Have you chosen a side in the media civil war?

Are there really three sides to the emerging media civil war?

Ira Stoll, at Reason, has collected some interesting media viewpoints. There are three sides to a brewing media civil war…

Media civil war side one

After the violence on Capitol Hill, former President Obama declared, “for two months now, a political party and its accompanying media ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth…”

Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, agrees. He condemned “a demagogic president, the people who enable him, and the captive media that parrots his lies.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones is a reporter for The New York Times Magazine. She tweeted, “Trump placed open white nationalists all throughout his admin from the beginning and we—mainstream media, polite society—normalized that…” She claims that “MSNBC was…giving a platform to disinformation trolls from the Trump Administration almost his entire presidency.”

Wow! The mainstream news media was pro-Trump all these years. Who knew?

The right-wing media disagrees, of course, bringing us to…

Media civil war side two

The Right has been complaining about left-wing media bias for decades, and with good reason. Most journalists, inside most outlets, have historically been Democrats. The political rightwing responded by creating Fox News and building talk radio dominance. Now…

• Amazon has deplatormed Parler
• Google and Facebook may be censoring rightwing viewpoints
• Oliver Darcy, CNN media reporter, has called on internet and cable companies to stop carrying news outlets that report false information.

So where do you stand in this growing media civil war?

Media civil war side three

I believe there is a third side in this conflict. It’s YOU and people like you. Here’s what I assume about you…

• You recognize that incumbent politicians, from both establishment parties, are hostile to individual liberty and self-responsibility.
• You know that the media (both Left and Right) foster conflict to create drama and attract an audience.
• You understand that elections don’t produce real change.
• You won’t be led around by the nose. Neither the media nor the politicians will set your agenda for you. You will set your own agenda.

That means you are willing to do things and try tactics that fall outside of the normal political conflict. You are also willing to be patient because new things take time to develop.

That’s probably why you’re reading this. I bet that’s why you’re one of The 300 using our Option Activism approach on one or more of our issues.

Speaking of new ways of doing things…

Are you one of The 300 for our powerful rule-changing bill, the Write the Laws Act? Right now, unelected bureaucrats write regulations while everyone is distracted by media conflict. You can restore representation…

Support the Write the Laws Act

And stay tuned because, in February, we’ll be announcing an outreach initiative to expand the ranks of The 300.

Jim Babka, President
Agenda Setters by Downsize DC

Today’s Action: Restore representation with the Write the Laws Act