Essay by Eric Worrall
Prime Minister Trudeau’s follow up to distressing media images of police horses trampling old ladies appears to be a Communist Chinese style social credit system for news reporters, presumably to discourage publication of stories which embarrass the government.
Of course, Trudeau is not alone in doing this. Biden has also raised the introduction of incentives which provide government assistance to media outlets which produce content which his regulators approve.
Biden’s tax breaks for local media an effort to turn them into ‘versions of leftist NPR or PBS,’ critic says
Published November 15
The tax break allows eligible local media organizations to take a credit of up to $25,000 per journalist they employ
President Biden is proposing to give a major tax break to local media outlets as part of the $1.85 trillion reconciliation being considered by Congress.
The tax break would allow eligible local media organizations, including newspapers, digital news websites and television stations to receive a tax credit of $25,000 per journalist they employ, and $15,000 for the following four years. The tax break can be claimed for up to 1,500 journalists.
…
Read more: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-media-tax-breaks
In my opinion a funded social credit system for journalists is a dangerous attack on free speech and independent journalism, a consolidation of the preeminence of the government point of view on mass media, just a short step from outright government ownership of media outlets – defacto control without explicitly restricting free speech.
Obviously this unfortunate development is not directly related to climate change. But I wonder how many media outlets which play the game and accept the subsidies would risk their government handouts by giving airtime to climate skeptics, or to anyone who has a story to tell which politicians would not like? Paying someone’s mortgage is a powerful incentive to toe the line, to the detriment of everyone other than the political sponsors of these reprehensible media control schemes.
Sliding down the slippery slope.
Interesting take from Sundance as the toboggan may have been sliding down the hill a lot
longer than we realized. Not saying it did but it may have! (Nothing up my sleeve. Presto!
Chango!)
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/17/jacks-magic-coffee-shop/
Agreed. Less like sliding downhill, more like throwing yourself headfirst downslope with hands open to grab the free handout. Didn’t we used to criticise the state-run media of those oppressive societies, secure in the knowledge that such a thing could never happen in our ‘free’ democracies?
W O W…
The only thing missing from that lead in a picture of Turdeau is the little boxy mustache of Uncle Adolph…TWINS
Either that or a nice full beard like his dad Fidel.
Everyone should know that Justin learns fascism at his father’s knee. To much criticism, his father invoked the then War Power Act in 1970. The main critics were the NDP (democratic socialists) and Social Credit. They are generally adjudged to be correct.
The leader of the Social Credit party was always complaining about Pierre Trudeau wearing an Iron Cross in ’40’s.
Meanwhile, in the France’s presidential election the EU is pulling all stops to scupper Le Pen’s bid
Marine Le Pen’s aides cry foul as EU accuses French election hopeful of embezzlementMarine Le Pen’s team has accused the European Union of “coming to the aid” of Emmanuel Macron.
National Rally said that the claims were designed to damage Ms Le Pen as she prepares to face Mr Macron in the second round of the presidential elections.
Each time she is a candidate, there is a stink ball a few days before before the election. It usually comes from elsewhere in the European Union in one way or another.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/17/marine-le-pen-french-election-eu-embezzlement-claims-anti-fraud/
Reviving an old story, just to remind younger voters in case they were not aware of it.
One wonders if, given that the French public are much less in love with the EU than in recent times, this might backfire and increase votes for Le Pen.
That slope is looking awful close to 90 degrees…
…with JATO packs engaged.
It isn’t some ‘slippery slope’. It’s been a plan for a long time. Only now are people such as Trudeau showing their true colours.
They head off to ‘International conferences’ and agree to get rid of those that they consider ‘useless’. Like those people that remove their waste and those that clean their sewers.
Hey, let’s have a culture where we take ‘the brightest and the best’ to Mars having forgotten that someone might need to clean the sewers or actually build something.
These people are not just dangerous.
Attack their BS version of ‘the future’ and they shut off your money supply, making you homeless and destitute.
Couldn’t believe that Canada and ‘black face’ jumped first.
Yep.
I don’t believe we’re living in “1984” yet…but it certainly seems like the prequel, doesn’t it?
I mean…all that stuff had to start somewhere, sometime, right?
Google is already Big Brother.
ThIs has all the drawbacks of State funded religion, or State funded political campaigns. Who constitutes a “journalist”? Print newspapers? Broadcast TV or radio? Internet only magazines or websites?
Should MSNBC be funded? Fox? The Epoch Times? Infowars? CounterPunch?
It’s not all that tricky to administer The key is limiting the benefit to professional journalists hired by local news media organizations. This proposal excludes non-local major media so it avoids the propaganda on social media websites and major media networks whether it is MSNBC or Fox News Channel..
Please define:
“professional journalists”;
“local news media organizations”.
The way the former Soviet Union used to manage it was to have a Writers Union. You were not a member of it, you didn’t get published. You wrote the wrong things, you got expelled.
This then led to underground publishing, so-called Samizdat – if you like, it was the Streisand Effect but in a different context.
Since Samizdat required you to make copies on paper, there then had to be elaborate controls and licensing procedures for copying machines….
The way its being approached in the West is a lot more subtle. Just hand it over to Facebook and Twitter and Google…
It’s stupid to compare the practice of journalism in the US and most free nations with the Soviet Union.
Thanks for grossly overstating and propagandizing a discussion.
