AND FOR YOUR THOUGHTS …
“They” are government bureaucrats bent on maintaining the status quo. “We” are the new media bent on exposing their corruption and hypocrisy. And a head-on collision between these two forces appears inevitable …
When will it happen? Who knows … but the head of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is issuing some pretty dire warnings for what the future of “media regulation” may hold.
“I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers,” FEC chairman Lee E. Goodman said in an interview with Paul Bedard of The Washington Times.
“The right has begun to break the left’s media monopoly, particularly through new media outlets like the internet, and I sense that some on the left are starting to rethink the breadth of the media exemption and internet communications,” Goodman continued.
He is absolutely right …
The left’s media monopoly – in which no government expenditure was bad and no bureaucratic cut was good – is falling apart due to the proliferation of the marketplace of ideas. The Internet – including websites like this one – has become a true thought equalizer, forcing the reflexively accommodating legacy media to do a better job of reporting the truth.
That dynamic scares the hell out of the establishment, because it’s helping advance what our founding editor has referred to as the “most dangerous realization in the world” – namely that “We The People are starting to figure things out.”
To counter this ongoing enlightenment, left-leaning leaders in Washington, D.C. are pushing all sorts of new regulations – including the extension of FEC disclosure requirements and other restrictions on the political speech of media outlets.
For starters, we have the recent calls for a return to the “Fairness Doctrine,” in which government forced news outlets to offer “equal time” to competing perspectives. In fact the “diversity officer” at Barack Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opined not long ago that “regional and national communications operations should be required to encourage and broadcast diverse views and programs.”
Huh?
More recently we have the FCC’s attempt to insert government monitors into media newsrooms – a plan which was thankfully scrapped in response to public outrage. Oh, and let’s not forget the fact the U.S. Justice Department is actively spying on journalists.
Goodman – whose term at the FEC is up in December – says he is especially concerned that the federal government will seek to frame its regulatory overreach in such a way as to disproportionately impact outlets that lean “conservative” in their reporting.
“The picking and choosing has started to occur,” he said.
Ah yes … gotta love the First Amendment freedom of the press we have here in the “Land of the Free.”
68 comments
The “left’s media monopoly?” What dimension are you passing gas in? Mainstream media is not now, nor has it ever been truly leftist. If that were the case we would see Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Thom Hartmann, and a host of others as talking heads.
The mainstream media is running full tilt boogie in support of plutocracy and the corporate fascist state.
Dude. The Howie Rich allegations are so 2007. Find a new bogeyman.
First time I ever heard you deny your connection to Howie. Did you two lovebirds have a spat?
But this article used the third person so it can’t be Sic Willie’s…..right?
Dude, I hate to keep taking up for Will on this Grand T thing, but there is no conspiracy with T, who has been trolling local message boards since the late 90s with the same style he currently uses. He used to attack Clemson, now he attacks Democrats. Unless Will has been playing a serious long game, it’s not him.
If he is using the Grand Tango/Big T persona on this site why is it not possible that he was cultivating it on other sites prior to starting Fitsnews? Lots of people comment under different monikers.
In my opinion, you are Tom Ervin or his wife?
You need to go back to the loony bin.
Yes, Will, and you need to stop beating your wife.
look, man… don’t pop the bubble… next you’ll be saying professional wrestling is real.
Sounds like somebody has been watching re-runs of that movie “Clueless” . . .
The “left’s media monopoly?” What dimension are you passing gas in?
The right wing uses this to essentially dismiss anything they find inconvenient. It’s standard practice to seal doors and windows when entering an echo chamber.
It’s a fact that the left has a monopoly on the media in US.
And we know that is true because the Fake News Network and Rush and Beck and Drudge say so.
The average age of Fox News viewers is 68. When the average age becomes 78 or so the only ads you will see are for Depends, enema bags, and burial plots.
MessNBC’s average viewer is also old, CNN has the youngest viewers of the three network news channels, if you consider 56 young. If you must know more young people are actually tuning in Fox News than they are tuning into CNN or MessNBC. Fox News shows consistently win in the important demographic,
…the clapper, and mint snuff.
