1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: All Zone Media. 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:09,560 Speaker 2: Welcome to it could happen here a podcast about how 3 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 2: freedom is a joke in our Lives of the punchline, 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 2: I am your host, Mia Wong. Long ago twenty thirteen, 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 2: in a galaxy basically exactly where this one is now, 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 2: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and now a terminal fascist, 7 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:30,320 Speaker 2: purchased The Washington Post. This was a sign of things 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 2: to come. The danger of the American free press is 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 2: and has always been, that we do not have a 10 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:44,639 Speaker 2: free press. We have a capitalist press. Writing and especially reporting, 11 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 2: is a material product. Journalists have to eat, they have 12 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 2: to travel, they have to go places, they have to 13 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 2: meet people. All of this requires capital. And the problem 14 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 2: with all of this requiring capital is that the capital 15 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 2: is not a neutral entity, and the people who possess 16 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 2: capital have interests. Fast forward to twenty twenty, as protests 17 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 2: and uprisings raised across the United States against the police 18 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 2: and white supremacy, a battle broke out inside of the 19 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 2: New York Times newsrooms and editorial staff about the newspaper 20 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 2: publishing an opinion piece called send in the Troops, calling 21 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,759 Speaker 2: for You've Guessed it, Sending in the troops to attack 22 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 2: protesters published by a member of the American governments named 23 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 2: Tom Cotton. Editors resigned in outrage debates raised across journalists slacks. 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 2: It was the culmination of decades of battles about the 25 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 2: direction of politics and race in the United States, fought 26 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 2: simultaneously in the streets and in the newsroom. Twenty twenty 27 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 2: was a significant danger to the ruling class. The actual 28 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 2: ideology that was so dangerous it had to be destroyed 29 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,919 Speaker 2: was this. If the premise of twenty twenty is true, 30 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 2: which is that the US is a structurally racist country 31 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 2: founded on slavery and genocide, and that reproduces those same 32 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 2: violences through the prison system, which has legal slavery in 33 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 2: it from the structure of the Thirteenth Amendment, and reproduces 34 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 2: it again through the police, then the American project is indefensible, 35 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 2: and here there be dragons. The ruling class needed to 36 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 2: move to stop it, and so they created what they 37 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 2: would call, I guess, a new ideology, but was really 38 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 2: a continuation of centuries old strategies, this time rebranded as 39 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 2: anti woke. One of the avatars of anti woke was 40 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 2: Barry Weiss. Barry Weiss is that the New York Times 41 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 2: at the time was an ideological diversity higher, which is 42 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 2: to say, affirmative action for why conservatives as affirmative action 43 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 2: has only existed in the figments of the minds of conservatives. 44 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 2: She was given a cozy make work job at the 45 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,079 Speaker 2: beginning of the Trump administration as an opinion staff editor 46 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: and writer for the New York Times. She was hired 47 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 2: specifically to bring in more Trumpian figures into the opinion section. 48 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 2: This is, and I cannot emphasize this enough, this is 49 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 2: the fever dream of affirmative action in the conservative mind right, 50 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 2: and these are going to be about to people who 51 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 2: really hate affirmative action. But again, what they are being given. 52 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 2: They are being handed by the most important newspaper, probably 53 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 2: in the entire world. You know, she was handed a 54 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 2: job because she was a fucking right winger. Now. Weiss 55 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 2: was part of the shall we say, conversations at the 56 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 2: New York Times about again whether or not a newspaper 57 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 2: should print a letter from a sitting US representative calling 58 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 2: for the deployment of US soldiers against the American people. 59 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 2: She saw this as an opportunity not to resist a 60 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 2: obviously tyrannical program by again, a sitting member of the 61 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 2: United States government. She saw this as her moment to 62 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 2: do a grift. Now, in this moment, she resigned from 63 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 2: The New York Times in a huff raving about the 64 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 2: quote lack of ideological diversity, who had a giant rants 65 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 2: about how the Twitter is not the massthead of the 66 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 2: New York Times. Blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Again. 