Thanks for grossly missing the potentially alarming congruency of the two situations and the likely consequences to the US.
You claim that it is wrong to compare the US and the Soviet Union, yet time and again, you support programs designed to turn the US into the Soviet Union.
They are not at all the same, of course. Not even close. I did not say that and did not mean to imply it.
I meant to say something quite different. The way censorship worked in the former Soviet Union was by controlling publication. Publication was partly controlled by the fact that the only printers and publishers were state organs.
But it was also controlled by the use of the Writers Union.
Now, when we look at the US or other Western countries, we see something quite different. There are a huge number of publishers, anyone can post whatever they want on the Internet, anyone can call a meeting and address anyone who comes to it, and there is no Writers Union or licensing procedure to become a journalist.
Nevertheless, there are disturbing similarities of the end reached, though its reached by a quite different route.
The question is about reach. There is a consensus about what is or is not fake news, or damaging posting. There are three or four organizations, Google, Twitter, Facebook among them, who have a common view of what should and should not be allowed. They are not the only social media platforms, but they form an oligopoly, and to be banned from them means its almost impossible to generate a readership. On the other hand, to be featured on them guarantees access to readers, guarantees one will be suggested as reading material.
There isn’t a Writers Union. But there is a situation where if one publishes the wrong kind of opinions one’s employment and livelihood may be threatened. Take the case of Maya Forstater in the UK, as an example. Employment terminated by her employer because, on her own time and her own blog, she posted opinions on sex and gender which contradict the liberal orthodoxy. There have been lots of other similar cases in which the expression of the wrong opinions has not only been banned and prevented, but has led to other forms of social shunning and exclusion.
We in the West, or at least in the Anglo Saxon part of it, are increasingly adopting an approach which bans certain opinions from publication. Not by central government fiat, or by an Index. But by distributed action both of the media industry and other employers. You can, unlike in the former Soviet Union, still publish. No-one is licensing and regulating copying machines or computers.
Though they are in some countries, particularly the UK, talking about seriously restricting and regulating what may be published on the Internet. And in the UK there have been cases where the police have investigated and cautioned on perfectly legal speech which was thought to be offensive.
But, as in the Soviet regime, you may pay a high price for publication. Not one set by the state, one set by distributed action of private interests. But you will still pay it.
With this as background, perhaps you can see why the proposals in the head posting make people uneasy. They seem to be a tiptoe towards licensed status for journalists, which would be something that would permit use in the same way the Writers Union was used.
You don’t have to think the US and the Soviet Union are comparable. And I do not. But its still reasonable to be worried about small steps which influential people in the US propose, which seem to be inching towards aspects of the Soviet system. Free speech really seems to hurt and offend some people, and they are very ingenious in finding new ways to abridge it. But the destination is always the same.
There are three or four organizations, Google, Twitter, Facebook among them, who have a common view of what should and should not be allowed.
And there is at least a little evidence suggesting they may be coordinating that with government officials.
There used to be a word for that…
Fascism?
And IBM used to be the leader in computers … I think Shakespeare put it well: They are but a player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.
They may currently be in the limelight … but the booing is already deafening.
There may not be a writers union but the MSM has established a “Trusted News Initiative” which now controls what is printed or broadcast. Note the nearly 100% absence of real treatments for Covid using real drugs that work, I.e. Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine.
Easy peasy – professional journalists are people who work full time as a paid journalist, whether employed by a particular publication, news service (like AP or Reuters) or free lance. Most have a professional degree in journalism, and have been issued media credentials by various accrediting organizations.
Why is that even a question?
None of them are actual journalists, they are propaganda producers and regurgitators of government handouts or Twitter twat
Of course, this means Hunter S. Thompson was NOT a journalist and would not have been recognized by Canada or, more importantly, Duane if he were to dare try to pass himself off as one today. Yikes! I only just realized what a fraud Thompson was!
“professional journalists are people who work full time as a paid journalist”
Self-referential and therefore meaningless.
Are you high?
It was a two-parter. You only responded to one part.
So, to be a professional journalist … a person has to work full time, or be paid full time. Do the editors qualify for the subsidy? Do part time editors qualify for the subsidy?
The first question was asked in context to the subsidy qualification and your assertion that it would be easy to administer. You haven’t come close to responding to the first question.
The second question is what is a “local news media organization”?
(I guess I now understand why you think it would be easy to administer a journalist subsidy program … you would look at the first part of a situation (application, paperwork, etc.) and let your imagination take care of the rest. Is that you Joe?)
Ah yes, the old “accrediting organizations”. IE, the government gets to decide who is a journalist and who isn’t. No wonder comrade Duane likes the idea so much.
Rebel News in Canada has been disqualified because the feds say they don’t do news, which is patently untrue. They are simply very strong opponents of Trudeau and most of the mainstream media.
There are more than 7000 freelance journalists in Canada and under your definition most would fail one or other clause.
So…. work full time… or free lance.
There we have it, Duane is supporting the claim that many youtube content creators would be part of this programme.
Except, Craig, that they would not be admitted to the self-administered ‘organisation’ which meets the ‘governments’ criteria / propaganda policy.
Back on meds dude.
<blockquote>Please define:
“professional journalists”;
“local news media organizations”.</blockquote>
It would seem that they are just what you expected.
Two levels, “CNN” and those that didn’t pass the course but want to help out.