The Jitterbug phone and the Hoverround.
Really?Right Wingers are always boasting how FoxNews is the most watched news network?So ,apparently,this Leftist “conspiracy to dominate the news media isnt succeeding.Right?
IF you were an honest person you would have acknowledged what I said in my post above i.e. Fox News is the oddball out on TV. ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC etc are all a part of the left wing propaganda machine.
If you pass gas in an echo chamber, you’ll never hear the end of it.
read an article last week that over 95% of so-called journalists identify themselves as Democrats…so much for Diversity…’member when dissent was patriotic? Yea, only when a R is on the Oval….
A survey by the Indiana University School of Journalism found that self-described Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of four to one, 28 percent to 7 percent. – http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2014/05/07/Journalist-Surveyed-Democrats-Outnumber-Republicans-4-to-1
So you are saying that 65% have report no affiliation and 7% say they are Republicans. From that you jump to the conclusion media is dominate by Democrats. What a joke you people are.
First you assume that the Democrats and Republicans will not do their job and will report all things on a biased basis. Again because the Fake News Network tells you so. Then you propose the 65% are both lying about their affiliation and also unwilling to do their job.
Just because you can’t see beyond your political biases does not mean everyone else is like you. Other people are capable of intelligent thought and analysis.
The conclusion of the very survey you cite was there are more independents in the media than Democrats and Republicans combined.
More talking points. The media is left wing.
Damn Right!
idiot.
As I pointed out earlier, it is the editors who determine what is published or broadcasted. They are very much status quo types.
Well of course that is a lie. Most likely by the Fake News Network, Rush, Beck, or Drudge.
“Journalists” or reporters do not determine what is published. That is the job of editors who, as any reporter will tell you, are overwhelmingly establishment, status-quo right wingers.
Visit NetRightDaily, Breitbart, The Blaze, Hot Air, Red State, Fox Nation, etc. and read the comments sections for a week. A vast amount of mainstream “conservative” media is just a honeypot for the stupids who were already party line voters. Sites where the commentary isn’t psychotic partisan drivel are few and far between.
The only thing that’s changed is that Rush’s dittoheads aren’t stuck with talk radio for their bullshit news, they now have their own cable news channel and a plethora of right wing websites to reinforce their alternate reality.
FOX news is a fish out of water on TV, which is chiefly left leaning, the major news papers are left leaning e.g. Times, NYT, Wash Post etc, Hollywood is left leaning for the most part, so much so that conservative stars have to hide their political affiliations, talk shows are also left leaning to a large degree e.g. Colbert, Letterman, Stewart, Ellen, etc. Conservatives only have an advantage on the radio.
Media is vastly liberal and you have no room to complain if you are lefty. Your anger at the anger at the fact that conservatives can have a voice sounds pathetic and preposterous in light of the fact that libs almost have an monopoly on the media.
The problem Jessie: liberals are like NAZI Germany. They want you silent….if not dead…
You say that in jest right ? This sounds like your Republican party, your way or no way. Republicans are the ones to supress, other than
Benghazi . What idiots you are.
Well I will give you this. Most of the network news programs try to report the facts, and most Republicans find the facts are biased against their side.
Of course being a lefty I expect you to think truth has a liberal bias. Truth is you don’t impress anyone with your typical lefty talking points.
There is political truth and there is truth. – James Coburn
Visit NetRightDaily, Breitbart, The Blaze, Hot Air, Red State, Fox Nation, etc.
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makes me feel like a GENIUS!!!
Quit faking like Obama would oppose you, FITS….
You have nothing to worry about FITS. The Obama Administration LOVES you. There is no chance of you being squelched or even audited, under Obama. You are his friend.
I agree, the terroist and bengahizi supporters of the bush murders should be investigated.
Most would agree that knowledge is power, certainly I do.
I’m not sure how effective innuendo, sexual titillation, and outright misrepresentations of fact is in the form of power, particularly that which might have a longer term store of value.
Power.
