Anytime a Democrat has a plan to ‘fix’ anything, it always involves the government. Mainly because Democrats think people are too stupid to think and do for themselves. To be fair in this case, where Andrew Yang is talking about fixing the media, they may indeed be too stupid to think and do for THEMselves.
Still, government always seems to make things worse.
There are 3 problems with our media that are fueling polarization: 1. The closing of 2,000 local papers, which are typically not very partisan; 2. Cable news maximizing audience share by adopting political stances (Fox); and 3. Social media’s supercharging of conspiracy theories.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
Those papers closed because people stopped reading.
And sure, it’s only Fox that adopted a political stance.
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Right.
The easiest one to address is reopening local papers. There is a bill in Congress – the Local Journalism Sustainability Act from @davidcicilline and others – that would help support thousands of local publications. Congress should pass it immediately.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
Who pays for this, Andrew?
Oh, that’s right, taxpayers. So state-funded media? No.
For Cable News we should revive the Fairness Doctrine which the FCC had on the books until 1985 that required that you show both sides of a political issue. It was repealed by Reagan. If there was ever a time to bring it back it’s now.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
Whoohoo! Let’s regulate the media!
The most difficult and important is to overhaul social media. We need federal data ownership legislation mirrored after the CPRA in California. There should be ad-free versions of every platform. Section 230 should be amended to not include content that is amplified by algorithm.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
*sigh*
The basic problem is that social media creators and companies are rewarded for having more extreme and untrue content. The goal should be to change or balance the incentives. Tech, government, media and NGOs need to collaborate on this to support fact-supported journalism.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
But only social media creators on the Right.
He left that out, we’re sure.
There is an opportunity here to support artists, musicians and creatives as well whose work right now the market is ignoring. One element of this ought to be a degree of support for those whose work tries to elevate and inform rather than divide and denigrate.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
WTF?
The big tech companies are essentially quasi-governments unto themselves at this point – the problem is their decisions are driven by maximizing ad revenue, user engagement and profit growth. That’s not the set of incentives you want when deciding what millions regard as truth.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
Big tech is shutting down any and all opinions they disagree with, and Andrew referring to them as mini-governments while calling for the government to get involved is even ironic for him.
Our government is hopelessly behind on tech. Legislators haven’t had guidance since 1995 when they got rid of the Office of Technology Assessment. The average Senator is 62. Speeches won’t do much against trillions of dollars of financial incentives.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) January 7, 2021
He could have just stopped after the word ‘behind’.
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