Not even two months into their reign as the majority party that controls the White House and both houses of Congress, key Democrats have made clear that one of their top priorities is censorship of divergent voices. On Saturday, I detailed how their escalating official campaign to coerce and threaten social media companies into more aggressively censoring views that they dislike — including by summoning social media CEOs to appear before them for the third time in less than five months — is implicating, if not already violating, core First Amendment rights of free speech.
Now they are going further — much further. The same Democratic House Committee that is demanding greater online censorship from social media companies now has its sights set on the removal of conservative cable outlets, including Fox News, from the airwaves.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday announced a February 24 hearing, convened by one of its sub-committees, entitled “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media.” Claiming that “the spread of disinformation and extremism by traditional news media presents a tangible and destabilizing threat,” the Committee argues: “Some broadcasters’ and cable networks’ increasing reliance on conspiracy theories and misleading or patently false information raises questions about their devotion to journalistic integrity.”
Since when is it the role of the U.S. Government to arbitrate and enforce precepts of “journalistic integrity”? Unless you believe in the right of the government to regulate and control what the press says — a power which the First Amendment explicitly prohibits — how can anyone be comfortable with members of Congress arrogating unto themselves the power to dictate what media outlets are permitted to report and control how they discuss and analyze the news of the day?
But what House Democrats are doing here is far more insidious than what is revealed by that creepy official announcement. Two senior members of that Committee, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Silicon-Valley) and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) also sent their own letters to seven of the nation’s largest cable providers — Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, Dish, Verizon, Cox and Altice — as well as to digital distributors of cable news (Roku, Amazon, Apple, Google and Hulu) demanding to know, among other things, what those cable distributors did to prevent conservative “disinformation” prior to the election and after — disinformation, they said, that just so happened to be spread by the only conservative cable outlets: Fox, Newsmax and OANN.
In case there was any doubt about their true goal — coercing these cable providers to remove all cable networks that feature conservative voices, including Fox (just as their counterparts on that Committee want to ban right-wing voices from social media) — the House Democrats in their letter said explicitly what they are after: namely, removal of those conservative outlets by these cable providers:
Congresswoman Eshoo boasted on her official site about these efforts, lauding herself and McNerney for “urging 12 cable, satellite, and streaming TV companies to combat the spread of misinformation and requesting more information about their actions to address misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies spread through channels they host.”
For the last four years, we were inundated with media messaging that Trump posed an unprecedented threat to press freedoms. The Washington Post even flamboyantly adopted a new motto to implicitly ratify that accusation (while claiming it was not Trump-specific). Other than the indictment of Julian Assange — which most Washington Democrats cheered — what did the Trump administration do in the way of attacking press freedoms that remotely compares to Democrats abusing their majoritarian power to force the removal of conservative cable outlets from the airwaves, just days after doing the same with dissident voices online?
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Spurwing Plover
3 years ago
Everyone in that picture belong in Prison doing life for Treason
Deplorable Me
3 years ago
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday announced a February 24 hearing, convened by one of its sub-committees, entitled “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media.” Claiming that “the spread of disinformation and extremism by traditional news media presents a tangible and destabilizing threat,” the Committee argues: “Some broadcasters’ and cable networks’ increasing reliance on conspiracy theories and misleading or patently false information raises questions about their devotion to journalistic integrity.”
So far, they are absolutely correct. Only problem, they are not referring to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC or PBS. THEY have been the purveyor of lies, conspiracies and seditious threats.
The FACT that their objections have nothing to do with actual content but more with the fact that none of those mentioned are part of the Demediacrat cabal that protects Democrats, relentlessly attacks Republicans and promotes EVERY left wing rumor against Republicans without considering accuracy and NEVER apologizes or retracts their lies but merely wants to silence opposition thought and speech is clear. Fox has been HARSHLY criticized for calling the election for Biden relatively early and do not cover or discuss accusations of election fraud, which are real, widespread and credible. Fox is, however, still not in the socialist camp and still reports news as news, not propaganda to support Democrats.
The Demediacrats spread the lie that Zimmerman hunted Trayvon Martin down. They spread the lie that Michael Brown had his hands up, begging not to be shot. The spread the lie that Breonna Taylor was innocently shot in her bed. They spread the lie that George Floyd died from a knee on his neck. The spread the lie that Jacob Blake was unarmed. All these lies fomented MASSIVE and widespread violence, human tragedy and property damage, and they lied about THAT, refusing to cover it, deeming is “mostly peaceful” and, whenever possibly, blaming it all on “white supremacists”.
Trump called out “fake news”, which were the blatant lies the media trafficked in. Yet, he never tried to squash it. Calling it out as fake news promoted individuals to check out his claims and verify if he or the media was lying. For instance, the media lied relentlessly that Trump called Nazis and white supremacists “fine people”, even though it was easily verified he never did; that, in fact, in that very statement, he SPECIFICALLY denounced racism and white supremacism.
All this is is further proof, evidenced by the gross size and scope of the lies, that the Democrats are moving towards a totalitarian police state ruled by one approve party. Reminds me of something…
Everyone in that picture belong in Prison doing life for Treason
So far, they are absolutely correct. Only problem, they are not referring to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC or PBS. THEY have been the purveyor of lies, conspiracies and seditious threats.
The FACT that their objections have nothing to do with actual content but more with the fact that none of those mentioned are part of the Demediacrat cabal that protects Democrats, relentlessly attacks Republicans and promotes EVERY left wing rumor against Republicans without considering accuracy and NEVER apologizes or retracts their lies but merely wants to silence opposition thought and speech is clear. Fox has been HARSHLY criticized for calling the election for Biden relatively early and do not cover or discuss accusations of election fraud, which are real, widespread and credible. Fox is, however, still not in the socialist camp and still reports news as news, not propaganda to support Democrats.
The Demediacrats spread the lie that Zimmerman hunted Trayvon Martin down. They spread the lie that Michael Brown had his hands up, begging not to be shot. The spread the lie that Breonna Taylor was innocently shot in her bed. They spread the lie that George Floyd died from a knee on his neck. The spread the lie that Jacob Blake was unarmed. All these lies fomented MASSIVE and widespread violence, human tragedy and property damage, and they lied about THAT, refusing to cover it, deeming is “mostly peaceful” and, whenever possibly, blaming it all on “white supremacists”.
Trump called out “fake news”, which were the blatant lies the media trafficked in. Yet, he never tried to squash it. Calling it out as fake news promoted individuals to check out his claims and verify if he or the media was lying. For instance, the media lied relentlessly that Trump called Nazis and white supremacists “fine people”, even though it was easily verified he never did; that, in fact, in that very statement, he SPECIFICALLY denounced racism and white supremacism.
All this is is further proof, evidenced by the gross size and scope of the lies, that the Democrats are moving towards a totalitarian police state ruled by one approve party. Reminds me of something…