A part of the capitulation of Paramount and CBS to djt in return for FCC (Federal Communications Commission) approval of Paramount's merger with Skydance includes government censorship. There will be a censor make sure that CBS stops criticizing Trump and MAGA generally. ars Technica reports that Skydance told the FCC that all of the new company’s programming will embody "a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum."** FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a radical MAGA authoritarian, claims that the requirements were necessary to restore Americans' trust in mainstream media. This is in accord with MAGA's authoritarian lies that media is biased against Trump. Skydance will appoint an "ombudsman" for two years to ensure that CBS's reporting "will be fair, unbiased, and fact-based."
** The ideological spectrum that djt, Carr and MAGA elites demand get disseminated is acceptance by the American people of radical right dictatorship, deep corruption of government and belief in MAGA's endless lies, slanders, crackpot conspiracies and the like.
The government imposing a censor to block political criticism is unprecedented. MAGA elites are now censoring news and entertainment outlets to quash media criticism of Trump's dictatorship and MAGA's kleptocratic authoritarianism. MAGA control of newsroom decisions and editorial judgment directly violates First Amendment press and free speech protections. In the 1940's FDR established the Office of Censorship after Pearl Harbor. It had broad authority to censor communications and media as needed for national security. Newspapers, radio, and film studios followed government-established guidelines to prevent publishing sensitive military information and other content deemed dangerous or damaging to the war effort. That censorship was for necessary national security. But this censorship is moral rot in the name of completely unjustifiable kleptocratic dictatorship.
The deal also censors any DEI presence after the merger. ars Technica writes:
[The sole Democratic commissioner Anna] Gomez further criticized the FCC for overstepping its authority in "intervening in employment matters reserved for other government entities with proper jurisdiction on these issues" by requiring Skydance commitments to not establish any DEI programs, which Carr derided as "invidious." But Gomez countered that "this agency is undermining legitimate efforts to combat discrimination and expand opportunity" by meddling in private companies' employment decisions.
In addition to gutting CBS's 60 Minutes program, which MAGA falsely claims to be based on bias and lies, Gizmodo reports:
Carr went on to explain that CBS had committed to “ending invidious forms of DEI,” a pretext Trump has used to purge the federal government of anyone who isn’t white and male in leadership positions.
“One of the things they’re going to have to do is put in an ombudsman in place for two years,” Carr said. “So basically a bias monitor that will report directly to the president. So that’s something that’s significant that we’re going to see happening as well.”
A censor who reports directly to djt. If Biden, Obama or any other Democratic president ever tried to do anything remotely close to this, MAGA would be screaming bloody murder about tyrannical socialist/communist violations of free speech and press freedom. But when MAGA violates the constitution as a means to its own ends, it's just fine.
This is another serious wound to democracy. MAGA authoritarians are now targeting neutering news and entertainment media. The obvious goal is to crush legitimate, fact- and reason-based political criticism and replace it with djt's and MAGA's authoritarian demagoguery, lies, slanders and crackpottery, and anti-inconvenient science and history messaging and tactics.
We are in very, very serious trouble.
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