THE PATRIOT POST - ALEXANDER'S COLUMN 06/28/2017

Democrat/MSM Collusion v the First Amendment and Liberty

Countering the most perilous domestic threat to American Liberty: the DemoMSM Propaganda Machine.

By Mark Alexander · June 28, 2017   

"But the fact being once established, that the press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to its strength, by recalling it within the pale of truth." —Thomas Jefferson (1805)

Why we do what we do...

Our Founders rightly asserted that the First Amendment protection of a free press would be a powerful check on statist usurpation — that a free press was the most promising assurance for extending Liberty to future generations.

Consistent with the views of other Founders, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it." He also noted, "No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will."

Indeed.

However, after his first term in office, in his 1805 second inaugural address, Jefferson wrote: "During the course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness and to sap its safety."

A free press was and remains essential to the protection and advancement of Liberty. But as Jefferson noted, the disingenuous adulteration of that sacred First Amendment trust, in which the media abandons its responsibility and colludes with partisans to become an instrument of their bidding, perilously endangers the future of Liberty.

In principle, our Founders' advocacy for a free press was correct. In practice today, however, the collusion between the statist Democratic Party and its press outlets — the DemoMSM propaganda machine, which now encompasses most of the mainstream media — has devolved into the most significant self-inflicted threat to Liberty today.

To counter that threat, our team launched The Patriot Post two decades ago, when the Internet was a lonely and largely uncharted medium. But we believed it would be, long term, the most effective medium to reach the largest number of grassroots Americans with a genuine conservative message. Today, The Patriot Post is the oldest news, policy and opinion digest on the Web, and a highly acclaimed touchstone of Liberty for Americans from all walks of life.

We didn't attain that status on our own merits, however. When others observed that he was a "great communicator," my mentor, Ronald Reagan, said humbly, "I communicated great things, and they didn’t spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation — from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries." Any success we have experienced comes solely from our steadfast devotion to and advocacy for "the principles that have guided us for two centuries."

From day one, we have remained sharply focused on our original objective — to counter the mainstream media (MSM) stranglehold on public opinion and to expose their corrupt collusion and obstructionist objectives. It was critical then, and now more than ever, that we effectively counter their statist rhetoric with our genuine conservative message "to Support and Defend" the inalienable Rights of Man outlined in our Declaration of Independence, and the Liberty and Rule of Law enshrined in our Constitution.

The alternative, if we do not all lock arms in opposition to this growing menace, is, irrevocably, tyranny.

A recent Harvard study evaluating media "reporting" on President Donald Trump — or, more accurately, their echo chamber parroting of Democrat talking points — makes clear their Leftmedia prejudice.

Of course, that bias has been well documented for years, as repeated surveys find that more than 90% of "journalists" support Democrats — most of them leftist Democrats.

In 2014, The Washington Post noted the findings of an academic study, "American Journalists in the Digital Age," that only "seven percent of journalists are Republicans ... fewer than a decade ago."

In 2015, The Washington Times affirmed the findings of a book on media bias, entitled "Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind," that "more than 90 percent of D.C. journalists vote for Democrats."

In 2016, it was no surprise when the Washington Examiner reported the results of a Center for Public Integrity media study finding, "Of the 430 people CPI identified as 'journalists, reporters, news editors or television news anchors — as well as other donors known to be working in journalism,' 96 percent gave money to Clinton, according to federal campaign finance filings."

Of far more value to Hillary Clinton's campaign were the "in-kind" contributions of her sycophantic media pool — who tailored their reports to favor her election.

And note that, just prior to Trump's election, The Washington Free Beacon reported survey results that found, "Not a single White House reporter is a Republican." (I know, you're shocked — SHOCKED.)

Again, the leftward mainstream media trend has tracked with the leftward trend in the Democratic Party for three decades — but that trend has accelerated dramatically in the past year to the point of raw collusion. The consequence is an accelerated decline in journalistic standards.

