Freedom is achievable only through independence. Thus, it is profoundly disturbing to hear the supposed leader of the “free world” announce he intends to pour money into media companies in order to foster greater press freedom. Yet, this is exactly what Joe Biden proposed on Dec. 9 during a virtual event dubbed Summit for Democracy. The very fact that any project or institution receives government funding limits the likelihood that true freedom or objectivity will be exercised. So, is Biden attempting to buy approval from the foreign media?
During his opening remarks kicking off the two-day event, Biden said, “A free and independent media, it’s the bedrock of democracy. It’s how publics stay informed and how governments are held accountable.” How media are free or independent when they receive government funding, or how those organizations are realistically expected to hold accountable the government that finances them was not explained.
A Globalist Media Putsch?
This is not so much a grand conspiracy by the string-pullers behind the Biden administration to influence U.S. media companies, though. After all, one could certainly argue that few establishment media outlets in America need any additional incentive to push the Biden administration’s agenda; those organizations have done so willingly for months – but, still, were recently castigated by the White House for not being sufficiently enthusiastic in their reporting. The goal, it appears, is to influence news organizations in other parts of the world to fall into line. Perhaps this is merely coincidence, at a time when the Biden administration is not exactly getting rave reviews from the press in many foreign countries.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The money, $30 million, is slated to go to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), which is part of a group set up by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of Ebay.
According to a Fox News report, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) would also provide $5 million to a “Media Viability Accelerator,” a program designed to “improve the financial viability of independent media outlets in both under-developed and more-developed media markets.”
The average American could be forgiven for thinking that all this bureaucratic lingo is designed to conceal the fact that more of his or her tax dollars are being emptied into an untraceable hole from which no tangible benefit or societal improvement will ever be derived. Such is the nature of government, it seems.
The question of whether the term “free press” is an oxymoron has been around for as long as there has been a press. Any media company that is owned by a corporation must reasonably expect its objectivity to be doubted. One that receives any amount of financial support from a political party, let alone any national government, should not seriously expect to be given even the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the question of truth in journalism. Perhaps a U.S. administration that was truly dedicated to press freedom should be working toward severing the financial ties between governments and media companies, rather than fortifying them.
~ Read more from Graham J. Noble.
