 5 p.m. weekday news. She joined WEVV in June 2020.

NEW IN SOUTH BEND: John Beomsoo Kim joins WNDU-NBC as a weekend anchor.

NEW IN LAFAYETTE: Chris Locken is the new assignment manager at CBS affiliate/WLFI-TV. Locken has worked in various programming roles at Touhyville Media, and at Brothers Broadcasting, both in Rensselaer.

JOURNALISTS ON TRIAL: One trial is underway and another postponed for the two (Cincinnati) CityBeat journalists who are facing misdemeanor charges after being arrested during a protest on the Roebling Bridge. Madeline Fening, the organization's investigative news reporter, as well as Lucas Griffith, an intern at the outlet, were charged with a combined total of 11 different counts. Their arrests stem from a protest held in support of Ayman Soliman, a Cincinnati Children's Hospital chaplain who was arrested by ICE and had faced prospect of deportation back to his native country of Egypt. Both Fening and Griffith were on the bridge covering the protest for CityBeat on the evening of July 17 when they were arrested. Fening's trial has been set for January in Kenton County, Kentucky, while Lucas Griffith's trial was set for today (Oct. 2). Felony charges were dropped but misdemeanor charges remain. Meantime, Soliman was set free in late September. Professors and journalism advocacy groups are arguing to drop all charges against the two journalists. The journalists declined to opt for dismissals after the prosecutor's office wanted them to admit to a "stipulation that officers had probable cause for their arrest.”

MORE PRINT AWARDS: The Hoosier State Press Association gave out its annual awards to community papers in its membership. The Daily Reporter in Greenfield was named the top, nondaily newspaper of the year. Sorry the site has not been updated for a list of all winners – but most papers announced their own individual awards.

MORE BROADCAST AWARDS: You can find the list from the Indiana Broadcasters Association here. I was surprised by some. TV Station of the year, for example, is WISH-CW, followed by WRTV-ABC then WTHR-NBC (in the top market category).

CLOSE TO LAST AWARD: Mickey Maurer, who owned IBJ News/IBJ Media for more than 30 years, was awarded the Daniels Prize via the Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation. Mauer’s career spans media, banking, law and more, as well as philanthropy.

LAST AWARD: Retired 40-year meteorologist Chuck Lofton was recognized by the Downtown Indy Alliance – receiving a lifetime achievement award for all his work with Circle of Lights. He hosted the event for a decade while at WTHR.

AND ON THE CATWALK: WTHR Reporter Emily Longnecker was seen in a skimpy outfit walking the fashion runway. This was listed as the Stepping Out In Style event to benefit Dress for Success, a non-profit whose mission statement is here. And here’s a list of the other models. Longnecker appears to be the only media person who did some strutting for a good cause.

INDIANA FLICK ON AMAZON: The locally made movie “Dirty Laundry” is now available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video (from $2.99 to $9.99) The plot: In 1997, during their routine laundry night, best buds Kyle and Eric fall under a truth-telling spell that jeopardizes their dreams of starting a business together. (This was also filmed in a laundromat I actually used when I move back to Indy in 1983.) More here on the 12 Stars Media creators.

INDIANA IN THE NEWS ELSEWHERE – THE ONION: Check out Indiana Offers Tax Breaks To Attract Religious Doomsday Cults; Law Aims To Bring More Apocalyptic Fervor To State

INDIANA IN THE NEWS ELSEWHERE – NEW YORK TIMES: NYT interviews the Ball State employee who was outed from her private Facebook page for saying something fairly innocuous about Charlie Kirk (and snitched upon on the Indiana AG ‘report a teacher’ site). Full story here.

INDIANA TRIVIA: What celebrity, who recently died, has an oddball tie to Indiana politician Dan Quayle? This tidbit story from the Evansville Courier & Press.

#RIP: Patti Denton has died at the age of 74. She was a journalist for newspapers in Kentucky and Florida before writing about food and restaurants for The Indianapolis Star and The Indianapolis News. After leaving The Star, she also hosted a weekly radio show, “Too Many Cooks,” on WICR (88.7 FM). She was diagnosed with colon cancer and had moved from her home in Irvington to Westminster Village North, where she died. Memorial contributions can be made to the Vanderburgh Humane Society in her name.

