Structural/Legal Approaches to Counter MAGA Media
The disparate efforts below can be of current interest to Democratic activists who want to lay the groundwork for necessary broad reforms relevant to the creation and/or spread of mis/disinformation. If and when Democrats achieve more political power, we can crowd out disinformation without infringing on constitutional protections of free expression with carefully crafted laws, public subsidies, and regulation of anti-consumer business practices.
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Smartmatic and Dominion defamation lawsuits involving Fox “News” and its promotion of false claims about election fraud.
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Petition to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to determine that Fox Corporation has demonstrated such bad corporate character in management of Fox News that its broadcast TV licenses should not be renewed.
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Federal legislation proposing changes to Sec. 230 of Communications Decency Act that would eliminate carve-out of online platforms from being considered “publishers.”
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UnFoxMyCableBox – A Media Matters for America (MMFA)-affiliated website on which data submitted by TV bundle-subscribers can indicate interest in Fox-News-free bundles; MMFA indicates that it will use these data to pressure companies providing TV bundles to satisfy this consumer demand when the companies negotiate contracts with Fox Corp., parent of Fox “News,” contracts that provide the vast majority of the channel’s revenue.
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Media Action Center – Advocates for improved FCC regulation of broadcast TV and radio.
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Proposed tax subsidies (as in Build Back Better) of local news outlets.
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CA statute promoted by No License for Disinformation (doctors’ group) giving medical licensing boards more authority to discipline doctors misinforming patients about Covid-19.
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Real Facebook Oversight Board – Online advocacy organization drawing attention to instances in which Facebook violates its own policies regarding hate speech, advocating violence, etc.
