The far right media apparatus won’t let them know

While Sister and Niece were here for Thanksgiving yesterday I asked Niece where she gets her news. I asked because I’ve seen and written about articles saying where one gets their news correlated highly with how one voted. Niece says she ignores news as much as she can. When she feels she must know about an event she turns to the BBC for the British take on what Americans are doing. Or she checks out a Korean or other east Asian news source (she likes east Asian culture). If that still isn’t enough she turns to a service I think she called Ground that categorizes articles on how far to the left or right they are and puts that designation at the top of the article. I think it is wise for her to get her news in the way she does. Last Sunday I wrote about an article by John Stoehr, writing for his Editorial Board in which he disputed the idea that people who voted for the nasty guy would blame him for the damage he does to the economy. I summarized one of Stoehr’s points in part by saying, “the far right media apparatus won’t let them know...” On Wednesday Alix Breeden of Daily Kos reported that nasty junior talked to podcast host Michael Knowles, saying that the nasty guy was planning to install some conservative podcasters into the White House press briefing room. Though I shouldn’t have to, I’ll say it anyway, these are guys like Knowles and Joe Rogan who are strong supporters of the nasty guy. To make room for them nasty junior said that press passes for some traditional media would have to be revoked, “That's going to blow up some heads.” Breeden discussed an obvious problem with that – podcasters are not journalists and don’t have to (and won’t) adhere to any journalistic standards. While journalists in traditional media have varying standards, depending on the corporation behind them, at least they have some standards. Another big issue is we won’t know who is funding the podcasters. There was a case in September where far right influencers were found to unknowingly be funded by Russia. Those podcasters with direct access to the White House may not have any journalistic standards and may be funded by America’s enemies. The far right media apparatus won’t let us know what is really going on. Yesterday, Mark Sumner, Kos Emeritus, discussed the “joke” from Elon Musk that now that Comcast is spinning off MSNBC into a separate company Musk talked about buying it. Comcast is shedding several networks along with MSNBC. Comments on Musk’s X joked about Rachel Maddow being replaced by Joe Rogan. To think about what that would do to MSNBC one need only look at what Musk did to Twitter in turning it into X, a haven for far right trolls.

Musk is signaling that he has the limitless resources and unchecked power to purchase and shutter any outlet he believes represents a threat to Donald Trump or the incoming array of kleptocrats. He can not only silence perceived critics, he can do it on a whim. What Musk is suggesting is known as "media capture," and it's a common practice among authoritarian governments everywhere.

This is at a time when the right has media outlets at every level and is always available. There is no progressive media. The recent election showed how uninformed and misinformed many Americans already are. Yeah, conservatives like to decry PBS and NPR and other outlets as too liberal. But they still hold to the idea of “balanced” coverage that can leave lies unchallenged. These “centrist” news outlets skew right to avoid being seen as favoring the left. Notice how critical they were of Biden and Harris while sanewashing the nasty guy.

It has been clear, from 2016 to date, that there is no statement Trump could make that would cause the media to genuinely hold him to account. There has never—not even on the days when a jury held that he had sexually assaulted a woman in a dressing room, or when another jury found him guilty on 31 felony counts—been a time when news outlets barraged Trump in the way they did Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Kamala Harris in 2024.

And this is before being purchased by Musk. Authoritarian regimes do not tolerate independent reporting. In 2019 international agencies identified four steps that regimes use to capture the media. Capture the media regulator. In America that is the Federal Communication Commission, which regulates radio, TV, and the internet. The nasty guy selected Brendan Carr, who wrote the Project 2025 chapter on the FCC. He could revoke broadcast licenses that don’t parrot the administration. He could force Bluesky, the liberal haven from X, to reduce its content moderation. He could handle the lack of rural broadband with huge contracts with Musk’s Starlink. He could ignore the problems of Musk and other billionaires buying TV and radio stations. Control the public service broadcaster. For years Republicans have been reducing government funding for NPR and PBS. They could switch to controlling them – including programs for children. Use of state financing as a control tool. The drop in advertising has meant financial difficulties for newspapers as well as radio and TV stations that don’t have a deep-pocket owner. A lot of money could flow their way – if they’re willing to say the right things. Ownership control. Jeff Bezos may have spent $250 million on the Washington Post, but he spent twice that on one yacht, and he has several. Outlets owned by billionaires are ineffective in delivering news. They could easily switch to propaganda. Sumner listed a few possible headlines over the next few years. They haven’t happened – yet. Here’s a selection:

