You have all heard Megyn Kelly’s excuse for doing a piece on Alex Jones. She’s a “light shiner.” And if I haven’t read it yet, there is bound to be something about “providing debate on important issues” in there somewhere in those public defenses from NBC. By bringing in sludge from the right end of the political spectrum to grace our news programs, media figures always claim they are doing us a favor. But the Media has this nasty habit of precluding left wing views from news programs, and I am not talking about some crazy lefty with a conspiracy theory. I’m talking about the news blackout on the liberal/progressive agenda.
Here is a short list of the things that are never discussed on news programs:
1) Medicare for all. Hell, you cannot even get the news programs to talk about lowering the age of Medicare to 55, which was one Democratic idea pushed to be part of the original ACA bill. It’s considered too crazy for the news anchors to discuss.
2) An infrastructure plan that actually rebuilds our infrastructure and will create jobs. Remember how Republicans said that because they are funded by the government they are NOT real jobs?
3) Raising the minimum wage to a living wage. One of the great anti-poverty fighting mechanisms we have available and would stimulate the economy. No discussion.
4) Investing money into our public schools. Now, money going into public schools is BAD while same money to a private charter school is GOOD!
5) Green jobs as possible replacements for the dying dirty jobs like coal mining. Those coal mining are sacrosanct, even if they will go the way of the whooly mammoths.
It’s obvious that the Media Establishment makes decisions to freeze out liberal/progressive ideas all the time. But you can be an authoritarian like Putin or a right wing conspiracy theoriest and get plenty of air time. So pardon me if I am cynical about all this talk of providing debate and shining light in areas that need to be reported on.