You honestly have no problem with the idea of the government getting to decide who qualifies as a journalist and who doesn’t.
No wonder you are so willing to embarrass yourself in your support of Biden.
Would it include the neighborhood news letter with one full time worker? What about the NYT, WaPo, and WSJ? Are they local or national? And in your wildest dreams do you think they would protest this legislation if it were bad for the country, or defend it tooth and toenail regardless of any consequence other than their bonus?
“Who constitutes a “journalist”? ”
Anybody who supports the leftist government.
Anyone who prints what Duane believes people should be allowed to see.
Where is the flaw in Canadian Law or its Constitution which allows this to happen? A most serious development.
With gangsters running a country, a constitution can be interpreted any way they want to. They have
the power to silence anyone who disagrees with them. Capice? I thought you’d see it my way!!! 😮 😉
In Canada, rights come from government. In the US, our rights existed before the government was created. The role of the US government is to protect and ensure our natural rights.
So, we have the Supreme Court of the United States rule against Biden. Biden chooses to ignore the SCOTUS and encourage states to ignore it. Now what? Impeachment and trial is the only option. With Democrats in control, that is impossible. What are the options when the President of the United States and the House and Senate of the United States fail to uphold their oaths to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same …”. Both have failed miserably. NOW what?
“NOW what?”
Perhaps this: “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
If Biden chooses to ignore The SCOTUS he will be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate by this time next year. Checks and balances are an integral part of our system of government. The will of the people is the ultimate check and balance, and I suspect they will speak loudly and clearly this November.
Didn’t happen to Andrew Jackson when he implemented the trail of tears policy of the stay put in place by the court.
You have a lot more faith in the Republicans actually doing anything than I do, Jtom.
This will likely be remedied following the mid-terms 🙂
So you think the mid-terms will be real elections?
If rights come from the government, they’re not rights. They’re privileges.
Privileges can be taken away. Rights cannot be taken away; though they may be trampled upon.
Rights as understood in the US accrue to Canadians as well (and all other humans). It’s just that the Canadian government does not acknowledge them.
Supposedly so, before the 14th amendment.
Trudeau is pushing it. Until it is challenged as a Human rights issue or a violation of the constitution he will get away with it. The he has the lap dogs NDP to support him.
The hitch in the idea of a tax credit is that it is a credit against taxes–the tax liability, taxes owed or paid. Most local media is running on a shoestring, barely making any profits, much less paying taxes. Their bailiwick is high school sports and local feature stories. Carrying stories produced by regime media consists of wire reports. It’s not as if these “Green Valley Daily Express” type outlets have a White House reporter…
On the other hand, the trick is that once the Washington handouts start they become a special interest voting constituency always advocating for their slice of the pie.
If the governments ban misinformation, Trudeau and Biden will be legally banned from ever speaking again.
That totally depends on who writes the criteria.
Problem is, they ARE the Gubmint! True-Dope & LGB get to fact check what’s misinformation!!!
Remember the Canadian truckers? 😮 😉
We will never forget what was done to the truckers and all of the people who were behind them in full support. Justice must be served. This story is not over.
When you have Truckers – freedom protests in France, Canada, USA and a host of other countries around the world
https://www.newsweek.com/freedom-convoy-spreads-across-world-1678324
it’s time to hear what they have to say. The huge Trucker protest in Canada actually led to the Ontario (in which 40% of Canadians live) gov removing all Covid restrictions. In France the gov backed down on fuel taxation hikes. In Chile, with protesting huge cost of living increases gov actually resigned. BoJo abandoned a plan to outlaw water boiler heaters…..It seems good hardworking people get the bumsrush, and violent burning, looting, sicko empty heads, body gluers, pipeline vandals are coddled, “having there summer of love” according to the governor of WA describing firebombing and looting of businesses in Seattle.
If the people knew what is in the “experimental gene therapy” injections, that Convoy would have been many times larger.
Not when they are also the “fact checkers.”
And we know full well that those who have appointed themselves fact checkers are nearly 100% aligned politically and philosophically with these ruling class elitists.
That depends on who’s determining what constitutes misinformation. One man’s misinformation is another man’s truth. It has been clearly shown over the last two years or so that what has been banned as misinformation has turned out to be absolute truth.
No, because they get to define “misinformation”.
And we’ve already seen their definition; it’s “information that contradicts the government’s lies”.
But I wonder how many media outlets which play the game and accept the subsidies would risk their government handouts by giving airtime to climate skeptics…
______________________________________________________________
Not the government, but there’s this:
Covering Climate Now
Ten Best Practices
10. For God’s sake, do not platform climate denialists.
Here’s a LINK to the the Canadian government webpage from June 2021.
Yup. Journalism in Canada is now Propaganda. Has been for some time. Most Canadians think that the Freedom Truckers were just a small group of racist nazis who were a threat to (ironically) freedom.
I don’t know if there is a way out of this, other than flight.
Actually, they are still harassing Canadian truckers il(legally).
flight
Where would you go, Timo? If the US falls, no free place of refuge will be left.
Texas?
(If the US fails, Texas will likely still be Texas)
Nationalised Journalism? Will there be a government department tasked with employing them?
In Canada, it’s called the CBC
Interestingly, the CBC receives $1 billion a year of taxpayers money, even though it is supposed be generating its own revenue through advertising, content sales, polling etc etc.
