In a chilling message, former President Trump pledged to investigate Comcast if he is elected in 2024. Trump insisted that the parent company for NBC and MSNBC “will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events.” The stated grounds are “country threatening treason.” The pledge is not simply a threat to these news organizations but to the Constitution. While Trump has a history of reckless rhetoric, the statement on Truth Social is an attack on core First Amendment values that define us as a nation.
I have been highly critical of the network for bias and sometimes flawed analysis. It is often the focus of my warnings that we have drifted into a type of de facto state media by consent rather than coercion. Much of this challenged coverage concerns Trump. The vast majority of the public views the media as biased.
I have also long criticized Trump for reckless rhetoric, particularly his repeated reference to the media as the “enemy of the people.”
I have also criticized Democrats who have pressured cable providers to drop Fox and attacked journalists challenging Biden policies.
This is a further escalation of that rhetoric and it is wrong regardless of the complaints over the coverage at NBC/MSNBC.
Trump stated:
“[t]hey are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason.
I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events.
The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!”
The bigger price would be paid by our constitutional system if such retaliatory actions are taken against critical media companies by a president. The independent press remains a critical protection for this nation despite its flaws. The only thing worst than a biased media is a government that investigates reporters as traitors for their coverage.
While the echo chamber of news is a serious problem for this country, it is a matter for the public to resolve in the market for news. Many news organizations are struggling, including the Washington Post, due to the loss of readers.
The media plays a critical role in our political system. Despite false stories in the last few years, the media often serves to check government abuse by uncovering waste, lies, and unlawful conduct from the Pentagon Papers to Watergate.
Notably, it is unlikely that there is a “there there” in any investigation other than bias. The lock-step coverage of the media from the false Russian collusion claims to false stories like the migrant whipping story is due to the loss of objectivity in journalism. It is consensual rather than conspiratorial. It is also wrong, but that wrong will not be righted by unleashing the government on the media.
I have supported an investigation into the government engaging in “censorship by surrogate” on social media and the Congress can demand answers on the government’s actions vis-a-vis the media. However, targeting the media to be investigated for treason is a threat to free press values.
In 1789, Edmund Burke pointed to the media (which often criticized him) in Parliament and said “there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.”
The defining moment for this country came with the trial of publisher John Peter Zenger by the Crown in New York. Gov. William Cosby used language very similar to Trump’s in unleashing his government on the newspaper. Cosby declared that the paper was publishing “divers scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections.” He ordered four editions to be burned publicly.
The jury refused to allow the abuse and acquitted Zenger. From that time, respect for the independence of the press has remained part of our DNA despite our disagreements with coverage.
James Madison called press freedom “the choicest privilege of the people.”
Running for president on a platform of investigating the press may be popular, but it is dangerous and it is wrong.
Many of the media players are CIA agents who are actively, and promiscuously operating on US soil. The people, and the organizations must be punished for any crimes, and they must be subject to civil liability – every American is owed damages for the criminal lies propagated by political hacks.
If you recall, during Oblamo’s reign of treason ABC was made the WH news network. The Oblamo administration had high ranking members in it related to or heavily invested in nearly every mainstream media network. The lies, misinformation and outright liberal propaganda to support these leftists is irrefutable. Biden is done and the corruption during the Oblamo era is now open to explore. I would believe if they turn over the rock, Barry the roach will be revealed.
Read Cloward and Piven if you’re still wondering why they’re flooding the border!
Go get them President Trump!
Hey Turley! This is election season. Surely you can see that President Trump is electioneering. If not, why not?
Millions of people support T45, like, enjoy & relish his *roasting* of the enemedia. And he’s not wrong. The lamestream media continues to try to whip up bad press and publish malicious stories about Trump. If T45 pushes back hard so what?
I didn’t see where Turley explained what SHOULD be done about “news” outlets that openly and knowingly, lie to the American people. There are too many examples to list, and not that many revolve around Trump. I gave up on the msm DECADES ago, having seen “news” reports that were clearly lies, some of them directly witnessed by me. The idea that knowingly lying counts as a sacred Constitutional right is so ridiculous that I’m surprised Turley didn’t demand to be called a female chef… And for those of you who think “ok, so sue them if they slander/libel!”, look into the legal hurdles to such a conviction, look at court cases that have been decided related to such, and look into the general lack of sense/honesty in many, many court decisions for a long time.
