As legacy media dies we seek its phoenix. 

With the new financial year comes a welcome slump in begging e-mails for newsletter subs. Not just from the spare room laptoppers but also the towering universities that pay their vice chancellors millions yet want the public to fund an editor.

Appeals stress reading is free but production isn’t. The costs frequently exclude the work that makes the venture worthwhile – the journo’s fee.

This is like building homes but not paying the brickies whose skills are critical to the structure. The labourer being worthy of his hire seems to have been forgotten despite its Biblical endorsement.

Commerce trumps scripture.

Nonetheless, our culture still retains faith in a healthy work-life balance and tends to despise exploitation.

The Fair Work Act is supposed to “provide a balanced framework for cooperative and productive workplace relations that promotes national economic prosperity and social inclusion for all Australians.”

On the Labour Rights Index Australia gets ranked as having “reasonable access to decent work”; the terms are subjective.

The mainstream media is wading through a gory field of sackings, euphemistically labelled “downsizing to restructure”. The “production staff reductions” include the creatives whose work is central to sales.

Old media company boards have yet to discover how to treat hemorrhaging incomes; the first-aid kits are empty of bandages so they reach for the knife. Aesop defined their idiocy in Fable 87.

Ironically they’re now pleading for Canberra’s help to fight the international social media giants though having long stressed abhorrence of government interference.

Many young idealists fought to get into the media believing in the public’s need to be factually informed; we saw this as a basic human right built into the four-pillars of democracy.

The first three, Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary are funded by the public and that seems to be widely accepted. But apart from the ABC the Media pillar has been outsourced to capitalism, not primarily to “factually inform” but to make money.

Cadet naivety rapidly turned to cynicism when working in newsrooms. Although we’d write forever, the quick learners soon understood that if the investors weren’t getting enough returns they’d spike our efforts and switch from selling news to baked beans.

With Australia’s taxpayer-funded national broadcaster ($7.7 billion across five years) said to be central to our culture, we expect governments to be involved in ensuring democracy’s right to know.

The feds are thrashing around for solutions as the Meta Monster and Brother X refuse to pay for the stories that draw readers to their sites.

We might never have known of Tchaikovsky’s music or Michelangelo’s paintings if the creatives had not been supported by patrons centuries ago. The Renaissance was largely fuelled by the wealthy paying the artists.

Without them, the little swans would clump on stage and the Sistine Chapel would be a bureaucratic beige.

This is not a plea for government control of the media. May the wrath of the deities descend should we become like North Korea or Afghanistan, though we’re nothing to write home about when liberties are measured.

We rank 39 in Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, lower than NZ and the UK but better than the US.

The Reithian principles of educating, informing and entertaining that are embedded in the BBC Charter (1927) and adopted by the ABC are good for listeners and watchers. Why not the readers?

It was an accident of history because German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of movable type in 1439 pre-dated the electronic media, so well in place before the lawmakers awoke.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to fix the problem of tired modern media and cash-famished hacks.

NZ is showing a way to prop up the fourth pillar: The conservative National-Coalition government has decided a Cabinet Minister will run a media subsidy scheme.

She or he “will decide which media entities will be eligible to receive the proceeds of a levy the Government proposes to impose on Facebook and Google” estimated to raise between NZ$30 and NZ$50 million a year.

A few even further right than the pro-business government have called the idea “stupid”, “unprincipled” and “a move of breathtaking audacity” – but it’s going ahead.

Back on this side of the Ditch the Greens are pushing for a “Billionaires Tax and a Corporate Super Profits Tax to make big corporations and the super-wealthy pay their fair share so we can properly fund public services… ”

They claim a six per cent levy would raise $48 billion across ten years.

Their ambition seems doomed because the big parties will ignore and the nation’s 141 billionaires could use their ore-crushing power to pulverise the idea

That doesn’t stop them from sipping a nip of altruism before bedtime, adding a slice of media to the arts generally considered to be painting, theatre, writing and composition. To be fair, some philanthropists are already active in these four categories.

Then there’s sport; $97 million in the Federal budget over the next two years.

The money could go into an Independent Media Foundation separate from the government and donors, distributing pooled funds on application to newsletters that follow agreed guidelines like the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics.

By mixing up the dough patrons – like an imaginary WA mining tycoon – wouldn’t know if it was her generosity that was helping fund a commentary lauding or thrashing fossil fuel controls…

There are 25 independent  newsletters in Australia. Some have too narrow interests or are run by salaried uni staff, but others are the work of visionaries with ideas bigger than their wallets. They need the IMF. So do we.