You know, the kinds of activities any proper media enterprise is supposed to do in order to sustain itself.
The CBC fails miserably at generating revenue for itself every year. It banks a pittance from advertising.
Faced with the choices of feeding themselves and being independent, or dancing to the Liberal government’s tune and trousering a lazy $bill, no prize for guessing what the CBC “journalists” do?
Hang on a minute.
It says the money can be given to local media organisations including “digital news web sites.”
Does that include WUWT? It is certainly a digital news web site.
And it says the tax credit of $25,000 per journalist can be used for up to 1,500 journalists.
So is everyone who posts here a journalist? After all, over here a charity I am involved with uses volunteers who provide their services free but their activities are still governed by employment law.
Anthony, Charles, you need to look into this.
You don’t call yourself the “Oldseadog” for nothin’. You deliver the goods! 😉
I would say yes. Anthony and Charles should apply and if they are rejected, bring it up to the Supreme Court. The government is actually in a bit of bind here because the government cannot define who is and is not a journalist. Any person with a notepad and a pen is technically a journalist.
“bring it up to the Supreme Court.”
Good Lord.
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The finest words ever written. By anyone, anywhere. The document continues.
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”
Says it all. For our international audience, this is the US Declaration of Independence.
The one Founding Document of the United States.
We now have a newly minted Supreme Court justice who, in testimony, stated that she “has no opinion in Natural Rights”. Like she had never heard of it. Also, she is so steeped in radical politics and ideology that she would not define what a “woman” is.
Claimed she did not know, explained “not a biologist”.
Do not hope the US Supreme Court will guarantee and backstop your rights. I am afraid those days are over.
In many minds, the second amendment is beginning to have real meaning.
Since she’s not a journalist, she’ll have to recuse herself cuz she won’t know what
“media organizations” are! 😉
“has no opinion in Natural Rights”. Like she had never heard of it.”
That view alone immediately disqualifies K. B. Jackson from ever serving on the Supreme Court or in any US court.
Yes it did. Absolutely.
They did not care.
Rebel News in Canada is currently suing the Trudeau government over its baseless refusal to accredit Rebel News reporters.
Which means that RN reporters can’t attend government press conferences and the like.
As is often the case, governments of the Trudeau ilk use drawn out, obfuscating bureaucratic processes to repress any entities they deem a threat to control of a narrative.
I think that makes it so very clear why governments need to enshrine fundamental rights in their founding documents. Canada– like many nations without freedom of speech rights– is a nation that has thrived with a peaceful citizenry for a long time but as soon as an event as (overly) dramatic as the non-pandemic pandemic happened, the Canadian bureaucrats took advantage of that plunging gap in citizens rights to beat all the citizens into submission. Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and many other places continue to experience said cudgeling to this day. It won’t change until the citizens stand up and demand it.
Yeah, but the gov is changing that. You may be ordered to get accredited at the Columbia U School of Propagandism
I was under the impression that the origins of the printed press comes from the ‘Pamphleteers’.
People who wanted to spread ‘a message’ would print out pamphlets and hand them out. None of this was regulated and in most cases the ‘information’ being spread was somewhat critical of the official government positions.
So if we regard these people as the origin point for what evolved into the more formal print media and later radio and television, then Pamphleteers are the purist form of ‘journalism’.
So rather than snobbery and/or outright hostility towards the nu media types who spread ‘information’ via non regulated methods, the MSM should be looking up to these people.
Probably.
So, if you have ever run a blog or published a newsletter, apply for the grant!!
Just as the Supreme Court cannot define who is a woman?
This is as dangerous as anything we have seen.
Commies never quit. They only seek more.
Trudeau is a slime-ball. He has always harassed independent media especially Rebel News.
There is no chance that independent media will be silenced in the USA. This is stupid paranoid hyperbole.
Now define ‘independent.’ I think most media that don’t follow the herd are being sidelined, ignored and ridiculed – it’s only a matter of time before it becomes ‘cancelled’ and ‘silenced.’
We get it … the majority of rightwingnut WUWT commenters are diehard Fox Newsians, or else those who believe Fox News is ultra left wing compared to their troglodytian beliefs.
The independent media have always functioned in the US since before the Revolutionary War, being protected extremely effectively by the First Amendment to our Constitution since 1787.
You don’t like what the independent media publishes, so you denigrate them and make all the other foolish comments in this thread in a useless attempt to discredit one of the key features of our long lasting democracy.
Actually it’s more like the other way round – I’m 100% for full, impartial and objective coverage of whatever stories the media wishes to cover, as long as I have the choice of what to read and what to ignore. These days It’s getting harder and harder to find stories outside the common narrative and most stories are neither full, nor impartial and completely lacking in objectivity. Now go back and read what I’ve said, Dufus, not what you fancifully imagine I said.
A truly mindless comment, Duane. Right up to your usual standard.
I can remember a time when Duane swore that he voted for Trump, both times.
As time goes on, his hard left nature and hatred of those who don’t worship the government as the source of all good things comes to the fore.
Gee Duane, much more of this artless blinkered drivel and your biography is laid bare. The First Amendment was written by very intelligent, freedom-loving people who knew that there were a lot of guys like you around. After proudly enshrining this important amendment so glowingly, you then jump all over Fox news because it’s right wing (much of the time)! Its viewership is the largest in the USA.
