I knew this could someday happen in America, given the intellectual and political trends. Still, I can’t quite believe it did, even in New Jersey. But it did. In a move lifted straight out of George Orwell's “1984”, NJ now has a state media--a state propaganda arm, a real life “ministry of truth,” an American-style Pravda. This is no exaggeration. It is now law (N.J. just became the first state to help revive local news). The law reportedly will make NJ “the first state to create a news consortium.”
Here is my letter on the subject, as published in the NJ Star-Ledger on August 31, 2018. As of this posting, it is not available online. Following are links to the referenced articles:
State fund to boost local news is dangerous
I was shocked to read in the Aug. 26 Star-Ledger (“Jersey launches effort to fill void in local news”) that Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill (A3628) creating the Civic Information Consortium, a “grant-making organization ... that would fund media startups” with taxpayer dollars. The alleged purpose, according to Murphy, is to “prevent a world in which popular but false news claims go unchallenged.”
This is an abridgment of freedom of speech and press — core American principles. It would force taxpayers to pay for views or “news” they may not agree with, and force the private press to “compete” against what would effectively be a state propaganda arm. Worse, it would effectively make the state an authority over what news is “true” or “false” through conditions attached to the funding.
In its Aug. 16 editorial, “A free press holds the powerful accountable,” The Star-Ledger declared, “the real enemy of the people ... is a government that wants to be the sole arbiter of truth.” The Civic Information Consortium is a clear step in that direction. Columnist Paul Mulshine has already come out against it (“Keep the press free from academics,” Aug. 26). Let’s hope the editorial board backs up its words with an equally strong stand against this dangerous legislation.
Michael A. LaFerrara Flemington
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There are already laws restricting free speech both in New Jersey and nationally. But this Civic Information Consortium is a whole new level, going beyond restriction of speech. That legislation of this ilk could not only be proposed but actually pass into law shows that we are further down the road to a totalitarian state than ever before.
LINKS:
Think your enemy is the press? So does every tyrant and corrupt politician
N.J. just became the first state to help revive local news
Keep the press free from the academics and the politicians | Mulshine
A3628
Related Reading:
1984 by George Orwell
New Jersey's Assault on the First Amendment
1 comment:
"See? I told you so", said Rush Limbaugh. I've always thought we were lots farther down the road to totalitarianism than others seem to think we are, and rushing head-long into it. But if I'm right, I'm not glad to be right in this case. Might other states follow suit? When might similar legislation come out of Washington? Such legislation grants, in principle and maybe in fact NOW as well, a full, unfettered, sole monopoly on truth, news and views to the government.
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