67 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 2: I kind of emphasize this enough, like that she was 68 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 2: brought in as a right wing affirmative action higher in 69 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 2: order to appease the demand from the ruling class. I 70 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 2: guess for like pro Trump people, they already had electric 71 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 2: right wingers. This is completely unhinged. But you know, she resigns, 72 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 2: and she has this big press tour in the right 73 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 2: wing press trying to talk about how she was canceled, 74 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 2: and of course none of this ever even happened. Right 75 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 2: We can debate the effect to which cancelation ever was 76 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 2: even really a thing or did anything at all, But 77 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 2: she was not canceled. She literally resigned of her own 78 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 2: free will. She was not forced out. She chose to 79 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 2: leave in order to pursue a career as a right 80 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 2: wing grifford in other fields. Namely Substack, where she ran 81 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,040 Speaker 2: a newsletter that was sort of rebranded as like, oh, 82 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 2: it's a media outlet called the Free Press. It's like, no, 83 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 2: this is Barry Weiss's Substack. Come on, what are we 84 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 2: doing here? What are we doing here? Now? Weiss is 85 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 2: not a journalist. She is a right wing idea loge. 86 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 2: She's also a hardline Zionist. If you want to go 87 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 2: into all of the absolutely unhinded shit that Barry Weiss 88 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 2: has said and done over the years, all of the 89 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 2: just unbelievably somophobic shit, all of the weird racist shit, 90 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 2: all of the anti immigrant shit that she said, there's 91 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:54,039 Speaker 2: a very good John Oliver thing about her. She is 92 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 2: part of this story. But if we spent this entire 93 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 2: episode just talking about how much she fucking sucks, we 94 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 2: would be here for like two decades now. In a 95 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 2: just world, none of this would matter at all. This 96 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 2: would just be a conservative walking off from the free 97 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 2: job that she was given by the New York Times, 98 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 2: stomping off at a huff and going to start a 99 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 2: substack whatever. Who cares. This is not a just world. 100 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 2: This is the United States. She now controls one of 101 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 2: the most powerful and important news organizations in the United States. 102 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 2: The story of how she got there is the story 103 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 2: of the future of the American media. Unfortunately, for all 104 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,280 Speaker 2: of us, the story is astressingly simple. Barry Weiss and 105 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 2: her outlet, I'm using that in immense quotations. Again, this 106 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 2: is just a substack was bought out by one Larry Allison. 107 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 2: Larry Ellison then appointed Weiss to be the ideological hatchet 108 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 2: woman for his takeover of Paramount, which owns CBS. There 109 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 2: was no secret plan, there was weird strategy. There was 110 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 2: no Illuminati cabal behind the scenes. It didn't require any 111 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 2: effort at all. All you have to do in order 112 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 2: to install a right wing hack as the editor in 113 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 2: chief of CBS News is by the company. The results 114 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 2: have been devastating. I would call what happened to resegregation. 115 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 2: There was a large scale firing of non white employees. 116 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 2: NBC eliminated the editorial teams for NBC Asian America, NBC Black, 117 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 2: NBC Latino, and NBC Out. NBC Out was the queer one. 118 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 2: They fired Gail King. They did some stuff that frankly 119 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 2: sounds like a joke. I'm just going to read this 120 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 2: quote from the root and the CBS News bureau in Johannesburg, 121 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 2: South Africa has been shut down, with coverage of Africa 122 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 2: shifting to London. That is again, they closed the South 123 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 2: Africa Bureau. This is a CBS bureau in South Africa 124 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 2: and moved their coverage of Africa from Africa to London. 125 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 2: If a hardline Marxist ideologue had written this in nineteen 126 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 2: sixty seven, no one would have believed them. And in 127 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 2: the process, what they've done here is they've destroyed the 128 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 2: NBC outlets that were responsible for doing a whole bunch 129 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 2: of comfort for different groups of non white people. Right NBCBLKS, 130 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,720 Speaker 2: EMC Black did a whole bunch of very good coverage 131 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 2: of the uprising in twenty twenty. Right NBC Asian America 132 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 2: did a bunch of good work. NBC out was a 133 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,559 Speaker 2: place where you could occasionally find a transperson who was 134 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 2: allowed to write. And all of that is gone because 135 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 2: one man, Larry Allison and his son David Allison, bought 136 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 2: the fucking media company and installed this unhinged right wing 137 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 2: hack as their ideological secret police. I don't even know 138 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 2: what you would call this position. The ideological purge executor. 