Man I don’t know how to characterize that disconnect. But you are a poster boy for why news organizations needed constitutional protection. Also, I dont think you’ve understood at all what is meant by the independent news outlets here. Fox, CNN, CBS, …the big corporate Channel news companies (also big newspapers) get a lot of their news from big corporate news feeds. Independents tend to be small, scrappy and they search out and analyze their own news and have guests who’s views aren’t often sought out by the big orgs on subjects and angles avoided by the big news.
When you think “Fox”, be aware there are two Fox channels. IMHO the best real news program is the “Evening Edit“, and the best political/economic program is “Kudlow”.
Both on Fox Business, not ordinary Fox. Your cable company probably wants to hide this from you. My local Cox programming has Fox at #37, and Fox Business at #79, Kudlow is on at 1pm West Coast time, Evening Edit 3pm West Coast time. Set your DVRs for a week, and be amazed at what you have been missing. !
Forgot to mention, Newsmax, way down at #81 on my local Cox programming. While having it’s heart in the right place, has commentators who are not quite ready for prime time.
But it has every Trump rally in it’s entirety. Usually most Saturday afternoons or evenings, depending on where it takes place. Maybe only listed a few days ahead on your DVR, since they seem to be organized at the last minute. Be sure to set your DVR for at least an additional 30 minutes, since they tend to start late and run over. 🙂
Yes, you already know almost everything DJT is going to say at a rally, but it’s still the ‘best pick me up’ on TV. You, my friends, are not alone.
step 1: get thrown off social media sites
And I thought that a USA national election could never be outright rigged, which is 100% proven fact just with the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop two weeks before the 2020 election, and the illegal changing of election laws due to ‘Covid’, and then the outright election cheating by Democrats like stuffing ballot boxes, As Seen On Live TV.
Right wingnut you are … totally divorced from any and all reality, being the typical Trumpian True Believer that you are. Did you riot in Washington on January 6 and somehow escape the prosecution?
And Happy Easter Monday to you as well!
Russia Colluuuusion 😉
And Duane continues to reveal himself for the hard left totalitarian he has always been.
Where have you been MarkW?
Wel if the BLM (buy large mansions) events where buildings are set on fire were “mostly peaceful protests”, then Jan 6 was a happy hour party.
I’ll let you bet your life on your being right. I won’t bet mine– there are no do-overs!!! 😮 😉
You (Don Jindra) and 9 others give me $100. I’ll use it for your 1st amendment rights protection. I will give all of the $1000 back … I won’t keep any of it for admin.
I’ll give you $1 as a subsidy for your internet as a communications incentive. I’ll give the other 9 people $111 subsidy for their internet.
sound fair? Don’t trust me now?
O.K. I’ll step out of the picture and let govt admin the program. They need to net 15% for admin. Now you get $0.85; everyone else gets $94.35; and the govt guy gets $150.
(There is no chance that you will be bankrupted or silences as a result of my plan … please don’t respond with any stupid paranoid comments)
The goal is not to silence … the goal is to create a tool that can be used to overwhelm the opposition.
“There is no chance that independent media will be silenced in the USA.”
Until it is.
“This is stupid paranoid hyperbole.”
Until it’s not.
If you really believe what you said, I suggest you have been living in a cave for the last few years.
Are you high?
Tell that to anyone who has been silenced by Twitter/Facebook/AWS etc.
If you think that subsidizing only those who say what the government wants to hear is not an attempt to silence those who don’t cooperate with government, then you haven’t been paying attention.
Don: The (lefty) Gov can rely on corporate platforms like FB YouTube, twitter to muzzle dissent for them. Where have you been the last several years? Clearly your media hasnt been silenced, but you should be outraged anyway. What would you guess the reason would be for silencing non-left independent media. Before you answer, consider what harm, say, would be done by being offered a different opinion, or even the opinion of a moron?
A competitive news industry improves governance. Governments are forced to police themselves and their dealings if they are being watched from all angles.
Sure, until it is you being marched off to the Gulag. Then it becomes real very fast.
Nothing really surprising or new about government censorship. Back in 1934, the FCC, one of St. FDR’s shiny new toys, reduced the term of a radio license from 3 years to 6 months. Editorial content at the networks quickly fell into line with the administration’s.
“Of course, Trudeau is not alone in doing this. Biden has also raised the introduction of incentives which provide government assistance to media outlets which produce content which his regulators approve.
………
………
The tax break would allow eligible local media organizations, including newspapers, digital news websites and television stations to receive a tax credit of $25,000 per journalist they employ, and $15,000 for the following four years. The tax break can be claimed for up to 1,500 journalists.”
***********
As I have said before, I have no legal or constitutional background or expertise. I however cannot help but wonder if all of this could be something that can be constitutionally challenged. If the U.S. Constitution guarantees a free press, are the tax breaks not a means to assert some degree of control or influence over the mass media?
What exactly would happen to an outlet’s qualification for the tax break if they publish or broadcast one or more news stories that are critical of Biden and his administration on the issues? One might see this as a form of bribery that provides incentives for the MSM to toe the administration’s party line on the issues, true?
In California, I read where legislation is (or was) being proposed to strip a licensed doctor of his/her license to practice if he/she does not toe the “required” party line on medical issues like the coronavirus and the vaccines for it. If that is not an attack on free speech, then nothing is. Such a proposal demonstrates an extraordinarily high degree of arrogance and egotism.