This being Australia there’d be naysayers. Driving them away could reveal a new Renaissance – young creatives challenging old media, using fresh ways to tell truths and engage honestly with the public.

Farewell Rupert.

Disclosure: Like all contributions to Pearls & Irritations this piece is unpaid. It’s not an ideal arrangement – writers also have to eat. But the rewards are nourishing – exposing wrongs and pushing ideas alongside the thinkers that John Menadue has attracted and energised.

https://johnmenadue.com/sos-save-our-scribes/

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UN declares war on FREE SPEECH to censor the TRUTH, subvert accountability, control populations

Lance D Johnson

Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, (UN) just released the globalist’s latest game-plan for population control, surveillance and censorship. The game-plan, titled Global Principles for Information Integrity, seeks to put an end to “harmful misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech” online, all while “upholding human rights such as the freedom of speech.”

Guterres presented the game-plan with a sense of urgency, commanding governments, technology companies, the media and advertisers to take control and establish official narratives, while quashing opposition voices. The UN supports Big Tech’s algorithmic control over the information stream online and seeks to control online speech further. A global body of elites seek to delete what they believe is the disinformation, and they seek to discredit and demonetize the voices of dissent. All the censorship coming from global power systems is war on free speech, but it’s also a war on truth, so that these power systems cannot be held to account for their abuses.

The UN is erecting an information surveillance and control system that crafts authoritarian narratives that limit access to life saving knowledge. These control systems not only censor, but they train people what to say, how to behave, and what to think. The UN wants to create a world of simps who surrender their sovereignty and bow down to manipulative and abusive entities and false authorities.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

These algorithms or automated review processes will be programmed to filter and remove content deemed objectionable or politically sensitive. This can include blocking websites, social media posts, or entire platforms that criticize the government, promote dissent, or discuss sensitive topics like human rights abuses or political opposition.

In times of political unrest or during manufactured crises, governments may impose internet shutdowns or restrict access to specific websites or social media platforms. This tactic effectively silences dissenting voices, prevents the spread of information about protests or the abuses of governments, and limits the ability of citizens to communicate and organize. Examples of this tyranny were observed on the Facebook social media platform, when Meta targeted and shut down community groups that discussed COVID-19 vaccine injury. Any opposition to vaccine mandates were derided as “misinformation” and any groups that organized for medical freedom were algorithmically shut down or their reach was severely restricted.

Furthermore, surveillance technologies can be used to monitor online activities in real time, tracking individuals' digital footprints, and identify dissenting voices or activists. This surveillance creates a chilling effect, deterring individuals from expressing controversial opinions or participating in political discourse online.

By manipulating search results, governments and pharmaceutical companies can influence search engine algorithms to prioritize or bury certain information about cures for infectious disease, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic illnesses. By controlling what information surfaces at the top of search results, pharmaceutical companies can shape public perception, suppress alternative viewpoints, or promote propaganda and official narratives to keep people sick and coming back for more drugs and vaccines that don’t work.

Governments may enact laws and regulations that impose restrictions on digital content, such as requiring platforms to remove "harmful" or "offensive" content. These laws can be vague and broadly interpreted, allowing authorities to target journalists, activists or ordinary citizens who express dissenting views. This was seen in the U.S. under the Biden regime’s targeting of the so-called “disinformation dozen” who were removed from and demonetized across social media platforms. The Biden regime also crafted a “do not promote list” for books that discussed the topic of vaccination. The federal government coerced one of the biggest book distributors – Amazon – to restrict access to these books.

Authorities may selectively target journalists, human rights defenders, activists or members of marginalized communities with harassment, intimidation or legal threats. This creates a climate of fear and self-censorship, where individuals refrain from expressing dissenting opinions or advocating for social change. The UN can throttle internet speeds or block communication channels such as messaging apps or VoIP services during periods of unrest and uncertainty. This restricts the ability of individuals to communicate securely, share information or coordinate protests or activism.

Like its predecessors, these UN-backed information control systems will be implemented without transparency or accountability, and there will be no due process for their targets. This lack of oversight allows those in power to manipulate information flows without public scrutiny, exacerbating the impact of censorship on democratic processes and civil liberties.

With this move, the UN and its military alliances are practically declaring war on the press, on research analysts and independent journalism.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-07-02-united-nations-declares-war-on-free-speech.html

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