+ Fox News and Newsmax exclusively allowed on military bases + White House press conferences remove journalists under investigation for "treason" + Congress insists that Sesame Street include more Christian content

Sumner concluded:

America needs an opposition media. It needs one quickly. Unfortunately, there are no signs of that opposition emerging. Musk may be threatening to buy MSNBC, but in the meantime, the remainder of the media is signaling that they don't need to be captured — because they are willing to capitulate. This doesn’t mean the left should surrender. It just means that no one should expect the outlets that were unwilling to confront Trump when he was out of power, to stand up to him now that he has the backing of both Congress and the courts (and the money of Musk). We have to be our own heroes. Again.

The far right media apparatus won’t let them know. Crashing the economy with tariffs? Deporting millions whether or not they have citizenship? The fate of Ukraine and Gaza? The far right media apparatus won’t let them know. Hoomai29 of the Kos community wrote that Democrats should dump the Neoliberal economics that Reagan championed. The post begins with two wealth distribution charts. In France of 1760-90 the wealthiest ten percent of the population owned 60% of all wealth. In the US in 2016 that number is above 75%. The source is European Review of Economic History and the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances. The post then reviewed what Joseph Stiglitz says what 40 years of neoliberalism has given us: unprecedented inequality, stagnation of those with middle income and lost ground from those at the bottom, and declining life expectancy (including “deaths of despair”). Biden and Harris distanced themselves from neoliberalism but they didn’t rebuke it. General economy boosting measures that do not put more money in the pockets of the poor is killing the American Dream and killed Democrats’ chances at an American rebirth. Morgan Stephens of Kos reported several stories of various people who, after the election, are posting that they decided they will not visit MAGA relatives for the holidays. They are “defiantly speaking out about feeling betrayed by family and friends.” One mother said she will stay with her daughter, worried about birth control, and a trans son, who is a political target. A trans man in Colorado won’t go to Texas for the holidays and is considering whether to completely cut the relationship. One said you voted for a racist, a person who is taking away women’s and gay rights, so you’re not my friend. Fox News host Jesse Watters said he was disinvited by his Democratic mother. Another said they won’t unwrap gifts from people who voted for a party that talked about mass deportation. One said her relatives may come, though she’ll use “my special recipe of sarcasm, dark humor, and a heaping scoop of female rage.”

Those who voted for Trump have argued that “politics” shouldn’t come between friendships or family. But those who are choosing to cut ties aren’t buying it.

In 2016 people didn’t know if the nasty guy meant what he said. This time they do and some people are upset that family voted for him anyway. What the nasty guy and Republicans are saying feel like personal attacks. Vulnerable people aren’t able to stay in contact with family that voted to harm them. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted a tweet by Steven Dennis:

Looks like Democrats will end up ~7500 votes short of winning the House majority across three districts. That's the difference between having the power of the purse, subpoenas etc — or not — in a nation of 330+ million.

Dworkin added:

It’s not just a 220-215 House with a narrower margin than this year by one seat. Without Matt Gaetz (resignation), Elise Stefanik (headed to the UN) and likely National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, it’s essentially a 217-215 House until spring. Sounds manageable, eh? What could go wrong?

Dworkin also quoted Dave Wasserman:

Pretty amazing that the House (likely 220R-215D) would have flipped to Dems this year while the White House/Senate flipped to the GOP, had it not been for Rs winning a majority on the NC Supreme Court in 2022, allowing GOP legislators to redraw three Dem seats into oblivion.

In the comments Mike Luckovich has a cartoon of a Thanksgiving feast. At one end of the table they’re all wearing red and at the other they’re all wearing blue. The gap between is big enough that the father needs a megaphone to ask for the potatoes. A cartoon by Mickey Hodges shows a woman on the phone saying, “I’m making my Thanksgiving guest list. How did you vote?”