I say again folks: There is a real world Orwellian Big Brother out there. Between what govt is doing and the silencing of dissent on social media like Twitter and Facebook, we are starting to see an America which my generation (the baby boomers) never thought would be coming forty or fifty years ago.
The need for control of free speech and the mass media is certainly a requisite for keeping the climate alarmist narrative alive, among other things. It is also the only way to sell the masses wind and solar energy as a viable commercial alternative to fossil fuels despite the former’s shortcomings.
Thought control is one of the most important tools for political power (just ask Putin), and the warnings George Orwell left behind for us are a stark reminder of that Loss of that control is very upsetting to those who crave it. Can the Thought Police be far behind?
A basic principal under US law is that any person (real or corporate) that accept monies from the federal government is bound by whatever conditions those monies are paid under. The details of any tax credit matter.
In the UK, the Misleadia version of the truth is force-fed to the plebs.
Putin styled his media laws based on the BBC’s coverage
Forgetting of course that the BBC was only ever supposed to be one outlet of many – not the template for all media.
As I mentioned above, MD’s in the Marxist People’s Socialist Revolutionary Republic of California might be required to toe the State’s party line on all medical issues in the future if legislation working its way through the legislature in Sacramento becomes law….
https://www.anklefootmd.com/doctors-could-lose-their-license-for-not-thinking-the-same-way-as-politicians/
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“Born out of the pandemic, California Assembly Bill 2098 proposes that physicians who deviate from an authorized set of beliefs would do so at the risk of losing their medical license. In the age of disinformation and fake news, we can at least understand where the base of this bill was formed.”
“However, if the COVID-19 pandemic, and the history of medicine itself has taught us anything, it’s that best practices are always being improved, and more often than not, that only happens when someone dares to think outside the box or challenge the current standard with a fresh set of ideas. That’s how medical innovation occurs.”
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I certainly agree that ensuring the right medical advice is received by the populace during a pandemic. However, as the second paragraph above states, there are things that can be learned coming out of any pandemic. These things may only be learned if the official party line of the state is challenged.
I see an extraordinary amount of arrogance and ignorance standing behind that legislation.
Whoops. Intended this comment to be in reply to my own comment above.
Thank you for sharing that, CD. I went to the actual text of the law and it’s just as chilling as it’s made out to be in that article.
Here in the US with all the Kings horses and all the Kings men (media, academics, big business, entertainment, Wall Street, and academia) they cannot convince the people that Brandon does not suck!
This from CNN of all sources: Nolte: CNN Admits Joe Biden’s Approval Rating Worst in Elected History (breitbart.com)
Now subtract the 6-7 points from Brandon’s score for the normal bias.
Can’t help but notice that with the mid-terms approaching Brandon is not out on the stump with the democrat candidates despite the fact that they are likely to loose the house by large numbers and probably will lose the Senate?
Set aside the fact that he would probably forget the state he is in and the name of the candidate he is campaigning for and be sniffing the hair of the girl child of the candidate, the simple fact is the guy is total poison.
And based on what this truck driver is experiencing it is only going to get worse because it sure is looking like the forecasted economic downturn is here!
I depart at 03:00 tomorrow morning to do that KC run I described earlier on the Electric vr, hydrogen truck thread. But this time they have no back haul set up because they haven’t found one yet. My buddy is at Toyota there right now and as I write this is parking his truck because they had no back haul and he has to wait.
This is not normal at all! We have always gotten good back hauls to return from that run.
First, that “Big Oil” payment has never materialized. Now, a grant I will never get.
It’s understandable that there is a desire to make up for the horrible economics today of journalism, and that in fact such a desire is grounded in an effort to promote a free press. Just as the government promotes subsidies of a great many other professions thought to be in short supply, including public school teachers, doctors, STEM graduates, aircraft pilots (see – GI Bill benefits), and to college and trade school students in general (GI Bill, subsidized college student loans, etc. etc.).
This is a slope that is no slipperier than any other that involves government expenditures, libertarianism notwithstanding. And it can certainly be argued quite successfully that professional journalism provides a net benefit to the republic given the extreme importance of a viable free press, even if you don’t like what the press is reporting. If we are only left with social media, owned mostly by massive media companies as the only source of the nation’s news, then nobody will ever have access to anything but propaganda and bullshit, and the electorate will indeed be bereft of some kind of factual basis on which to judge the performance of our government.
This particular subsidy is aimed solely at local news organizations, not the major media.
The key is what is written in the eligibility criteria. If there is any hint that the proposed benefits are in any way shaded towards content, or shaded towards publishing companies that are pro-government, then not only is that improper but it would easily and quickly be struct down by our Federal courts system up to and including SCOTUS.
Biden is just following Trudeau’s playbook.
They will find a way to worm their way into newsrooms by hook or crook using taxpayer $$$$$s.
What do you think Covid payments for “advertising” of the gene therapy shot was for?
Journalism is not a business and government destroys every “profession” it subsidizes. If you are any sort of “professional” who can survive and thrive unless government gives you money you deserve to be out of business. That goes double for “journalists”. And any “journalist” taking money from a government is nothing more than a propagandist.
Bullshit on all of what you wrote
Yes, your bullshit is quite easily seen.
Take a two week holiday Duane…maybe you will be cheerier when you return.
