Media News Daily: Top Stories for 09/08/2026

Judge Allows Pentagon to Fire Stars and Stripes Staffers

A federal judge has declined to block the Pentagon from terminating three Stars and Stripes staff members while their lawsuit proceeds. Publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte sued after alleging they were punished for objecting to military censorship and speaking to CBS about deteriorating conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Judge Trevor McFadden ruled that Slavin and Korte were unlikely to prevail on their First Amendment claims because they appeared to speak as public employees rather than private citizens, though the broader lawsuit will continue. (Read More) (AP News Rating)

AI Bot Traffic Surges Across Publisher Websites

Website visits from AI harvesting bots have increased sharply over the past year, intensifying publisher concerns about scraping, bandwidth costs, and lost traffic from AI-generated answers. Data from 51Degrees found that AI harvester traffic rose 62.5%, from 8% to 13% of all web sessions, based on more than 3 billion website visits analyzed through May 2026. AmazonBot accounted for the largest share, followed by Meta-ExternalAgent and Microsoft BingBot, while publishers and technology companies continue working on tools to distinguish human users from automated traffic. (Read More) (MediaPost Rating)

FCC Chair Says Agency Weighs Broadcaster Actions

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the agency is “looking at a lot of actions” related to broadcasters airing what he characterized as fake polls and partisan coverage ahead of the midterm elections. Carr’s remarks followed President Donald Trump’s call for the FCC to punish NBC News’s Kristen Welker after she said Trump-backed candidates had produced mixed results in primaries. NBC News said it stands by Welker, while critics have raised concerns that federal regulatory pressure could be used to intimidate news organizations. (Read More) (The Hill Rating)