The purpose of this collusion was, originally, to ensure Clinton's election last year. But after the shocking election of Donald Trump, the Left and its media partners transitioned from election-rigging to bald-faced obstruction and sabotage of Trump's agenda — which is wholly antithetical to their own. (Regrettably, on occasion he fuels their diversionary schemes with his own unforced communication errors.)

Since the earliest days of his campaign, Trump has condemned the "fake news" obstructionists and their deceptive trial by media tactics, including the use of media polling to reflect the bias they promote.

A week after his inauguration, he opined, "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!"

Trump took a lot of heat for suggesting the "news media" is the "enemy of the American People." But Trump wrote that "FAKE NEWS" is the enemy, and he is absolutely correct on that point. As noted above, our Founders would agree that abandoning truth for licentious partisanship is a grave threat to Liberty.

A case study of what has now become an epidemic of fake news propagation by the Democrats' MSM outlets would be CNN's most recent credibility crisis. The cable network, which sets the bar for DemoMSM collusion (93% negative reporting on Trump and Republicans according to the aforementioned Harvard study), was caught in yet another counterfeit "anonymously sourced" report to further the Democratic Party's phony Trump/Putin conspiracy theory. Three senior CNN "journalists" from the "investigative unit," including one Pulitzer recipient, resigned over this latest incident.

It's notable that right in CNN's back yard, just one day before that fake news report was published, voters in Georgia's 6th District handed a hotly contested victory to a Republican in a special election to fill the seat of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. It was the most expensive congressional election in history, and the Democrat outspent the Republican 7-1. But even with the full force and fury of the DemoMSM machine, they still came up short. The Democratic "brand" is indeed toxic.

Conservatives, however, should take little comfort in this victory, because the DemoMSM propaganda machine is gearing up and redoubling its efforts. In fact, in the declining cable news marketplace, MSNBC, the most abjectly biased of the news outlets, has just overtaken CNN and Fox News in the 25-54 demo for its weekday prime time lineup.

In 1822, Thomas Jefferson wrote of those who subscribe to such blather, "Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck."

All that said, there's another factor that has an enormous influence on mainstream media bias, regardless of where on the political spectrum a media outlet's editorial influence falls.

The least visible factor corrupting the free press is its dependence on paid advertising, which is the life blood of the print and cable MSM. Ad revenues thus dictate editorial policies — what news will be covered and how, and what news will not be covered. Dependence on ad revenue is also the reason the cable outlets run their ubiquitous shock alert banners 24/7, most often about news that isn't worth a report, much less the shock banner.

The insidious ad-influence factor is constantly running silent in the background, unless it manifests in a threat to boycott advertisers for networks' most influential ratings generator — like Bill O'Reilly, who was fired by Fox News to prevent loss of ad revenue.

And that's precisely why we made another critical decision when we started publishing in 1996 — to accept no advertising in our online or email publications or to our lists of Patriot readers. You'll never have your senses assaulted on our website by pop-ups, browser hijacks or glittering unicorns, nor will you ever receive third-party advertising to your inbox because of us.

Our refusal to accept advertising is precisely why we note when asking for your support, "We are not sustained by any political, special interest or parent organization, and we do not accept advertising to ensure our advocacy is not restrained by commercial influence. Our mission and operation budget is made possible by the voluntary financial support of Patriots — meaning you!"

Rest assured that the invisible advertising influence, which inevitably shapes what other websites report and how they report it, has absolutely zero editorial influence on The Patriot Post.

Of course, we also chose a donor-based revenue model in order that our message could reach a wider audience — particularly young people on college and university campuses, and military personnel. (Notably, 100% of proceeds from the occasional Patriot Post Shop messages we send you supports our mission of service to military personnel and their families.)

Your Patriot team starts every day resolute in our mission to extend Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values.

The only thing that influences our editorial content is that mission in support and defense of Liberty.

Please join us in that mission by supporting The Patriot Fund today, so that we can recruit thousands of new Patriots to our ranks.

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Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776