#RIP: Franklin Schurz Jr. has died at the age of 94. He was the chairman emeritus of Schurz Communications. He joined the family business as a paperboy and on-air at WSBT Radio. He was the company’s CEO from 1982 to 2007.

NEARBY RIP: WXIX-Fox special contributor TT Stern-Enzi died after a recent diagnosis of Stage IV sarcomatoid renal cancer. He provided FOX19 NOW in Cincinnati with coverage and reviews of the latest film and streaming releases for more than five years. He also served as the artistic director of the Over-the-Rhine Film Festival since 2021. He was 56.

ON THE NATIONAL FRONT

MORE MERGING: David Ellison (see Ethics Schmethics section above), the media mogul who took over Paramount just last month, has already set his sights on another blockbuster deal: He wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Ellison is planning a bid for the company, which owns HBO, CNN and the Warner Bros. movie studio, according to sources that talked to The New York Times. A merger of the two Hollywood giants would reshape the media industry, putting some of the most renowned news and entertainment brands under the same roof. It would unite two of the biggest movie studios and two of the most influential news networks, CBS News and CNN. No one thinks this is great. Any deal would require the blessing of the Trump administration, which has put media companies under the microscope since Inauguration Day. Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, approved Skydance’s merger with Paramount this summer only after Ellison agreed to appoint an ombudsman — a kind of editorial referee — for CBS News and committed not to restart the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion program. Ellison also stands to win the TikTok deal, which looks to be going to Oracle in the U.S. Ellison co-founded the tech company and still owns more than 40 percent of its stock and still serves as its chief technology officer. TikTok has 170 million users in the U.S. The Times says Ellison’s “portfolio and power could exceed those of fabled predecessors like Hearst and Pulitzer.”

ALSO IN ON TIKTOK: The Abu Dhabi royal family is to take a stake in TikTok’s U.S. business. MGX, a fund chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will take a 15 percent stake and gain a board seat when TikTok US is spun out. This deal has a 120-day window to finalize all details. Ellison’s Oracle, the private equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX will control roughly 45 percent of TikTok US. Overall, American companies are expected to control just over 65 percent of the company, with Trump also naming the personal computer pioneer Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox as other investors. TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, will retain a 19.9 percent stake in the U.S. operation. Approximately 170 million Americans used TikTok as of late 2024/early 2025, according to a Reuters report, while other sources cite figures like 150 million monthly active users from earlier 2023 and 136 million active users in 2025, indicating the number is in that general range. A significant portion of the platform's user base is young, with over 75 percent of 18-24 year-olds in the U.S. using the app. (I’m on TikTok – but lurking only and not posting content. It is a high value-add for those doing digital targeting, particularly in politics.)

ARREST MADE: A 64-year-old man suspected of shooting into an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento has been arrested. The Sacramento Police Department arrested Anibal Hernandez Santana who was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building and negligent discharge of a firearm. Police spokesperson Anthony Gamble said it's unclear how many shots were fired at the ABC10 building, but "it does appear at least three rounds did strike the building." No one was injured. The gunfire happened a day after protesters had gathered outside the station to decry ABC's decision to pull Kimmel’s show. The drive-by happened just after the lunch hour on a weekday. The station is owned by Tegna.

ATLANTIC SETTLES: The Atlantic quietly agreed to pay more than $1 million early this summer to settle a lawsuit by the writer Ruth Shalit Barrett, who had accused the magazine of defamation after it took the rare step of retracting an article she had written and replacing it with an editor’s note, according to a person with knowledge of the settlement. Barrett, who wrote an article about youth sports in wealthy areas as a freelancer for The Atlantic in 2020, sued the publication and one of its editors in January 2022. She said the outlet had smeared her reputation and asked for $1 million in damages. Both sides agreed to resolve their dispute in mediation in April and asked for the suit to be voluntarily dismissed on June 27 when they reached a settlement, according to court documents. The Atlantic made updates to the editor’s note on the online version of the article on June 26.

