Major media corporate lobbyists are working overtime to get Republican lawmakers to pass the Journalistic Competition and Protection Act (JCPA), promising that it will somehow protect conservative media. But both lobbyists tell Democrats that the bill will help reduce online “disinformation,” a buzzword for censorship by conservatives.
The bill would introduce exceptions to the antitrust law for media companies, allowing them to form a cartel to pressure big tech companies to collectively get specialized services.
This exacerbates one of Silicon Valley’s most anti-conservatism trends, the rise of legacy media on major tech platforms and the suppression of their competitors. And supporters of the bill openly say the goal is to stop so-called “disinformation.”
In March 2021, when the JCPA was first introduced, David Chavern, President and CEO of the News Media Alliance, made this goal clear. The News Media Alliance is the umbrella group representing the largest and richest ex-media companies in the US, and the lobbying group most aggressively and persistently trying to pass this law.
“The cost of inaction in terms of the spread of disinformation we all face is too great to ignore,” Chaverne wrote, urging lawmakers to pass the bill.
In a House Judiciary Committee session, Chaverne and other media lobbyists echoed the same reasoning.
According to Chavern, the news media deserve Congressional help because they “act as a clear antidote to the overwhelming amount of misinformation affecting communities nationwide.”
Another mainstream media figure who testified at the trial, Emily Barr, CEO of Graham Media Group, continued to join the Democrats’ narrative and told lawmakers that the bill would help defend against threats of “democracy.”
“The past year has also been a test of our democracy and the pillars it represents, including a free and diverse press,” Barr said. Said. “More and more Americans are losing confidence in the information that reaches their eyes and ears, in large part due to disinformation freely spreading across the digital ecosystem.”
you are. In his latest comments, Tom Cotton (R-AR), now denouncing the revised version of the law before the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that Democratic lawmakers who support the bill also believe it is an antidote to “false information.”
Any Conservative considering this bill should note that Jerry Nadler is the main sponsor and cites “pervasive misinformation” as a justification – in other words, they know this cartel will censor conservatives. pic.twitter.com/OG7NnqO6rZ
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) 6 September 2022
“Any Conservative considering this bill should remember that Jerry Nadler is the lead sponsor and cites ‘pervasive misinformation’ as a justification – in other words, they know this cartel will censor conservatives,” Senator Cotton said.
Source: Breitbart
