A View from the Field: More Mergers, More Problems

We provide regular updates from the field as staffers work alongside our amazing allies and activists to create a just and equitable media system.

• Matt Wood testified about the harms of massive media mergers in a hearing before a House Judiciary subcommittee. The hearing was the first congressional inquiry into the competing bids to take over Warner Bros. Discovery. “Runaway consolidation eliminates choice,” Matt testified. “Companies routinely break promises and evade merger conditions. And under the Trump administration, these deals pose tremendous danger to free expression.” Matt noted that the public will lose out regardless of whether either Netflix or Paramount Skydance triumphs here. “We fear either deal would reduce competition in streaming and adjacent markets, with fewer choices for consumers and fewer opportunities for writers, actors, directors and production technicians,” he said. “Jobs will be lost. Stories will go untold.”
• At an International Documentary Association event in Los Angeles and a follow-up online teach-in that attracted an audience of more than 1,000 filmmakers and allies, Craig Aaron spoke about ways to combat these kinds of monster mergers. “When we have these huge mergers there’s this huge push at the start to make them inevitable,” he said. “I want to emphasize that we are much closer to the beginning than we are to the end of this fight.” Watch the teach-in.
• Nora Benavidez gave a fireside chat during the Practising Law Institute’s “Online Platforms and Popular Technologies 2025: Legal and Regulatory Responses to Technology Innovations and Uses” program. She shared updates about where we are now in the tech space.
• Alex Frandsen  and Jessica J. González  joined forces with LA Local and the Latino Media Collaborative to co-host a convening on local-news policy interventions in Los Angeles County. Alex and Jessica discussed the importance of organizing around a shared set of values and promoted the concept of a public-grantmaking body like the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium to serve the information needs of community members.
• Ruth Livier, Jessica and Nora took part in a Committee for the First Amendment event where Jane Fonda spoke to entertainment professionals about threats to free speech and explained how consolidation harms the entertainment industry and society at large. Jessica spoke to attendees about the specific harms stemming from media mergers and noted how critical it is to stop these deals.
• Jessica participated in the panel discussion “Media Consolidation and the Future of Hollywood,” which a committee of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association hosted.
• Jessica also spoke during the panel discussion “Telling Our Stories: Bearing Witness & Making the Realities Visible” at the California Community Foundation’s 2026 Immigration & Democracy Summit. Panelists highlighted how journalists and local organizations are playing a crucial role for communities under attack from ICE. Panelists also discussed how mainstream media outlets have largely failed to hold the Trump administration accountable.