KEK AND TRIPLE KEK KEK KEK!
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1784283579729453113?t=F7iCSElYI03j2ND7l3EYCQ&s=19
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Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) on X
NY Passes Welfare for Journalists as Americans Lose Trust in State-Controlled Media
New York is doling out 'welfare' for journalists as collapsing trust in state-controlled media is leading to an exodus of subscribers and plummeting ad rates.
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NY Passes Welfare for Journalists as Americans Lose Trust in State-Controlled Media
New York is doling out 'welfare' for journalists as collapsing trust in state-controlled media is leading to an exodus of subscribers and plummeting ad rates.
The Empire State's budget includes $90 million for tax credits against half of the first $50,000 of a journalist’s salary for qualifying local news outlets.
Thus, the state is using tax money to capture local news outlets through establishing government dependency.
"Provisions in the bill extend the benefits for outlets that have more than 100 employees and had major layoffs in the last five years," the Washington Times reported. "The legislation, inserted into the $237 billion state budget, is so vague in its definition of 'local' that even some of the state’s marquee publications could qualify."
Therefore, NY's bill specifically rules out independent media outlets that are more likely to hold the political class accountable.
Axios tried to justify the law: “The first-of-its kind provision could create a blueprint for funding local journalism jobs across the country. Tax credits, unlike government-funded grants, are seen by some as less likely to create a dynamic where a local news outlet feels compromised by government-funded support.”
This is the exact inverse of the truth, which is one reason for the collapsing trust in media to begin with. Both government grants and tax credits create an unfavorable dynamic for reporting news, unlike a free market. A subscriber model is perhaps the best single method of ensuring viewpoint diversity and accurate news reporting.
The "fourth estate" is supposed to be safeguarding citizens from government abuse and holding powerful elites accountable. A news outlet receiving tax benefits from the state presents major journalistic ethics issues.
During the Covd pandemic, we witnessed Big Pharma tacitly bribing outlets into silence regarding public criticism of the vacines. There is now a similar danger in New York of the government putting implied pressure on local news outlets that cash in on tax benefits to refrain from angering the political class.
This is the quandary of government dependency that "progressives" virtually never acknowledge: When the government funds education, you get compromised "education" that benefits powerful elites. When the government funds news, you get compromised "news" that benefits powerful elites.
See the decline of trust in PBS and NPR, which are now partisan outlets that openly and unapologetically publish activist "news," lest there be any doubt about this power dynamic.
Long-time NPR editor Uri Berliner recently blew the whistle on the taxpayer-funded outlet's lack of viewpoint diversity before quitting his job. In NPR's Washington D.C. headquarters, he noted, there were 87 Democrats and ZERO Republicans among its editorial staff.
Instead of promoting viewpoint diversity in the media, the political class is fortifying the Democratic Party's cultural hegemony over the journalism industry.
This lack of viewpoint representation in the media has compounded the widening gulf between the priorities of activist reporters and the American people at large.
There is simply no viable market for radical activist opinion posing as news reporting, which is why states like New York are stepping in to artificially prop up the failing corporate media.
Instead of "saving" journalism, New York's bill only hastens the death of journalistic independence in America.
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1784283579729453113?t=F7iCSElYI03j2ND7l3EYCQ