Is a Very Dangerous Combination
Big Media believes in the maxim:
“If you can’t beat ‘em – censor ‘em.”
Behold CNN’s fan of fried dough and host of “Reliable Sources” Brian Stelter:
“A CNN panel discussed how to pressure cable providers to remove conservative competitor channels like Newsmax and One America News from their platforms.
“‘Reliable Sources’ host Brian Stelter asked his guest panel Sunday how the American people could be prevented from watching Newsmax and OAN as their ratings soar.
“‘We are going to have to figure out the OAN and Newsmax problem. These companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and such bringing them into tens of millions of homes,’ former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos said….
“‘We have to turn down the capability of these conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences. There are people on YouTube for example that have a larger daytime audience than CNN.”
Aha. Not only does CNN want to censor conservatives on principle – they want to censor conservatives because they draw bigger audiences than CNN.
This isn’t just a guest one-off. CNN is institutionally putting the screws to the nation’s TV providers.
Behold CNN’s “Senior Media Reporter” Oliver Darcy Tweeting:
“Just a reminder that neither @Verizon, @ATT, nor @comcast have answered any questions about why they beam channels like OAN & Newsmax into millions of homes. Do they have any second thoughts about distributing these channels given their election denialism content? They won’t say.”
Get that? CNN – just another channel option like One America News (OAN) and Newsmax – is trying to dictate terms to the TV providers that provide them.
CNN is trying to pressure the companies that provide CNN – to dump CNNs competitors. That seems fair.
Is CNN alone in its censorious Leftism? Heavens no. Leftists are great at coordinating their censorship. See: Parler.
Cable Companies Must Drop OAN, Newsmax, and Fox News:
“Big Tech has shown the ability to deplatform Parler, Trump, and others. It’s past time for cable companies to show the same commitment to a functioning republic and eliminate from their cable packages the sources of disinformation and of promotion that underlie the attack on the capital.”
It’s “Capitol,” Genius – not “capital.”
This is merely the opening salvo. Watch the censorious voices and pressure continue to mount.
And here is where the Left’s whiplash-inducing hypocrisy kicks in.
While CNN and their Leftist cohorts are demanding TV providers be non-neutral with their channels?
The Left wants to have government impose MASSIVE regulations – Net Neutrality – to prevent Internet providers from being non-neutral.
Here’s CNNs doughboy Stelter describing Net Neutrality:
“The ‘neutrality’ part is about keeping the ‘Net the way it is today.”
Ummm…I don’t want to “keep the ‘Net the way it is today.” No one should. I want a a vibrant, dynamic, ever-changing, ever-growing Internet. Net Neutrality does just what the doughboy describes – locks this Internet in place in perpetuity.
You know who wants eternal sameness? Trillion dollar Big Tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Who already have theirs – and don’t want any upstarts cutting into theirs. See again: Parler.
More on Net Neutrality from CNN’s doughboy:
“The companies that own the pipelines can play favorites….(Net Neutrality prevents providers from) blocking certain sites entirely.”
Wait – “blocking sites entirely” is EXACTLY what the Left is pressuring TV providers to do. The Left is demanding providers “play favorites.” By blocking OAN and Newsmax – which will assist CNN, its Leftist ideology and its abysmal ratings.
Oh: And guess what has never, ever happened? No Internet provider – not Comcast, not Verizon, not AT&T, not any provider anywhere – has ever blocked any content anywhere ever.
Go ahead: Ask the most virulent Net Neutrality proponent to name a single instance of a provider blocking content. They can’t – because no such instance has ever occurred.
Get all that?
The Left wants a MASSIVE government imposition on providers – Net Neutrality. To prevent providers from doing what they have never, ever done – block content.
Simultaneously, the Left is demanding providers be non-neutral in their TV programming – and block content.
If you find this confusing – that’s only because the Left is perpetually confused.
If you find this totalitarian – that’s only because the Left is perpetually totalitarian.
This first appeared in Red State.