We have been in big trouble for a long time (this goes back over 100 yrs). Only since Ebama have the “ruling class” stuck it in your face and laughed. Look into who came up with the term so commonly used today when a member of the “ruling class” is caught red-handed…”conspiracy theory”. An awful lot makes sense once you know. Lastly, look into that same group, WHO IN WRITING, stated the msm needed to be infiltrated and controlled. WHOOP there it is, I thought you knew…
“The idea that knowingly lying counts as a sacred Constitutional right is so ridiculous . . .”
I must have missed the footnote to 1A that states: “Unless the government decides that you are lying.”
Why government? We have a system of decentralized accountability for fraud. It doesn’t involve govt. as prosecutor. It’s called civil torts. It uses adversarial sorting through of evidence, power of subpoena to strip away the deceitful infowarrior’s veil of secrecy, and it’s a jury of 12 Americans voting unanimously that is the finder-of-fact. If government officials are the ones pushing out lies, they can be sued….if we expand Defamation law to cover public frauds.
The 2 alternatives pave the way for a mendocracy — a society of liars where the best liars rule, and then use psyOps propaganda to remain in power.
– People turn to government to police the infosphere, allowing govt. a carve-out to lie without consequence.
– “Free speech” is understood to protect deceptions waged for political gain, allowing a cabal to lie their way into power, and continue to dupe the public — so long as they and their surrogates are the most compelling liars.
The strongest prevention of a slide toward autocracy is to deny government officers or candidates and campaigns seeking power a wide berth to dupe the public. The means of deterrence MUST remain in the hands of the public, be fast-acting, and exact significant consequences after a jury finds public fraud was committed. Civil torts is the only sane tool to police the political infospace, and deter the use of falsehoods.
Turley either hates this country and its people as much as the left or he is trying to keep his name off of the epstine list.
Trump, like usual, says what everyone else is thinking but too timid to say out loud. A some point the MSM has to be held accountable for their lies, disinformation, omissions and out right political interference in our election process. They can not keep using the 1st amendment as a shield against their crimes.
The lame stream media is a clear and present danger to our republic. Not sure Trump’s idea is the right one, but clearly people who have been injured by idiots and liars need recompense. Trump had been so injured.
Some call it revenge, others call it “cleaning out the Augean stables”. The foundations of our constitutional republic – its institutions – are all buried in filth and corruption, which has rendered them diseased and non-functional. Kudos to Trump if he can make any progress on this before the nation dies.
I don’t like this. It embarrasses me when Trump gives his enemies ammunition to call him an authoritarian. I also believe that media should be fully exposed and called out for conflicts of interest. Corporate media has obvious conflicts; you rarely if ever hear bad pharma press on news brought/bought to/for you by Pfizer. Gov’t funded media, like in Canada especially, doesn’t want to bite the hands of the politicians who support it’s funding.
Also climate propaganda funded by Rockefeller, Gates, Ford eugenics/population-controlling foundations, direct links below:
‘Major media outlets are receiving funding from anti-fossil fuel foundations with billions of dollars at their disposal to create lockstep reporting on climate change and energy policies to address it.’
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/09/16/campaigns-to-report-preferred-climate-message-billions-of-dollars-behind-them/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/pr/2020/08/12/washington-post-live-rockefeller-foundation-partner-event-series-future-reset/
Climate grant illustrates growth in philanthropy-funded news
apnews.com/article/science-business-arts-and-entertainment-journalism-united-states-087d1d5dd7189c529fe5d7a21a1ffb5f
theguardian.com/info/2018/oct/02/philanthropic-partnerships-at-the-guardian
web.northeastern.edu/matthewnisbet/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Nisbet2018_ClimatePhilanthropy_WIREsClimateChange_Final.pdf
Gates foundation giving $319 million for journalism:
thegrayzone.com/2021/11/21/bill-gates-million-media-outlets-global-agenda/
You’re weak, just like Turley. You probably believe that people yelling fire in a crowded theater is a crime, but people telling lies are two different things.