MEDIA LAWSUIT AGAINST ICE: 404 Media has filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanding the agency publish its $2 million contract with Paragon, a company that makes powerful spyware that can remotely break into mobile phones without the target even clicking a link. The sale of the spyware to ICE has activists and lawmakers deeply concerned about what the agency, which continues to push the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort, may use the technology for. The contract and related documents 404 Media is suing for may provide more information on what ICE intends to do with the spyware. 404 Media first filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with ICE for documents related to its Paragon purchase in September 2024. Under the law, agencies are required to provide a response within 20 days, or provide an explanation of why they need more time. ICE acknowledged receipt of the request in September 2024, but has not since replied to any of its follow up inquiries.

AWKWARD: Channel 4 welcomed Donald Trump to the U.K. with a special program: an unbroken catalogue of over 100 falsehoods, distortions and inaccuracies he’s come up with since taking office in January. The British channel vowed to put a spotlight on his “prolific oeuvre of untruths.” On Sep. 17 from 10 a.m. local time, Channel 4 broadcast Trump v the Truth, the longest uninterrupted reel of untruths running over several hours. The statements were punctuated by “brief text-based fact-checks, offering viewers the truth behind the tweets, speeches and soundbites.”

IN THE KIRK WAKE: MSNBC fired Matthew Dowd, a political analyst whose on-air comments after Charlie Kirk’s death drew criticism, according to a person at the network briefed on the decision. During a back-and-forth with the MSNBC anchor Katy Tur, Dowd, a white male, remarked that Kirk had been pushing hate speech, adding that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.” Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president, apologized for Dowd’s remarks, calling them “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.” Dowd wasn’t the only person facing professional repercussions. The Washington Post terminated columnist Karen Attiah, a black woman who had been with the paper for 11 years, who said she was fired after posting on social media about gun violence and “racial double standards.” She wrote that The Post said her social media posts were “unacceptable,” “gross misconduct” and endangered “the physical safety of colleagues,” charges she rejected and published her termination email on substack. WAPO execs declined comment. There have been firings all across the U.S. for what people have posted about Kirk, his history or their take on this murder – including those in Indiana.

WHO WATCHED KIMMEL: Viewers in more than 60 U.S. markets couldn’t watch “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — his first show back after a weeklong suspension by Disney — on their local ABC stations. The Kimmel boycotts by two big TV station groups, Sinclair and Nexstar, clearly drove many fans in those areas to watch his monologue on YouTube, where ABC posted it around midnight ET. It quickly became the show’s most-viewed video on the platform (so far) in 2025. Disney, Nexstar and Sinclair all took stock tumbles. Disney also announced a price increase for its streaming services. Yikes! The ad-supported plan goes up $2 to $11.99 a month. The ad-free “premium” tier rises $3 to $18.99. The annual plan increases by $30 to $189.99. Bundles are more expensive, too. Disney+ with Hulu (ads) will cost $12.99. The full Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select package is rising to $19.99 with ads, or $29.99 without. ESPN Select by itself will be $12.99 monthly or $129.99 per year.

MEDIA SCARE UTAH: The FBI have arrested two suspects after they allegedly left an incendiary device underneath a marked KSTU-Fox vehicle, which then forced an evacuation of a neighborhood when the FBI served an overnight warrant on their home. The men, Adeeb Ahamed Nasir, 58, and Adil Justice Ahmed Nasir, 31, were booked into jail and face multiple charges, including Threat of Terrorism, Possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Possessing Explosive Devices. According to the Salt Lake City Police Department, both men had protective orders that prohibited them from possessing firearms. Both men were being held without bond. The Salt Lake City station is owned by Scripps.

KIRK MEMORIAL COVERAGE: Most networks, likely due to football, carried the memorial Kirk service via livestream. Those included USA Today, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, ABC News and NewsNation. Also found on C-SPAN.