139 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,359 Speaker 2: I guess you could call it of CBS. Now, obviously 140 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 2: there are multiple aspects to this. We'll talk about Larry 141 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 2: Ellison himself in a second, because he is a very 142 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,239 Speaker 2: important figure. But first, before we talk about the consolidation 143 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 2: of capital into increasing monopolies. Let's go here from some 144 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 2: of those monopolies, product services. Let's go we are so back. 145 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 2: One of the obvious driving factors behind what has become 146 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,839 Speaker 2: a right wing fascist takeover of the media has been 147 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,680 Speaker 2: the consolidation of capital into increasing monopolies. Now, it's been 148 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 2: a very, very famous thing in the US to say 149 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 2: that most of American media is controlled by five companies. 150 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:00,640 Speaker 2: Here's the thing. Even those five companies can always be 151 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 2: consolidated into fewer and fewer companies. Right as the companies 152 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 2: start to struggle, and as any one of them sees 153 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 2: weakness in the other ones, you get attempts to buy 154 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 2: them out. And this is what happens with Paramount, which 155 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 2: is again the parent company that owns NBC. So the 156 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 2: way that it's framed, if you read it in the press, is, oh, 157 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 2: it was a merger between Skydance, which was Ellison's sort 158 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 2: of outlet, and Paramount. But that's not really what happened. Really, 159 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:32,319 Speaker 2: what happened was Paramount was bought by Ellison and Skydance 160 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 2: and they were merged together after that. And this is 161 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 2: a problem with the concentration of capital. 162 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: Right. 163 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 2: As capital becomes increasingly more and more concentration, as there 164 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 2: are individual people and also entities that control more and 165 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 2: more capital, their ability to simply swallow the rest of 166 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 2: their competition and consume it increases. And this is a 167 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 2: significant advantage to the companies. To get the swallow this capital, 168 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 2: they get to absorb all of the intellectual property, and 169 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 2: so now they have control over the property regimes that 170 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:06,319 Speaker 2: allow them to control cultural production, and as a sort 171 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 2: of incidental bonus, they can take control of the media. 172 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 2: Now it's worth getting into the Ellisons themselves now. Larry Allison, 173 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,840 Speaker 2: back in the Halcyon Days of twenty twenty, was merely 174 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,560 Speaker 2: the eleventh richest man in the world when he quote 175 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 2: participated in a call shortly after the twenty twenty election 176 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,240 Speaker 2: that focus on strategies for contesting the legitimacy of the vote. 177 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 2: According to court documents and a participant, the November fourteenth 178 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 2: call included Lindsey Graham, Fox News host Sean Hannity, Jay Seclau, 179 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 2: an attorney for President Donald Trump, and James Bob Junior, 180 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 2: an eternity for True the Vote, a Texas based nonprofit. 181 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,439 Speaker 2: True of the Vote was a completely unhanged organization dedicated 182 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 2: to overturning the twenty twenty election by doing all these 183 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 2: weird voter fraud things. And they had a strategy call, 184 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 2: like their attorney in a strategy call with a bunch 185 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 2: of Trump supporters Incline Voting one. Larry Ellison, now again 186 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,960 Speaker 2: that was back in twenty twenty. Here in twenty twenty 187 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 2: five and now fighting with Elon Musk for the title 188 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 2: of the richest person in the fucking world. Ellison said, 189 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 2: and I quote, we're going to have supervision. Every police 190 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 2: officer is going to be supervised at all times, and 191 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 2: if there's a problem, AI will report that problem and 192 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 2: report it to the appropriate person. Citizens will be on 193 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 2: their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting 194 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:34,079 Speaker 2: everything that's going on now in that intervening time. Larry 195 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 2: Ellison is one of the people behind Oracle, and Oracle 196 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 2: has benefited enormously as a company that got really