Normally I agree with Trump. But not in this case. I will say that the people “leaking” false stories should be prosecuted and if a news organization publishes something without confirming details, they should be prosecuted. If someone leaks and they don’t have proof, time to lock them up. If someone publishes something that they did NOT obtain proof on, then they should be taken off air, prosecuted, and sued. We need to start holding EVERYONE accountable. One thing that never fails to amaze me is the ease with which politicians lie and get away with it. We need a better system of being able to recall elected officials that take money to lie, they should be able to be recalled. They should NOT be allowed to invest in the stock market during their term, and there should be term limits. Period. People like Joe Biden should have never had the opportunity to sit in Senate for years wheeling and dealing to sell influence behind the scenes. People like Pelosi should not have had the opportunity either. Politicians should NOT be above the law, they should adhere to all of the same rules and laws that they are passing, and they shouldn’t be allowed to make a career out of it. 2 and done.
Ok,
Look that’s a bit hyperbolic.
If someone misrepresents the truth, they should be called out and if defamatory or libelous they should be sued in civil court.
But that’s not what is going on here.
The issue is that Comcast owns these outlets and controls their content. They allow knowingly false stories to be reported on as if fact.
There are a limited number of news organizations which could openly refute those facts but considering that comcast also owns the cable infrastructure itself they could get hostile w opposing networks. (e.g. ABC, CBS, FOX)
What Trump could do… legally… is force these companies to divest of networks and go back to a more distributed ownership of the networks.
The real issue… going after the corrupt government officials. The FBI is burying a story in Michigan about voter fraud. (Something that could aide Trump in GA.)
Now waiting for Turley to talk about the summary judgement in NYC against Trump.
He should file a complaint against the judge.
-G
The problem is in court the judges are like-minded individuals siding with the perpetrators.
You love the Constitution so much, did you speak up for the egregious violations on the J6 political prisoners. Your voice would have meant something
Sorry.. they part of problem. They are propaganda outfits for the dnc.. they lie cheat and steal.
People who work in government and academe are either oblivious to reality or are playing such people on TV. Donald Trump has been singled out by media, politicians, officials and the court for malicious prosecution because he challenges the widespread corruption throughout government. Pretenses to the contrary are absurd.
I agree. It should be obvious DT has been targeted relentlessly with *lies* and negative narratives since day one. Not by real journalim. It is why I have to take anything said about him or Indictments against him with a grain of salt.
Some of you are rightfully worried about the culture’s decline. And you quite properly see the MSM as a cause of that decline. But the solution is not to corrode a foundation of our culture: The Bill of Rights. The rational solution is to fix that institution with better ideas, specifically to promote objectivity in journalism (especially the J schools).
When pirates attack, shooting your own ship is not a good self-defense strategy.
Sam:
“Some of you are rightfully worried about the culture’s decline. And you quite properly see the MSM as a cause of that decline.”
*************************************
How about just shooting the pirates attacking the ship? Seems simple enough.
“How about just shooting the pirates . . .”
Apparently, you missed the essence of the analogy.
The institutions are controlled by progressives. Any conservative thought is met with immediate cancellation. Conservatives have had better ideas for decades and it’s gotten us nowhere. Objectivity/honesty in journalism can be enforced with existing slaner/libel laws. I think that is what Trump alludes to.
IMO we need to see the Smith Mundt Act of 2012 overturned. This Obama era legislation opened the door for the government to LEGALLY use taxpayer funds and any and all media to propogandize and brainwash the people without ANY requirement to admit it was going on. I’d like to add that NO One, not ONE elected representative has made an attempt to educate the public on this subject nor have they attempted to overturn the act. And of COURSE, this info doesn’t get covered by MSM or ALTERNATIVE Media…. Which is telling in itself.
Trump has a history os SAYING stupid things. Democrats have a history of DOING stupid things.
Given one candidate who SAYS that he will do something that MIGHT infringe on free speech and another PARTY that does not even beleive in free speech anymore. that has weaponized the government to supress speech it does not like, that targets political oponents.
The choice is easy.