I see Duane has completely given up trying to actually defend that nonsense that he rights.
Of course he was never any good at in the first place, so I can see why he quit.
Duane is a troll… he hated Trump so much he couldn’t see the signs that Dimensia Joe was showing. Therefore, it stands to reason that Duane is a crap journalist just like most who will be eligible to recieve this tax break. This is simply a tax break for the rich and powerfully connected who tow the [dem] party line on a myriad of subjects – from baby killing to child grooming to human-caused CO2 climate crap to the covid bioweapon is the best thing since sliced bread lies… tow the line, get rewarded… don’t tow the line, get canceled… this is the extent of journalism nowadays with rare exceptions.
You are just ignorant.
Government departments are the largest employers these days of “journalism” graduates.
What do these “journalists” write?
Nothing but puff-pieces and outright propaganda as directed for the ministries that pay their rent.
And who are the main recipients of the ministries’ “journalism” content?
Why mainstream media flacks of course.
(Why work for content when you can get it handed to you on a plate for free?)
Government pays for propaganda and that is what they get.
The printing press greatly expanded the possibility for people to present their ideas to other people. With today’s technology there are more journalists than one can shake a stick at. It is hard to make a decent living with so much competition.
“journalists” destitute and begging for food is a positive, they can’t spread their lies if all their time is spent simply trying to feed themselves.
Your sheer ‘head in the sand’ naivetè is mildly entertaining but predictable and rather poor stuff after the first couple of poorly written sentences. It’s clear you still have no idea of reality and no desire to join the rest of us in the real world – I completely fail to understand why you even bother to post here.
Why am I not surprised to find out that Duane favors subsidies for those things that he approves of?
Is that so? I must have missed the SCOTUS decision declaring NPR and PBS unconstitutional. What about MSNBC, which employs the head White House liar at the same time she collects a government paycheck at her day job?
This stuff is late to the party. Giving away money for good behavior may be “nice” but is not a necessary step at all.
The first two steps for total control of all media and all information have already been taken.
1) Anything the Govt. does not like is “misinformation” and “disinformation”. (We have seen this very clearly and multiple times with COVID.)
2) Declare “misinformation” and “disinformation” as Dangerous and Harmful.
(We have seen this especially with COVID.)
The last step is clear. The ground pas been prepared, the last step is ready.
3) The Government reserves the right to control and especially ban things deemed to be “Dangerous” and “Harmful”.
Up to and including criminal penalties. To keep people safe. For the Greater Good.
If you have been around, you already know how this goes.
As I’ve observed for around 50 years now –
all government programs with “Safe” or “Fair” in their titles are try-ons to succour favorite pressure groups.
For the greater good should read for the good of the great. Which is to say, not the little people.
Change the title to “USA and Canada’s Plan to Silence Independent Researchers” and you have the current system used to award research grants. And how often is the desired outcome of the research even implied in the title of the request for proposals?
I will argue that much of MSM today is based on religion: faith in what the President states to be true, faith in climate change™ as preached by the Church of the IPCC, faith in the preachings of the Federal Reserve, etc., etc.
Therefore, appealing to the long-standing US practice of separation between state and religion, it should be Constitutionally unlawful for the US Government to transfer taxpayer monies in any manner to “media organizations”.
The Seattle Times has devoted multiple ‘opinion pieces’ per week by one of its best editorial writers, loudly proclaiming that the hopes for ‘independent journalism’ by your local paper must be supported by gummint subsidies or tax excuses. Biden’s proposed ‘tax breaks’ are exactly according to that line of thinking, and the ST is already locked into the uber-progressive party line. Its front-page ‘news’, when not pursuing its two-decade crusade against local policing, is all just reprints from NYT, LAT or the AP.
Many programs run best if the street is well paved ahead of opening day.
What do the Putin, Xi & Biden regimes (along with all the lessor players like Justin Castreau) have in common?
They are ALL doing the “Digital ID” (formerly known as the Vaccine Passport). There are NO safeguards possible in that system. If you give them the ability to shut your life off they will. Only complete 100% obedient compliance to EVERYTHING they say is acceptable.
Here are 9 serious fact checks on what we’ve been told for 2 years.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/-coffee-and-covid-monday-april-18?s=r
And people thought Trump was fascist??
A fascist is anyone those on the left doesn’t like.
Just like a racist is anyone who disagrees with a black liberal.
Although the Constitution protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, using the tax code for incentives is using the law as a means of silencing free speech. Incentives like this used for political purposes is illegal and dastardly.
The first amendment has to be worked-around, the ADL types hate it. Europe was much easier to control because they don’t have such a definititve clause in their legal systems.
So they will just make it all npr. Got it.
Well this situation is just going to get worse in Canada. The Fake news propagandists are already starting to shape the narrative and stories they are running about the Leadership candidate of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre. These articles are calling Pierre a populist and a right wing fringe supporter. Pierre is been labeled a threat to Democracy and the end of a Democratic society. This is while the Trudeau government is pushing Hate Speech laws that are censorship and other laws dealing with “Misinformation” where if the Liberal party line is questioned it is called misinformation to actually report the truth.
