They can make money on sports and entertainment (i.e., football and CSI Spokane). But it's hard to eek out profit in the news division.
That's why news sources like PBS and NPR are so good - they don't have a profit motive and can provide solid reporting and analysis.
Most media companies (like the big three) have had internal policies that shield their news divisions from political interference from the C-suite. Unfortunately, they also require their news divisions be profit centers on their own; they won't subsidize the news with cash from more profitable segments of their business. So, the news can be a mix of actual news and fluff or sensationalism to get more viewers and ad revenue. Most network news has remained pretty stable and reliable for the reporting of day-to-day goings on under this model.
Until Trump.
Now, the C-suites are exerting this once banned control in efforts to dodge threats from the administration and curry favor with oligarchs. It's happening with newspapers, too.
While the conservative rich openly contribute to Republican candudates and Trumpers to keep their agenda in force, liberal rich are still feeding and vaccinating children in Africa and promoting green energy. While these are laudible, our republic is in jeopardy. It's time for the rich left to take a different tack until the ship is righted.
It has been suggested that the liberal uber-rich modify their philanthropy a bit and turn their funds toward a new, major news gathering and reporting infrastructure in America, thus relieving the networks of the 'news' burden. This is essentially a super-sized version of the BBC. They could take over full and robust funding of NPR and PBS and turn them into scions of news that effectively analyzes and communicates reality to the people. It would have a stellar reputation as the go-to place for news and opinion.
Yes, feeding and vaccinating the poor and providing clean drinking water is the most honorable use of money. Humanity and all that. But tough times call for tough measures. It's high time for a major pivot of liberal rich from pure humanity to the preservation of Americal democracy.
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