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Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
Key to Righting Ship
When CNN’s Jake Tapper hosted California Democrat, Jared Huffman, June 14th, it wasn’t surprising that the latter attacked the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 with uncommon zeal. These are the items covered. In Huffman’s view and apparently Tapper’s, they were consistently representative of the far-right wish list.
- Project 2025 covers Tax Reform: Project 2025 aims to simplify the tax code, reduce corporate taxes, and promote economic growth.
- Healthcare: It advocates for market-driven healthcare reforms, including repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
- Defense: The project emphasizes a strong national defense, increased military spending, and modernization.
- Regulatory Reform: It seeks to reduce government regulations on businesses and streamline bureaucracy.
- Energy Independence: Project 2025 promotes domestic energy production and innovation.
- Education: The agenda supports school choice, vocational training, and local control over education.
- Social Issues: It aligns with conservative values on abortion, religious freedom, and family policies.
Uncommon Distortion
Huffman is your textbook liberal Democrat. To hear his assessment, one could easily conclude that the Heritage Foundation’s initiatives are nothing short of heresy. Most glaring is his point that a second Trump administration aims to replace non-political public servants with MAGA political hacks. Where I most took exception was Tapper’s failure to remind his audience that 95% of federal bureaucrats contributed to Democrat candidates in 2022.
Jake Tapper is not a journalist. He is an activist. He is joined by a whole host of others who have turned their back on media’s traditional role as “watchdog.” Rather than present the facts objectively, they take a position and create their own version of reality. The thinking is, “if you say it enough times, the public will believe it.” The term for such manipulation is “gaslighting.”
We saw something similar on May 11, 2023, when CNN anchor, Kaitlan Collins hosted Donald Trump in a Saint Anselm College, Goffstown, New Hampshire town hall. In front of a cable audience that was double CNN’s normal viewership, Collins strayed from the pertinent and chose to concentrate on “gotcha” type questions that centered around January 6th.
Trump handled the questions with the ease of a man on a mission, often drawing applause from the town hall audience. He even went as far as to call Collins a “nasty person.” In the end, Collins came off as an “80’s vintage bimbo” more committed to advancing a narrative than discussing real issues that concern Americans such as inflation, crime and the border.
Many CNN executives had discouraged hosting Trump on a cable network known to take exception to Trump’s policies. Executive Director Chris Licht had earlier indicated that a slight move to the center was imminent. He was fired 13 months into his stewardship. Meanwhile, the town hall jumpstarted Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign.
Going Forward
CNN is cable. You pay a subscription fee to view it. Cable is more akin to a magazine. “Over-the-air” television, as in “free TV,” only requires that you own or have access to the equipment necessary to pick up the signal. This is where the concern lies. Both the Radio Act of 1927 and the Communications Act of 1934 affirmed that the “airwaves belong to the people.” Stations and Networks lease the frequency. They never own. This is where a return to unbiased media reporting begins.
It starts with ownership. The Federal Communications Commission oversees licensures. Licensees must provide evidence of serving the public. Up until now, they have escaped the kind of scrutiny that should be expected from any organization holding such an influential tool. Going forward the question becomes “how do you return ownership to the people?” The answer: “Make an example of those not performing up to the standard.”
It will likely require some FCC personnel changes. But that’s within reach. The next step is taking the most flagrant organizations and deny license renewal. The two that come to mind are Comcast, the owner of NBC and Disney, the owner of ABC.
Could this be done? It would be complicated, but yes it could be. The second step would be to return to the standard of the 1950’s when no commercials aired inside the newscasts. In broadcast terms, “no internal avails, only adjacencies.” As one might expect, there would be tremendous pushback from the broadcast networks. It would equate to a huge loss of revenue. It should also be noted that this measure would impact networks, not locale affiliates.
Why would it be necessary? Because advertisers cannot influence editorial content. We see this constantly on cable TV. You can’t turn on Fox News without being bombarded with pharmaceutical advertisements. This is fine, if it’s pay TV. However, there must be a place where viewers can turn for objective, unbiased news and information. This includes PBS which, as of late, has strayed from its original purpose.
Impacting CNN, Fox, MSNBC and Others
If people are willing to pay for it, they should have it. Some simply like a slanted version of the news. But the “free TV” standard would have an impact. Viewers would be much more difficult to “gaslight.” They would ultimately choose their programming based on “thoroughness and accuracy.” This translates to a more informed society. People deserve the truth, even if they don’t necessarily like it!
There will always be a “Morning Joe” and a “Fox and Friends.” Partisan cable casters such as Sean Hannity, Jake Tapper and Kaitlan Collins keep it interesting. The difference would be the “free TV barometer.” You hear an opinion, then compare that take to an objective opinion that does not take any side but serves as a filter. In essence, dismissing the fabricated while accentuating the factual.
Everybody wins.
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Author: Jeff Willis
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