News Is Under Attack from All Sides We All Need To Do Something … Anything!

So, I read the report … reminded me of a cover I once did (just for my amusement) of Willie Nelson's song asking "Are There Any Real Cowboys Anymore …" My version asked, "Are there any real patriots anymore …"

It's a good question. Just look at the folks in Congress. Almost all seem to think just getting elected and staying elected is all that counts.

Some of them have been trying their best to avoid being held accountable … emulating the leader in the White House by dissing "the press" ad nauseam et ad infinitum.In effect, labeling all of the media that reports the news they don't like as "Fake."

Well, some of it is. Fringe players from both political extremes create disinformation in order to advance their biases.

But that's not what this column is about today …. Today we need to talk about how to hobble the autocrats, of whatever stripe, who are going to continue to attack democracy from within. That's always been a problem. It's just right now we're watching it happen around the world and right here in the USA.

We can start by recognizing a few basic facts. First: Truth is truth. Not your truth or my truth or the alternate reality so beloved by Mr. Trump. But the cold hard facts of what really happened. It's the job of the media to report on that truth, as fairly as they can. And it's the mission of advertising to get it across to citizens. Why? Well, that's easy. It takes advertising and (often) subscriptions to fund the collection and reporting of real news.

But right now, the marketplaces are letting us all down.

Outside of a handful of national and international media with growing circulation, local news is on life support.

So what do we do? We (and by that, I mean everybody from the everyday folks like you and me as well as the behemoths of modern commerce) buy subscriptions. We buy ads. We go out and find not just the big but also the little guys who are doing their bit to bring real news to real people. We don't buy ads or subscriptions to the real fake "news" of the fringe media … we don't click on fringe media on social networks …we-just-don't-feed-them.

Support real truth. Not fake truth. Don't believe the lies.

Vote in November. Vote for the people who you find most honest and most truthful. If we don't, the truth will fade away. Democracy will die in darkness. And we will all watch it.

Random Notes: Believe it or not, the coronavirus has resurrected the sort of Sphinx-like arguments over so-called Network Neutrality. It's the policy issue that just won't go away! The re-imposition of FCC Title II regulations is one of those arguments that seems to have no resolution. As Cablefax Daily reported (Vol. 31, April 22) COVID-19 (not #19, but 2019) figured prominently in remarks from AARP calling it a "stress test" that shines a light on the digital divide … ergo, regs are necessary. AARP combined it with the somewhat false issue of "low levels of broadband competition." Why false? Because it doesn't work and that's because the costs of creating duplicate infrastructure without a concurrent boom in possible customers to help recoup those costs just can't be done. Just ask Google about that).

• HBO Max launches May 27th; more competition for the streaming dollar. Parent AT&T lost 1.15 million video subs in the 4th Quarter. Ouch.
• Parks Associates reports that 76% of US broadband households subscribe to an OTT service … up about 6m over last year. In a statistic probably relates to shelter at home rules, "is the massive spike in children's content available to stream," said Catharine Burhenne, Head of Marketing, Reelgood. "The entertainment businesses who thrive during the COVID and post-COVID eras will be the ones who can cater their offerings to accommodate the huge appetite for streaming kids content. Tubi's launch of their app Tubi Kids is an example of businesses capitalizing on this opportunity."