in 197 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 2: on the cloud storage boom. Daven benefited enormously from selling 198 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 2: a bunch of shit to AI companies. Lary Ellison is 199 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 2: also a huge AI supporter, a huge backer of AI, 200 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:55,680 Speaker 2: a huge someone who wants to spread AI, and someone 201 00:12:55,720 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 2: who wants to spread AI, you know, very specifically, and 202 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 2: this is very important into surveillance technology. He is also 203 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 2: one of the people who, as twenty twenty went on 204 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 2: and as the last half decade has come on, and 205 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 2: as the giant sort of backlash against against the uprising, 206 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 2: and as his attempt to reassert racism as the dominant 207 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:24,600 Speaker 2: ideology of the United States and to make sure that 208 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 2: capitals hold over this country and that white supremacies hold 209 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 2: over this country would be maintained, he has become one 210 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 2: of the large drivers of this entire project. He's not 211 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 2: the only one. Jeff Bezos, as we started this program with, 212 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 2: already owned the Washington Post in twenty twenty five he 213 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 2: went in to very seriously change it. Jeff Bezos on 214 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,000 Speaker 2: the now fascist Twitter and we will get to that 215 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,080 Speaker 2: in a second. Two wrote and this was a letter 216 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,000 Speaker 2: that he was sent to his staff, and this is 217 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,280 Speaker 2: this is the editorial section to let you know about 218 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 2: a change coming to our opinion. Pages. We are going 219 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 2: to be writing every day in support and defense of 220 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 2: two pillars, personal liberties and free markets. We'll cover other 221 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 2: topics too, of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will 222 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,720 Speaker 2: be left to be published by others. David Shipley, who 223 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:23,600 Speaker 2: had been his handpicked editor, resigned rather than lead the effort. 224 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 2: It's not like Shipley had been like a leftist right 225 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 2: but you know, I'm gonna read another part of this letter. 226 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 2: Quote I offered David Shipley, who I admire greatly because 227 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 2: you know he was the pamback guy, the opportunity to 228 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 2: lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that the 229 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 2: answer wasn't hell yes, that it had to be no. 230 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 2: After careful consideration, David decided to step away. So okay, 231 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 2: what was actually happening here he came in was like, 232 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 2: our board is not fascist enough, and if you're not 233 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 2: going to make it more fascist, then get the fuck 234 00:14:57,280 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 2: out of the way. And the guy he had picked 235 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 2: to run the editor board like three years ago, when 236 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,560 Speaker 2: this is unacceptable. I cannot be involved in this. And 237 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:09,920 Speaker 2: left and now Washington Post publishes pieces with titles like 238 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 2: quote Pam Bondi's welcome Woke rollback, the Justice Department rescinds 239 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 2: regulations encouraging racial preferences, you know, and you can in 240 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 2: some ways see all of the things that are coming together. Obviously, 241 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 2: Bezos was a major supporter of the Trump administration, is 242 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 2: a major support of the Trump administration. Put a bunch 243 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 2: of money into the unhinged Trump ballroom. And when he 244 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:37,440 Speaker 2: says Justice harn't rescins regulations encouraging racial preferences, they're talking 245 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 2: about anti discrimination ordinances, right, That's what they're actually talking about. 246 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 2: But these people have been so cooked and have stewed 247 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 2: so much in the ideology of countering the ideology of 248 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 2: twenty twenty that they're now doing all of this reverse 249 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 2: racism stuff where they think that if you're not allowed 250 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 2: to discriminate, that's anti white discrimination. And the Washington Post 251 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 2: has been tanking effectively in the wake of a whole 252 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,400 Speaker 2: bunch of a whole bunch of writing editorial changes. Its 253 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,400 Speaker 2: audience has significantly declined since this. A whole bunch of 254 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 2: people who subscribed to the Post called it in their 255 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 2: subscriber count is just absolutely pitiful. Now the reach has 256 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 2: been contracting. The paper is going to shit. But that 257 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 2: doesn't matter because the Washington Post is not a money 258 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,480 Speaker 2: making outlet. The Washington Post is a chance to shape 259 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 2: the way that the country thinks. And it is better 260 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,080 Speaker 2: that you know seven people in Washington, DC, who are 261 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 2: all identically minded conservatives read the Washington Posts and agree 262 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 2: with it than it is for there to be any 263 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 2: sort of independence whatsoever from anything on the shop floor, 264 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 2: from any of the people writing for it. We've also 265 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 2: seen in recent months the elimination of teen Folk Conte Nasty. 