A congresswoman from New Hampshire triggered a dire warning from a Chinese refugee after declaring she would be aiming to subsidize local news with government taxpayer dollars.
Congress successfully ended federal subsidies for woke NPR and PBS, but of course, Democrats are not ready to accept defeat. Now Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) is sponsoring the Education Not Endless Scrolling Act, a dangerous piece of legislation to tax social media companies and use that money to fund — among other initiatives — local reporters. Or, in other words, as the New Hampshire Journal noted, she wants to funnel money to reporters covering her and her fellow congressmen.
Lily Tang Williams, a Chinese-American politician who frequently cautions her adopted country about encroaching tyranny, such as what ruined her birth country, criticized Goodlander’s legislation. “While I fully recognize the vital role of local and independent journalism. Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund news coverage,” she began on X.
Having established that important base argument, she continued with a chilling warning: “Having grown up in a communist country with state-controlled media, I know firsthand how dangerous government-funded press can be. It seems the congresswoman has forgotten the true meaning of ‘Freedom of the Press’ as enshrined in the First Amendment.”
Related: ‘Fourth Reich’: Musk Hits Back at EU After X Fine
It is a difficult era for written and local news just now, and many journalists — including solid conservative reporters — have lost their jobs as outlets cut staff or go under altogether. Unfortunately, while many of us in journalism might regret the shift personally, having the government move in supposedly to “fix” the problem is most definitely the wrong solution. There are very few problems that the government does not make worse, and in this case, it would simply be creating yet more state media.
Many local media outlets are already woke — which, frankly, is part of why they’re failing. It’s not simply that young people don’t buy newspapers; even many older people are disillusioned and disaffected with propaganda that is every bit as biased in the Arizona Daily Star or the Dallas Observer as on NBC News or CNN.
And there is the issue admitted by the NH Journal, which is that the federal government would be directing money to local reporters who are covering their activities. In a sense, it is a form of political bribery, paying off certain people for favorable coverage. If a reporter were to receive extra money thanks to certain congressmen in his state who voted for the legislation or actively promoted it, he would be more likely to repeat their talking points.
Donald Trump has made some profoundly puzzling decisions lately — for instance, pardoning Rep. Henry Cuellar, who voted twice for Trump’s impeachment and who is running in a district Republicans hope to flip, even as Chinese dissident and Trump supporter Miles Guo continues in jail unpardoned. But one thing he is still spot on about is the threat of fake news and extreme political bias in journalism. That problem would only be exacerbated by Goodlander’s plan.
