On MSNBC Prime, Angelo Carusone discusses how the Trump administration is systematically targeting news organizations that they consider “oppositional”
Carusone: “They see the media, not as storytellers, not as shapers of history, not as truth tellers, but as part of the opposition. And so, you have to leverage every single federal resource to sort of pressure or bend them to shape those stories”
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From the April 15, 2025, edition of MSNBC's MSNBC Prime
SYMONE SANDERS (HOST): There is a Nigerian author that once wrote, “The history of the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter until the lions have their own historians.” And I think about that often. Because when I worked at the White House, I often would speak with the reporters about the fact that they are writing the first draft of history. So it matters who – Donald – that the fact that the White House now, under the direction of the president, is trying to dictate who is in the room to document the history. They’re trying to decide who the historians are and what story they want to be told.
ANGELO CARUSONE (MEDIA MATTERS PRESIDENT): Yeah, I think especially in this environment, we think about these initial reports from the pool and from these initial, as sort of, you know, what's going to feed the story of the day. And it’s true, it is like the plank. It is the bottom of the food chain. It is what everyone ends up talking about that day, these — a big part of these pool reports.
But to your point, it's something much bigger than that. It's also what ends up being and shaping the story and the building blocks of history. And I'll put a fine point on it, because tonight they issued a new ruling that basically said, none of the wires will potentially be available, right?
SANDERS: So yeah, that's Reuters, AP, Bloomberg, and Bloomberg News. And the wires matter because –
CARUSONE: That’s right. They do.
SANDERS: I mean, the lack of funding to news across the country. The wires are feeding a lot of these town newspapers.
CARUSONE: That's exactly right. It's town – it's local newspapers. It's local news reporting that you then build on top of. It is the raw material. And so let's pull the thread on that. So you don't have the AP in the room. And what you do, as we've seen already, they replace that spot with somebody from Lindell TV, Mike Lindell, the famous election guy.
SANDERS: The pillow man.
CARUSONE: The pillow man, who asked the president, not anything about newsworthy, but asked about, “Can you release his fitness routine?” So, you know, not only is that distorting the news of the day, it's silly stuff, but think about what that does over time when it comes to history.
And obviously, it's in this moment when we're in such crisis, it's hard to think long term. Say, “Well, who cares about the future? We're in a moment right now.” But if you really sort of think about the big picture here – this seems small. I get that, that. It's like, “Oh, well, small ball press access.” But this is really about breaking newsrooms, breaking and bending them to their will. And it's not just an access issue, it's everything, up to threatening multibillion dollar deals to shape how news coverage gets done, as well.
SANDERS: I mean, you've got, to your point, the White House has asked Congress to claw back funding from NPR and PBS. Trump administration officials want legislators to rescind $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That provides support for public media. I mean, I don't know what the White House has against Elmo. PBS, Elmo, hello.
And then, the president, Trump says CBS and 60 Minutes should pay a big price for going after him. They are making it up. There's a target on the back of every single news organization that attempts to do their job, which is, report the facts and the truth, regardless of fear or favor. And I think this is going to have a chilling effect. It already has.
CARUSONE: This is, and this is a through line to what you've been talking about in multiple segments throughout your show so far today, which is that they’re systematically going after any institution that they think is oppositional, or a speed bump, or a barrier to Donald Trump. And that is and that, to me, is ultimately one of the big pieces here. Obviously, the media is a big part of it. They see the media, not as storytellers, not as shapers of history, not as truth tellers, but as part of the opposition. And so, you have to leverage every single federal resource to sort of pressure or bend them to shape those stories, just like they're doing with those law firms, just like they're hoping to do with these universities, which is why it's such a big deal when entities stand up to them. But then when it comes to the public broadcasting, you know, it's important to note that they're not just threatening defunding, it's these clawbacks too. Taking money back that they've already allocated, which is like a devastating massive wound, it's a fatal wound in some of these instances. So it's not just that you're going to shape it over time, you're going to kill it in the moment.
And I hate to be the Project 2025 guy, but that was a big part of it. That was in Project 2025, that, here is the mechanisms by which we go after this. The public broadcasting, it's right there. And in his second week, when he became the new chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr went out there and launched an investigation that began the building blocks of a defunding effort for Project 2025 – for public broadcasting.
SANDERS: It's almost like they told us what they were going to do. I think it is really important to note that the goal here is to scare a lot of these institutions and individuals and people. I, for one, refuse to live in fear, but I'm very, very concerned.