Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, in his own tweet on the news wrote, “The first step towards fascism is when the free press cowers in fear.”
I don’t know if this is the free press cowering, or the free press being bought out by rich people. Either way, it’s some bullshit.
Private ownership of a news outlet breaks every definition of “free” in “free press”.
A “free press” no longer exists.
Maybe non-profit would be best. Incentives to encourage good journalism, but not trying to raise the bottom line every year, chopping costs and spamming mass amounts of AI garbage because I’d bet 100 shitty articles is worth more than 1 good article for their bottom line.
Easy access links to the journalists other works, peer reviews from other non-profit and about me profiles can also help people discern bias.
I’m no expert though, so I’m sure someone has tried it and found making money is better for their paychecks
Eh… no? Most free press is privately owned. Just not by billionaires who influence the content.
When Bozos bought it, this was the exact concern, because there is no ethical billionaire. I’m pretty sure he promised to not interfere with the reporting or content. Turned out to be another lying, selfish asshole with more money than he can ever spend… Who could have predicted that? (besides everyone)
My first reaction was that it was cowering in fear, since trump keeps threatening newspapers. But after thinking about it, why would Bezos give a fuck if trump threatens the paper? He wants his paper to be a trump propaganda outlet because he wants trump to win. Not because he likes trump but because he wants the fascist movement to win so he can get richer (see Blue Origin govt contracts for one thing). Because having hundreds of billions of dollars is simply not enough, so fuck democracy.