Clinesmith and Hillary disenfranchised 75 MILLION voters and a legit election in 2016. With no real penalty. Prof Turley I’m afraid your credentials mean little when Rome falls
Maybe ppl miss the point….is Comcast treasonous re free speech? Or for something much more sinister? For example I had a cox cable box in 1996….the pamphlet with it said it won’t be used to “spy” in the homewithout court approval. Meaning as far back as 1996 Comcast cable boxes HAD the ability to spy on the customer. Much like today’s mandated light bulbs. Who knows what over the decades Comcast collected from homes and who they provided it to? And if their looking inside a home was hackable. The hacker could see oh…look…all the guys from that unit are not home…hmm wonder where that unit deployed….maybe Comcast is treasonous outside of free speech concerns.
We are way worse today since the power companies can exchange data via power lines. And don’t even need the fiber optic internet lines. Or even wifi. You all should seriously dissamble a curly bulb….the old Satco ones.
And disable the new MANDATED led led ones. Their noose is set….it’s just whether we are dumb enough to put our heads in it. Luckily of our 6 billion … billions don’t even have Electricity. Humans count on their inners. And the calll two arms had been saw. Corvette 22. Noon.
.Prof. Turley.. I usually agree with you.. however.. somewhere, somehow you and Pres. Trump must meet in the middle… because the MSM of to-day…especially the NBC/MSNBC model, is no longer the Pure First Amendment Free Speech/Press of which you speak… THAT is the past (e.g., Ben Bradlee, Peter Jennings and even Walter Cronkite., et al). It is almost painful to watch the main anchor of NBC put on a soldier face and then outright lie via out of context statements.. and.. the gang at MSNBC all appear to be programmed to do the same… with the constant goal to malign Pres. Trump and anyone who agrees with him on anything. Yes, in a strict argument,, as you make the point, one can say.. THIS is what the First Amendment is all about.. speaking from Hate is as good as speaking from the Heart. BUT.. Pres. Trump does make sense that ‘WE the people..’ also have the right to know WHO or WHAT is paying for/behind these lies., i.e., WHO or WHAT is Really ‘behind the throne’ exercising these First Amendment Rights…
The bottom line here seems to be that in order to defend “freedom of the press” — which is in absolutely NO danger in the US — Turley has decided to attack Trump’s “freedom of speech” to call out the Garbage Media for being the manipulative garbage that it is.
There’s really no need for media-employee Turley to worry about freedom of the press in the USA — and he KNOWS it. Neither Trump nor anyone else poses a serious legal threat to the freedoms that the Garbage Media enjoys. The ONLY threat Trump poses to the Garbage Midia is by reminding people of what they already knew LONG before Trump ever ran for office, which is that the Garbage Media is pure garbage. The media, of course, doesn’t like that OR the fact that Trump has the freedom of speech to say it — and keep saying it.
Not sure why the Professor is having a hissy fit over a statement that the Garbage Media should be “investigated” and “scrutinized.” Technically, that IS what the FCC is SUPPOSED to do.
Meanwhile, the lowlife degenerates of the Garbage Media already have tons of money and the best lawyers that it can buy. Are the lying propagandists of the disreputable Garbage Media supposed to be exempted from simple scrutiny or invesstigation? That’s a rather twisted interpretation of the First Amendment. To exempt the garbage-peddlers of the crap-sucking msm from even being investigated is to give them a free license to CONTINUE to polute the republic with all manners of collusion and conspiracy happening in the shadows.
Is Turley calling for the FCC to be disbanded?
Professor Turley is, of course, correct, if we lived in a more perfect union. However, the fact that he has to site two 50+ year old stories to defend the press (“the Pentagon Papers to Watergate”) is testament to the incontrovertible fact that the press he defends no longer exists.
-g
A New York judge has found Trump and sons et al. liable for fraud under the state’s Executive Law 63(12) in the case brought by AG Tish James’s office. He’s also sanctioned Trump’s lawyers. Trump is so aware of and comfortable with his value as a foreign-bribe target that he casually boasts about it under oath in his deposition.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23991885-452564_2022_people_of_the_state_of_v_people_of_the_state_of_decision___order_on_1531
The judge also ordered the dissolution of the Trump Org in NY!
Who was, if I may ask, the victim of Trump’s “fraud”? How much money did they lose?
Why do you ask instead of reading the ruling for yourself?
It was a rhetorical question…
Just makin’ sh!t up again.
The only reason I might agree with Trump on this one is that the msm is the state media of the Democrat party posing as a free press.
Oh Please! Mr. Turley, say it ain’t so.