(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Anyone Know How to Destroy some Media Empires? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-17 Asking for a friend. But seriously, quite a bit of ink has been spilled drawing attention to the right-wing noise machine, its ability to permeate American culture, and it’s resulting effects on our politics. I don’t think it’s productive to go over all the details, but if you are interested in a bunch of breakdowns about how the right-wing won via their massive propogandist media footprint (vs Dems having none) you are free to dive in: Here (TPM), or maybe Here (DailyKos), or also Here (Atlantic), or how about Here (New Republic), and Here (Vox), then Here (Raw Story), or lastly Here (Media Matters). This isn’t a comprehensive list, nor is this phenomenon new... ...but even those that have been sounding alarm bells about this topic for years may still be underselling just how much of a disadvantage the Left has when the RW Noise Machine can push stories so far, wide, and often that the stories themselves morph from “news” and into “vibes” that exist outside of the political sphere — and I’d argue that nearly all “persuadable” live outside the political sphere, in part because they aren’t paying attention 95% of the time. I think the Left should be working to build up their own version of that Noise Machine. That is topic for another day. The thing is, it’s not going to be enough to simply start building a Progressive Noise Machine. The Right has too much of a head start, it’s too entrenched, and it will use its dominance in that sphere to keep the Left from gaining a foothold. This means, in addition to building up the Left’s media ecosystem, the Left needs to start actively dismantling the Right’s — in any way it can. So right now...I just want to list the handful of what the Left is up against: FOX News Yes, one of the two grandaddies of right-wing misinformation & GOP public relations, masquerading as a news organization. This massive media empire has a valuation of nearly $20 Billion, employs over 22,000 workers, and is obviously ubiquitous in the world of News — acting as patient zero to take right-wing ideas & messaging out of the fringe and into the mainstream news sphere. FOX has withstood numerous controversies, from its obvious lies/bias to settling massive sexual harassment/assault cases to the rise of other (even further) right wing outlets attempting to muscle in on their turf. Yet it continues to be a stain on the fourth estate. How the hell does one start to break the influence of this kind of media giant? Has anything in the past actually hindered its influence in a real way, and if so, how could that be used against it now? AM / Conservative / Religious Talk Radio The other grandaddy of the right-wing noise machine. Despite the shift away from traditional radio as time and technology moves ahead, the airways are still dominated by the Right. And because these shows aren’t tracked or recorded as much as video or major outlets may be, they get away with saying some of the most extreme things with minimal repercussions. Not to mention that satellite radio means some of the worst offenders can now reach massive audiences. How could the Left start to shut down these sorts of shows? Is there a way to lessen their reach, shut them down, or delegitimize them? Podcasting The evolution of radio is obviously the podcasting arena. Joe Rogan commands a massive audience, and as a show that only sprinkles in its right-wing noise but otherwise is a variety show, it has plenty of crossover & general audience appeal — that’s what makes it so insidious and effective. Guys like Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, Tucker and the rest also fill hours upon hours of airtime pushing their agenda. How does one bury these shows? Is there a way that they could be deplatformed? Can extreme content actually be de-incentivized somehow? Pink Slime “News” A trend that’s taken off over the last decade or so, right wing companies are buying up local newspapers and websites, then turning them into algorithm headline generators and straight up propaganda outlets. It’s basically a real-world bot-farm operation dressed up to look like a local news outlet. The big name I’ve seen time and again is Metric Media, which owns something like 1300 local papers and websites that it uses to carpet bomb messaging upon an unsuspecting public. Worse still, they appear to be straight up pay-to-play outfits, meaning that the money will likely keep rolling in and isn’t nearly as dependent on ad revenue. How can this be stopped? What could cause that sort of company to close shop? Where along the production/supply line can this firehose be plugged? Sinclair Media Basically, the biggest fish in the Local TV pond, Sinclair has bought up a ton of local tv news outlets and uses it to push its right-wing messaging. We’ve seen some reporters leave their jobs when it became clear they were working for a propaganda outfit, but unfortunately the shift rightward hasn’t slowed one bit by a few acts of journalist bravery. How does one break the grasp the parent company has on a local news station? Or alternatively, how does one shut down a local news station unless it cleans up its act? How does one ensure the void isn’t just re-filled with one of the other RW Noise Machine products? Twitter Yeah, I don’t know if any more documenting is required to show how what used to be a flood of amusing information overload has morphed into a racist, misogynistic, bro-culture cesspool. We’ve also seen how the valuation of the website tanked from $44B+ to less than a quarter of that due to fleeing advertisers and users. However, it’s still standing and clearly had an impact on the election due to it’s still overwhelming reach. Advertisers leaving seemed to make a dent, but didn’t topple it — what’s another avenue of attack? Are there any? YouTube (Algorithms) There’s actually been some conflicting studies about whether youtube’s algorithms truly shift people further and further to the right. Overall, it seems more like it’s focused on shunting people onto content that causes more “engagement” and the more extreme the content the more engagement it generates. There’s far more outrageous content coming from the Right and Conspiracy Theorists, so it’s far more likely to shift people in that direction. So how does one combat that? Is there a way to break through the algorithm, or de-emphasize it from sending people down a rabbit hole of far-right propaganda? TikTok (Algorithms) Admittedly I know less about TikTok than the other parts of this list. Reports were that TikTok adjusted its algorithm to be more favorable to the Right after Trump started attacking them and Dems had started to move against the platform. It’s still home to more youth than the other options, which makes it a double-edged sword of both naturally being more left-leaning, content-wise, but also a place where the Right could start shifting the Left’s best hope of changing the electoral landscape over time. Is there any way to pressure a Chinese company to make a change at all, much less while maintaining the platform itself as something the next generation of voters has latched on to? Is that balance impossible? Right Wing Website Network Here we come to the Breitbarts, Drudges, and Newsmaxs. There’s a vast network of conservative sites that act as incubators for larger outlets to hit Dems with. They run all sorts of attacks on Dems and praise for GOPers, then it gets cross posted and spread throughout the wider web. A lot of these are funded from shovel ware ads and billionaires who see it as an investment for their future tax cuts and loopholes. Are these sits here to stay? Is there a way to lessen their spread and/or effect? Now, I’ll admit that the list above can feel quite daunting. That’s a lot of infrastructure that needs to be dismantled. A lot of those structures have taken a lot of blows and keep on ticking. I also don’t know the answers to the questions. It also creates some discomfort around what some of the potential solutions may be, because yes, the Left actually cares about people and institutions. That said, the internet is smart. Activists are tenacious. And hope springs eternal. The first step is to identify the targets, then it’s time to discuss how to shut these propogandists down. Any ideas you may have, “good trouble” included, feel free to share below. Get the discussion going. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/17/2285422/-Anyone-Know-How-to-Destroy-some-Media-Empires?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/