Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the death of Jesse Jackson, a protege of Martin Luther King,

who ran for the presidency in 1984 and 1988,

and speak with his close friend for 40 years who accompanied Reverend Jackson

on peacekeeping and rescue missions to war-torn Yugoslavia and the Middle East.

Joining us is Rabbi Stephen Jacobs, who has spent over five decades as an advocate on behalf of social change,

spirituality and civil rights, the founder of the Rabbi Stephen B. Jacobs Progressive Faith Foundation,

until his recent retirement. He also served as the spiritual

leader of the temple called Tikva, a reform congregation he founded in 1984. Active in the anti-war

and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s. He has traveled internationally with

Reverend Jesse Jackson to promote peace, justice, and global

understanding in locations such as the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East, and his work

to promote tolerance and cooperation amongst African American, Jewish and Muslim communities

in Los Angeles.

Then we'll examine further evidence of what happens when

Trump-friendly billionaires like Larry Ellison buy CBS and now try to buy Warner Brothers and CNN,

and speak with Paul Farie, who was a reporter for the Washington Post for 35 years covering business,

presidential campaigns, and the news media.

He left at the end of 2023 and has been a freelance writer contributing to the Atlantic,

the Athletic, Neiman Reports, The Daily Beast and the Columbia Journalism Review.

We will discuss his article at the Washingtonian.

Actually, the Washington Post layoffs were a bigger bloodbath than you thought, and CBS' censorship of Colbert, who was stopped from interviewing a Democratic candidate for Senate.

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