GANNETT WINS: Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher including owner of IndyStar, won the dismissal of most of a lawsuit, including all class action claims, alleging its diversity policies led to widespread discrimination against white journalists. U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston said the plaintiffs offered no proof that Gannett’s alleged “reverse race discrimination policy” caused similar harm across its hundreds of media outlets, which also include USA Today, such that affected employees could sue as a group rather than individually. “Plaintiffs would all be seeking relief based on different theories of recovery, based on different positions, at different newspapers, in different areas of the country, with different decisionmakers,” the Alexandria, Virginia-based judge wrote. Alston, an appointee of President Donald Trump, also said the proposed class would include “large swaths” of employees.

NEW LINEUP: The Fox Corp.-backed cable news outlet unveiled a slate of new assignments for its weekend programming, with Washington correspondents Jacqui Heinrich and Peter Doocy taking up an hour that has for more than a decade been earmarked for media criticism. “MediaBuzz,” led by longtime media reporter Howard Kurtz, will end its run and be replaced on Sundays at 11 a.m. by “The Sunday Briefing,” which will feature Heinrich or Doocy in a single-anchor format. In a statement, Fox News said the new program, which debuts Sept. 21, "will tackle all facets of the White House beat, including the President of the United States’ national and international moves as well as the key issues impacting the administration." The son of "Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy, Peter Doocy, 38, gained notoriety for his combative questions in the White House briefing room during the Biden administration.

NEW OMDUSMAN NAMED: Paramount has named its new ombudsman for CBS News naming Kenneth R. Weinstein, former head of a conservative-leaning Washington think tank. This fulfills a condition of winning the Trump administration’s approval for an $8-billion merger. The company announced “that complaints from consumers, employees and others” about CBS News stories will go to Weinstein, who will help determine if remedial action is necessary. Weinstein, who served as president and chief executive of the Hudson Institute, will report to Jeff Shell, who is president of Paramount under new owner and CEO David Ellison.

SUCCESSION SETTLED: The Murdochs finally figured out their decades long argument about succession. Lachlan Murdoch will take control of a new family trust in a deal worth $3.3 billion, ensuring that his father’s media empire will retain its conservative slant. The deal ensures that the empire’s various outlets, including Fox News, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, will remain conservative after his father Rupert’s death.

UH-OH OAN: One America News Network (OAN), the conservative and pro-Trump cable outlet, has become the latest high-profile critic of the Nexstar-Tegna merger by calling for keeping TV ownership limitation caps. The proposed $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar and Tegna would create the largest TV broadcast group in the nation controlling major stations reaching over 80 percent of the U.S. market — more than double the current federal limit. That includes a joining of WXIN-WTTV-WTHR here in Indy. There is deepening conservative skepticism of the merger, which would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant waivers permitting Nexstar to exceed the current congressionally mandated cap. Federal broadcast ownership caps currently prohibit any one television broadcasting company from reaching more than 39 percent of the national audience.

MORE SUING: The conservative news network Newsmax filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fox News saying Fox has sought to maintain its market dominance through intimidation and exclusionary business practices designed to stifle competition – but it was dismissed quickly. Newsmax’s lawsuit is a “shotgun pleading,” U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled, using a term for disorganized complaints that fail to meet certain pleading standards. The lawsuit repeats its allegations in each legal claim, thus rendering it “impermissible” in court, the judge said. “The Court has an independent obligation to dismiss such pleadings and require repleader,” wrote Cannon, a Donald Trump-appointed district judge in Florida who, in 2024, dismissed the classified documents case against him. Newsmax has six days to file a cleaned-up complaint. In a text to CNN, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy called the judge’s dismissal “a technical issue with the filing.” Fox has sought to block television distributors from carrying Newsmax or minimize its exposure, pressured guests not to appear on the rival network and hired private detectives to investigate Newsmax executives, said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in south Florida. Newsmax seeks a jury trial. Fox, in a statement, said “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers.” Newsmax, which has operated since 2014, is attacking Fox News at perhaps its most popular point: the cable network’s opinion programming has consistently beaten broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC in prime time over the summer months. (For us skeptics, it has become for all intents and purposes the Trump network – with the president giving exclusives mostly to Fox.)

