Two tales, similar downside.
There’s on the market within the media world and as we speak’s mania for podcasts one thing referred to as The Podcast Motion, which identifies itself as “The World’s Largest Neighborhood of Podcasters.”
As that is written, the Podcasters are having a convention of hundreds of their podcast brethren in Dallas, Texas. Then — are you buckled in — a devastating occasion occurred.
Conservative Ben Shapiro, he of The Every day Wire and his personal podcast had the audacity – the audacity! – to point out up in particular person on the convention. Cue the smelling salts. This tweet was issued – and no, this isn’t satire from The Babylon Bee however the actual factor.
This was adopted up with a second tweet that learn, no kidding, this fashion:
The ridicule of this madness was instant.
From Allie Beth Stuckey:
From Mollie Hemingway:
After which there was this from the infamous Ben Shapiro himself, tongue firmly planted in cheek:
Now let’s transfer on to media story quantity two, as mentioned by Catherine Salgado right here on NewsBusters. She wrote:
Meta (Fb) CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned the quiet half out loud. He admitted to famend podcast host Joe Rogan that Fb censored the Hunter Biden laptop computer scandal after a common request from the FBI.
Zuckerberg went on Rogan’s podcast Aug. 25, and Rogan requested him about how Fb offers with supposed “misinformation,” particularly highlighting the Hunter Biden laptop computer scandal. Large Tech censored the Biden scandal simply earlier than the 2020 election, an motion which the Media Analysis Middle revealed helped Large Media and Large Tech steal the 2020 election for President Joe Biden. Zuckerberg readily admitted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had pressured his platform to censor content material.
Right here is the headline from Fox Information:
FBI blasted after Zuckerberg revealed their warning forward of the Hunter Biden laptop computer story: ‘Collusion’
Twitter erupted after Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Fb censored references to the Hunter Biden laptop computer after being tipped off by the FBI.
The Fox story says this:
Talking on an episode of The Joe Rogan Expertise, Zuckerberg defined, “The FBI, I believe, mainly got here to us – some people on our workforce – and was like, ‘Hey, simply so , like, try to be on excessive alert… We thought that there was plenty of Russian propaganda within the 2016 election. We have now it on discover that, mainly, there’s about to be some sort of dump of that is much like that. So simply be vigilant.’”
Zuckerberg acknowledged that ‘the distribution on Fb was decreased’ of the New York Put up’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop computer, noting, ‘fewer folks noticed it than would’ve in any other case.’”
So, between these two media tales, what do now we have right here?
What now we have listed here are two variations of precisely the identical story: media censorship. And within the case of the Podcasters Motion, media censorship with a taste of blatant anti-Semitism. On the one hand, the Podcasters Motion is about…podcasts and podcasters. Over there at Merriam-Webster’s on-line dictionary a “podcast” is outlined as follows:
A program (as of music or discuss) made accessible in digital format for computerized obtain over the Web
Bought that? A podcast is a “program (as of music or discuss).” Which is to say, one listens to a podcast to get info or leisure on no matter.
And, it’s now crystal clear, the Podcast Motion is embarrassed that Ben Shapiro, he the founding father of the Every day Wire, which the Podcast Motion itself identifies as having a “giant presence in podcasting” had the chops to point out up….. in particular person! Ohhhh the humanity! He ought to have been barred the second he confirmed his face, and the Every day Wire, giant podcasting presence or not, denied participation within the convention.
In the meantime, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admits to podcaster Joe Rogan that, the truth is, the FBI offered itself to Fb staff in 2020 to warn them off the Hunter Biden laptop computer story as a result of, , it could possibly be Russian disinformation. Proper.
On the coronary heart of each these tales is the exact same downside. Censorship. A drive by left-wing elites, on this case left-wing elites within the Podcast Motion and the FBI and Fb, to close down the free movement of data that mentioned elites disagree with. It could possibly be concentrating on Ben Shapiro on the one hand, or utilizing the FBI and Fb alternatively. However in every case it’s precisely the identical downside.
And that downside is a critical one in a rustic whose life blood includes free speech and a media that makes use of that free speech to tell and educate Individuals.
To replace the outdated Sixties astronaut lingo, “America, now we have an issue.”
And a giant one.
