Americans face a crisis that strikes at the very heart of democracy - we can no longer count on the mainstream/legacy media for accuracy and bi-partisan reporting.
As a newspaper editor and publisher, I always strived to give unbiased news stories for my readers. I didn't print conspiracy theories to gain readership. I didn't bow to pressures by local political candidates to give them a free sounding board at the expensive of the newspaper's reputation.
My Opinion Pages were clearly marked with mastheads. When a reader turned to one of them, they knew it wasn't news... it was people's opinions, or it was my opinion. There was never any doubt. I did not advocate for either political party and treated both parties with the same respect.
It's hard to fully express my disappointment with the mainstream/legacy media's lack of coverage this Labor Day. There were anti-Trump protests from coast-to-coast but if you went to ABC, NBC, or CBS, to see coverage of the nationwide protest against Billionaires you had to wait until all the events were over and then watch them on evening news for a scattershot coverage of the holiday protests.
Why the big sellout? The answer is a sad reflection of where we are as a country. Six companies control 90% of the media (any medium that controls the distribution of information) in America. They are Disney, TimeWarner, Comcast, News Corps, Sony, and National Amusements.
The conservative CEOs of these companies want to keep Trump happy because they're afraid of him. He basically sued them into submission. Look at what happened to popular comedian Stephen Colbert when Trump wanted him gone. He held up a major merger between Comcast and Paramount until he was assured Colbert would be canceled. That's one tiny example of what's happening behind closed doors as billionaire CEOs capitulate to Trump's agenda.
Do you suppose there's any correlation between those timid CEOs and lack of comprehensive coverage of the Labor Day protest? It's not hard to see where Trump would want zero coverage regarding him or his corrupt administration. You decide, based upon the evidence.
It wouldn't do to forget cable news outlets. The competition between CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Newsmax, and Forbes is fierce with each outlet trying to post clickbait that may or may not be dubious or accurate. I should mention BBC, Reuters, and the Associated Press have a better history of accuracy than the other cable platforms.
It was George Washington who said, "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
James Madison noted that a free press provides the "power which knowledge gives" to people to govern themselves.
As it Stands, freedom of the press is more than just a passion for me, it's one of the cornerstones of this society.
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