AI COMPANY LOSES: Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train its chatbot. The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement. The company has agreed to pay authors or publishers about $3,000 for each of an estimated 500,000 books covered by the settlement. “As best as we can tell, it’s the largest copyright recovery ever,” said Justin Nelson, a lawyer for the authors. “It is the first of its kind in the AI era.” A trio of authors — thriller novelist Andrea Bartz and nonfiction writers Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson — sued last year and now represent a broader group of writers and publishers whose books Anthropic downloaded to train its chatbot Claude.

REBOOT: Actor/Activist Jane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, a McCarthy-era initiative founded in the 1940s by her father, Henry Fonda, to protect against attacks on free speech. The Committee has already received the support of more than 550 A-list celebrity names. They will fight against what the group calls a “coordinated campaign” from the Trump administration to curb freedom of expression. The committee announced the move drawing parallels between the White House under President Donald Trump and the McCarthy era during the 1950s when Americans were targeted with allegations over their political beliefs and activities. The decision to revive the committee comes amid activity that has raised fears of a new era of censorship and retribution orchestrated by the Trump administration, including ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel following his comments about the shooter who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk, National Guard deployments to states despite opposition from local officials, and the withholding

GOOGLE PREVAILS ON BROWSER: Google won't have to sell its Chrome browser, a judge in Washington has ruled, handing a rare win to Big Tech in its battle with U.S. antitrust enforcers, but ordering Google to share data with rivals to open up competition in online search. The ruling results from a five-year legal battle between one of the world's most profitable companies and the U.S., where antitrust regulators and lawmakers have long questioned Big Tech's market domination. The judge ruled last year that Google holds an illegal monopoly in online search and related advertising. Google still faces a major threat from increasingly popular AI tools including OpenAI's popular ChatGPT chatbot, which are already eroding Google's dominance. If allowed to access the data Google is required to share, AI companies could bolster their development of chatbots and, in some cases, AI search engines and web browsers.

NEW FOR NYT SUBSCRIBERS: The New York Times is offering a new level of access for subscribers. The new All Access Family option ($30/month for up to four users) includes everything in the Times’ growing bundle of digital products. There’s also a standalone Games family subscription ($10/month) for families most interested in their Wordle streaks. The family option costs about $5 more per month than an individual subscription. An individual games subscription costs about $50/year, while a family games-only subscription will set you back $120/year. The new offering allows the Times to entice new subscribers, upgrade existing subscribers, and bring new (and potentially younger) audiences into the fold. Early testing also suggests family plans have higher retention rates, the company's head of subscription growth said.

FACEBOOK REMINDER: Chats linked to Facebook Groups will be permanently deleted Oct. 5. You can download your messages from this chat in the Accounts Center. Keep using the group on Facebook to stay connected with your community.

WINDOWS 10 REMINDER: Support for Windows 10 ends October 14. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide free security updates, technical support, or software updates for Windows 10, making it increasingly vulnerable to malware and other threats over time. Your Windows 10 PC will continue to function, but to stay secure it is recommended you upgrade to Windows 11.

GOOGLE ADVICE: Google is encouraging Gmail users to change their password. Google is also pushing users toward stronger forms of authentication, including passkeys and app-based two-factor authentication (2FA). Unlike SMS codes, which can be intercepted or spoofed, authenticator apps and passkeys make it much harder for hackers to break into accounts even if they trick you into handing over a password. In the meantime, Use Google’s Security Checkup. The tool provides a quick overview of devices, apps, and settings tied to your account.

EXPIRED: AOL ended its dial-up internet service September 30.

ABOUT MEDIA MOVES

This newsletter is free. My readers are generally in media, formerly in media, in media law, in media education, in government or practicing their PR and communications skills in those sectors. Plus, a few randos. Per usual, thanks for reading and sending feedback and tidbits when you have time. If you don't know my background - and why I care about media today - check out my LinkedIn profile.