266 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 2: Teenvogue's parent company eliminated Team Vogue as an independent outlet. 267 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 2: Teen Vogue had been the furthest left of the even 268 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,240 Speaker 2: sort of mainstream outlets in the US. It had carried 269 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 2: a bunch of extremely good and radical work on race 270 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,920 Speaker 2: and gender. It was also one of the few outlets 271 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,960 Speaker 2: with consistent trans writing. And of course, the other aspect 272 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,600 Speaker 2: of all of these purges has been unbelievable on hinde transphobia. 273 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 2: And this was them just destroying what had been a 274 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 2: very very important outlet on the left for telling the 275 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 2: stories of non white people, telling the stories of workers, 276 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 2: and telling the stories of trans people. And they just 277 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 2: destroyed it even though and this is actually very interesting, 278 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 2: Ever since teen Vogue had you know, shifted to doing 279 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 2: a bunch of leftist coverage and covering the protests against 280 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,400 Speaker 2: Donald Trump in its first administration, and had gone towards actually, 281 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 2: you know, talking about labor and talking about struggle and 282 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,199 Speaker 2: talking about unions and talking about you know, the like 283 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 2: the experiences of people living under white supremacy. Its readership 284 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 2: had exploded, but again that doesn't matter because it's bad 285 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 2: for Donald Trump. And so we're seeing the ideological tightening 286 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 2: consolidation of the media as what had been an outlet 287 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 2: that allowed people to talk about shit was just destroyed. 288 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:12,160 Speaker 2: Now speaking about outlets destroying things ideologically, Hey, product and services, 289 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 2: please don't destroy USOO. Now, as we covered on this 290 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 2: show a few weeks ago, Conde Nasts also fired several 291 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 2: union workers legally for you know, staging a again protected 292 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,880 Speaker 2: workplace action, demanding to know what the fuck was going 293 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 2: on with these teen Vogue firings. And that's another aspect 294 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 2: of all of his takeover, which is that these outlets 295 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 2: just viciously and radically hates and this is this is 296 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 2: the ruling classes to people who run these outlets viciously 297 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 2: hate unions. And this is something that's very important to 298 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 2: understand in terms of media unions, because media unions were 299 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,640 Speaker 2: also a very powerful force for encouraging diversity because, as 300 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,400 Speaker 2: it turns out, workers and this is true, I could 301 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,080 Speaker 2: say that someone who's part of a media union less 302 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 2: racist than the bosses, and in fact would like there 303 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 2: to be more non white people and don't like it 304 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:18,960 Speaker 2: when non white people are discriminated against. And this is 305 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 2: one of the things that these media unions and that 306 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 2: unions in general do, is try to help you not 307 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 2: get fucking discriminated against on racial grounds. So of course 308 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 2: a part and partial of this has been the targeting 309 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 2: of the union and that's what we've been seeing at 310 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 2: conte Nast, where they also fired workers who had nothing 311 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 2: to do with teen Vogue and also one of whom 312 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,200 Speaker 2: was on the show and is trans and you should 313 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 2: go listen to that episode because it's very good. But 314 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 2: that's another aspect of this right being consolidation is that 315 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,280 Speaker 2: media unions are able to push back against the untrammeled 316 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 2: power of these fascist billionaires to turn news coverage into 317 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 2: whatever the fuck they want. And that's what's happened at CBS, 318 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:03,440 Speaker 2: where there are an doing giant specials with like Kirk's 319 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 2: Widow and all of these just absolutely deranged, unbelievably bizarre 320 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 2: right wing pieces that they're just sort of airing now. 321 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 2: And in order to you know, stop that shit, you 322 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 2: need powerful media unions, and this is one of the 323 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 2: things the ruling class is trying to crush now. It's 324 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,200 