Funny these same bastions of truth the Paid off fake News propagandists have ignored the Justin Trudeau’s divorce to Sofie and his taking up with an “Aid” during the trips to Argentina and Africa. Even when there is video of Justin walking hand in hand on the Tofino BC. beach with this “Aid” the Fake news ignore the facts in this case. During Trudeau’s two trips these “News people were on the same plane watching the interaction and nothig was ever said.
It would be sweet justice to see Sophie run against her EX husband in their riding. She could maybe drag him down enough that a true Conservative candidate could win in the riding of Papineau, Montreal. That would be an excellent way of getting rid of him. I would imagine she hates him at least as much as all the other regular Canadiens hate his guts.
Aide. Just sayin’.
Here in the US, Democrats have started proclaiming that a Republican victory in November would spell the end of democracy in the US.
Funny how democrats never mention the US Constitution guarantees every state a republican form of government.
The female on the beach is exactly Trudeau’s wife, Sophie’s height and hair color…we don’t see her face but a number of people were there and half of Canada are not JT fans. So likely your source is questionable, Boris. But votes and payouts are the man’s M.O.
Dems have done this for decades with PSA budgets for the favored media. They are just more overt about it now like a lot of other radical steps by the proglibs running Joe.
They’re not “tax credits.” They’re not “incentives.”
They’re the citizen’s money used to collude against the citizen’s interest.
blackmail comes to mind
As I understand it this an element of Biden’s Build Back Better plan that failed mainly due to Joe Manchin (D) voting against it (for different reasons). It is nothing but “plain old mafia style influence buying” … Al Capone would be pleased. A a topic for Waats Up With That climate blog ?
Meanwhile here in NZ Justin’s bestie Jacinda has been onto this for some time. A grant funding programme to the media ostensibly to help through COVID has a range of conditions, including most controversial “must actively promote the principles of Partnership, Participation and Active Protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
Now whether of not the Treaty (between Queen Victoria and the Maori tribes) creates a Partnership is a hot political issue going to the heart of our constitutional arrangements. Jacinda’s government with no electoral mandate is introducing co-governance between the Maori tribes and the Crown into a raft of institutions and resource management.
Take a grant and you must actively promote this.
Just another creep in “The Long March Through The Institutions”.
I refer to Justin as “Baby Doc Trudeau”.
Let’s flip a coin:
Heads, the head photo is a young Mussolini
Tails, the head photo is Adolf before he grew a mustache.
Should the coin land on its edge, it’s an image of Obama in whiteface.
We’ve all seen what Trudeau does to those with “unacceptable views.”
Is this like Rodney Dangerfield paying of the ref in Caddyshack?
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=rodney+dangerfield+keep+it+fair+gif&qpvt=rodney+dangerfield+keep+it+fair+gif&view=detail&mid=A1603A0094E335589D4BA1603A0094E335589D4B&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Drodney%2520dangerfield%2520keep%2520it%2520fair%2520gif%26qpvt%3Drodney%2520dangerfield%2520keep%2520it%2520fair%2520gif%26FORM%3DVDVVXX
Not only Trudeau and Biden, but to my knowledge the PM of NZ, Adhern, has been running such a scheme with New Zealand’s media and achieved complete compliance her mandates!
I wonder who the IRS will deem “eligible”.
Perhaps this is just my ignorance but the Chinese social credit system seems to be a means to punish individuals who think, talk, or behave contrary to the central controller’s wishes. This proposed tax credit is a reward, not a punishment, and there is no mention of any attached strings.
People might assume media that receives this gift would be so thankful that they would bias their reporting in favor of the provider of the gift, perhaps very strongly, but without some enforcement mechanism that is pure speculation. This is not to say that I think a special tax credit is a good idea, only that the gist of this article doesn’t make sense to me.
The strings will be there. Press releases NEVER mention the trap contained in any program, but it is always there.
This proposed tax credit is a reward, not a punishment, and there is no mention of any attached strings.
The “reward” would only be issued to those who promote the desired agenda, and the invisible string attached is that if you fail to cooperate, you are “redefined” so as to no longer qualify.
What percentage of the eligible journalists are actively left of center?
What percentage are actively right of center?
How much money would be going to left leaning journalists & how much would be going to right leaning journalists?
Why should there be a program with a built in bias?
This is a prima facies violation of the First Amendment. Period, full stop.
It’s vaguely reminiscent of the behaviour of the Catholic church attempting to regain control of theological discussion. It simply won’t do them any good. The reason the old mainstream media is dying, is because it is no longer interesting, and, it is no longer interesting because it is just the mouthpiece of old style politicians like True dough.
It is the same idiocy of trying to bring back top hat and tails, by subsidising their use. It will just make them even more unfashionable and even less attractive. And, the same is true of the politicians who are behind it. They cannot be successful by trying to force people to like them, by buying “likes” in old main stream media.
As for the papers that go along with it … it’s economic suicide. If they cannot find the readers to fund the journalists they have, the economic reality is that there are too many journalists. So, what is True dough doing? He is artificially inflating the number of journalists by government handouts beyond the level which the market can sustain. And, rather than make the media more in tune with the readers … True Dough is making them dance to his tune and taking them away from their customer base. It’s financial suicide. Almost certainly True Dough will get booted out, the press that supported him, will then get the cold shoulder from the new administration, their funding will be axed, their readers will have left them, and far more of them will close than necessary if they had followed a free market model.
Never forget this crap:
“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau schools reporter on quantum computing during press conference”https://youtu.be/Eak_ogYMprk