This is a complicated proposal. Far too often “news” reports only part of a story to fit their narrative.
Both left and right leaning news outlets are guilty of not reporting all of the facts or omit the full context of someone’s statements.
If a news outlet blatantly lies about verifiable facts there should civil and/or criminal penalties on both the company and personnel responsible for the falsehoods
Yes. It’s caused too much division amongst everyone. Most people could get along without the media blasting us with lies.
I think that if a show calls itself News it should be held to the facts. Everything else should be labeled as entertainment. We are a free country and tv stars can say what they want, shows should just be labeled correctly. Take the term News back to giving unbiased facts. Newspaper used to have an opinion section for a reason.
I have read that allegedly over 3000 people have committed suicide due to the fear mongering of the mass media and democrat politicians. This needs to happen.
Facts don’t care about perspective, opinions do. Journalist absolutely know the difference
Fine every media outlet a million dollars per falsehood or twisted truth. If they lie make them pay for it over and over until it stops or they go broke and out of business.
Unfortunately, censoring the media would be a violation of the First amendment, free speech and freedom of press. An acceptable inconvenience to the amendment would be to require retractions for mistakes and falsehoods within the same format the broadcast were published.
When Obama was president he did an executive order repealing a law from 1948 that made it illegal to use propaganda against the American people since then the legacy news outlets have weaponised the information we get. A perfect example of this is how President Trumps words have been edited to make him look horrible instead of playing the whole thing. This has never been done before in my lifetime. That is why no one truly believes anything from legacy media anymore.
Amended since freedom of speech is a thing, they should have to rebrand themselves as an entertainment only program, be disallowed to have ‘news’ anywhere in their name or descriptors and have disclaimer text on their broadcasts if they intend on doing opinion pieces rather than factual reporting. The days of walter cronkite are long gone.
Great post. I created a petition for this exact problem
Petition to restore media integrity and protect free speech
I completely agree I created a petition called
**Petition to restore media integrity and protect free speech strong
Summary of the Petition to Restore Media Integrity and Protect Free Speech**
This petition calls on Congress to take immediate action to restore fairness, transparency, and accountability in the media. It argues that taxpayer dollars have been used to fund biased news, propaganda, and censorship programs that manipulate public opinion and silence dissent. To address this, the petition demands the following legislative actions:
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Reinstate the Smith-Mundt Act (1948)*– Reverse the 2012 modernization that legalized government propaganda targeting U.S. citizens.
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Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine** – Require media outlets to provide balanced coverage of political issues.
Restore Bipartisan Oversight of U.S. Media Governance (BBG)** – Reverse the 2017 shift that allowed a single presidential appointee to control government media.
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Pass the Media Ownership Accountability Act** – Break up corporate media monopolies to restore independent journalism.
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Ban Federal Funding of Fact-Checkers and Censorship Programs** – Prohibit government coercion of social media platforms and private companies to suppress speech.
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Investigate and Defund Government-Controlled News Outlets** – Audit and cut taxpayer funding for media engaged in political propaganda.
The petition highlights the damage caused by media corruption, including:
Psychological harm Fear-mongering and propaganda have led to anxiety, depression, and widespread paranoia.
*Division and hatred– Media narratives have fueled racial conflict and societal division.
- Warped reality – Misinformation has created mass hysteria and political fear.
Erosion of national unity** – Constant division tactics have fractured the country and undermined shared values.
The petition concludes by demanding that Congress act to restore media integrity and protect free speech, warning that lawmakers who fail to act will be held accountable in future elections.