You are learning, Fits. Your best bet now is to hire a lobbyist so your company and point of view does not fall victim to establishment politics. Oh wait, if you vote out of office your established politicians maybe your new representative will hear your voice in D.C. or the statehouse. It is cheaper to donate money to elect a politician who will fight for your rights than hire a middleman lobbyist who will wine and dine an established politician who forgot your voice.
Elections matter most to educated Americans. The fight is right outside your door.
Thank you for your informative post. Interesting.
Heh. Sheppard Smith was just on FOX talking about how being a psychopath is a GOOD thing in modern society, because it will get you the things you want. Lack of empathy, lying, lack of remorse, all good things. Lie and take advantage of customers? Good business. No remorse over harming others? I got mine, who cares?
This is what is destroying modern society…. no more inclusive capitalism. We no longer value doing what is right unless it benefits us. Money is power, and the means is now justified by the ends. Doesn’t matter HOW you get money any more, as long as you HAVE it. Integrity and common decency are becoming nothing more than quaint ideas in our modern economy.
Pretty sure it’s been this way for as long as humans have walked the planet. We are a very self-interested species. It’s the way we are wired.
Don’t mess with the core tenet surrounding the “perfectibility of man”, without it, the progressives lose some of their proponents to reality.
They have to keep up this notion that those in gov’t suddenly sprout halo’s and wings once they’ve lied their way into office.
Heh. Sheppard Smith was just on FOX talking about how being a psychopath is a GOOD thing in modern society, because it will get you the things you want. Lack of empathy, lying, lack of remorse, all good things. Lie and take advantage of customers? Good business. No remorse over harming others? I got mine, who cares?
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The Republican ideal.
John Wayne Gacy for post-mortem 2016 GOP President!
Sociopaths don’t see anything wrong with predation – it’s getting caught they loathe.
The vast majority of Americans wish the government to leave the internet alone as is. Yet the R.I.A.A. M.P.A.A. A.S.C.A.P.and others have spent vast sums of corporate money to place their puppets and special interest persons into government office and even Federal and state judge positions all for the sole purpose of greed. These people should be barred from public office. The internet should be free to everyone and equally available to all without government or corporations attempt to control. Please help us get their greedy villain hands off the internet.These payoff’s to politicians like Lamar Smith and others has turned the entire republican contentment, and most Democrats, of the House Judiciary Committee into a haven of greedy corporate puppets. The entire nest should be cleaned out and the entire area sanitized.
Nuke the site from orbit – it’s the only way to be sure.
Why do Democrats HATE the First Amendment so much?
Because they can’t tolerate intolerance.
Fuckin’ a!
Ain’t recursion a bitch?
The tea party could self-destruct from the stack overflow.
One would hope, but liberals are still around, so don’t hold your breath.
No taxes means no government – no government is the communist utopia.
Don’t you mean anarchist utopia? Communism requires a central authority to evenly distribute resources, right?
Communism becomes fully realized when the distinction between classes is no longer possible and therefore the state, which has been used as an instrument of class dictatorship, no longer exists.
How does society reach the point of classlessness? Mustn’t there be a central authority evenly distributing resources? Or don’t I understand?
Communism, like Libertarianism, never discusses the end point – they just talk about it as a “natural” outcome.
You’ve failed twice to answer the question of whether or not communism requires central authority to bring about its intended benefits. And I can’t make sense of this ignorant comment. Libertarians often argue whether or not government will exist at the “end point” should their philosophy succeed. But they also understand that there is no end point- eternal vigilance is liberty’s price tag.
You’ve failed twice to answer the question of whether or not communism requires central authority to bring about its intended benefits.
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The state no longer exists – which means no central authority exists.
So how does society remain classless? Wouldn’t people who live on the beach or in the mountains be richer than those living in a desert or swamp? What if someone invents something great and doesn’t share with anyone else?
Depends on who you ask.. I asked libertarians how many golden gate bridges would need to be built to insure that the owner wouldn’t charge too much of a toll to cross it… I got a variety of answers, but they all seemed to be related to “cheaper alternatives would spring up automagically”
I read recently where John (Benedict Arnold) Kerry said : “the internet has made governing a lot harder.” LOL Now the libturds can’t get away with as much as they used to. Thank God for Fox News.