Speaker 2: also worth mentioning that these fight wing billionaires are trying 325 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,399 Speaker 2: to consolidate their hold on social media as well as 326 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,719 Speaker 2: the traditional media. And obviously the largest example of this 327 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 2: is Elon Musk, who's purchased Twitter and has you know, 328 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 2: effectively turned Twitter into another arm of Stormfront. It is 329 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,399 Speaker 2: a just unhinged stew of racism and conspiracy that is 330 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,879 Speaker 2: now effectively unusable if you don't want like the most 331 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 2: racist shit you've ever seen in your entire life, just 332 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,120 Speaker 2: in every single one of your replies. And it's also 333 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:56,440 Speaker 2: become a major, you know, vector of targeting for the 334 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:00,480 Speaker 2: Trump administration, where what Twitter is used for now, instead 335 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:02,680 Speaker 2: of being a platform that at one time actually was 336 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 2: able to play a role as a thing that does resistance, 337 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,439 Speaker 2: as a tool of protesters and as a tool of 338 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 2: people who opposed the untrammeled rule of billionaires, it's now 339 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 2: been converted into just racist slop and a way to 340 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,719 Speaker 2: track down anyone who's sort of vaguely centered left and 341 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 2: just put them in the eyes of the administration so 342 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:26,639 Speaker 2: they can be targeted by the States. And it's also 343 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 2: worth noting that one of the people who helped bankworld 344 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,439 Speaker 2: the purchase of Twitter because Elon Musk couldn't just purchase 345 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:36,919 Speaker 2: it directly, was one Larry Ellison. Larry Ellison is also 346 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 2: part of a massive attempt to buy TikTok. Listeners of 347 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 2: the show are probably familiar with the whole extremely weird 348 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 2: story about how TikTok was banned last year under the 349 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 2: Biden administration sort of bafflingly, and then Trump sort of 350 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,080 Speaker 2: just broke the law and made it still be usable, 351 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,639 Speaker 2: but has been trying to force TikTok to be sold 352 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,720 Speaker 2: to American buyers. And the conglomerate that's supposed to buy 353 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 2: it is a Larry Ellison thing, so he's also attempting 354 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 2: to buy TikTok. And finally, the story we're going to 355 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,360 Speaker 2: close on is that Larry Ellison has been doing a 356 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 2: hostile takeover bid of Warner Brothers. Now Warner Brothers currently 357 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 2: is set to be bought by Netflix. Larry Ellison kept 358 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 2: on submitting bids to them, and his efforts to actually 359 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 2: get the purchase to go through were consistently denied. But 360 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 2: in the wake of that, they're attempt to get to 361 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 2: a hostel takeover bid where they just go to the 362 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 2: shareholders directly and try to buy them out at what 363 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 2: they claim as a higher share price. I'm not going 364 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 2: to go into that whole thing as a fiasco, but 365 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 2: what is interesting for our purposes is that David Allison, 366 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 2: who's the guy running Paramount, who's the guy who's been 367 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:53,400 Speaker 2: directly running the ideological purchase, has met several times with Trump, 368 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 2: and last time they met, Trump has promised that he 369 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 2: would change the coverage of CNN in order to make 370 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 2: it better for Trump. Now. It's also worth noting that 371 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,199 Speaker 2: buying CNN is not part of the deal for the 372 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 2: Warner takeover bid by Netflix. Right if Netflix takes over 373 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 2: Warner Bros. They don't get CNN. Under Paramount and Larry 374 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,719 Speaker 2: Ellison's deal. They would get CNN now, even though CNN 375 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,880 Speaker 2: has done a whole bunch of unhandshit like having Ben 376 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:23,400 Speaker 2: Shapiro on to do fucking electron coverage Jesus fucking Christ. Okay, 377 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,400 Speaker 2: Trump has still been mad at them for reporting even 378 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 2: a tiny bit critically about his administration. And Trump has 379 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 2: been kind of refusing to pick a side directly in 380 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 2: terms of the takeover bid for Warner Brothers in the 381 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 2: fight between Netflix and Paramount, but he's now said that 382 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 2: he wants to make sure that CNN is sold and 383 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 2: that it should get new leadership, presumably along the style 384 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,440 Speaker 2: of what happened with CBS. And so this is sort 385 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,160 Speaker 2: of the final phase of all of this, right, which 386 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 2: is trumpdministration has the ability to use is quote unquote 387 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,360 Speaker 2: antitrust power in order to stop one of these two 388 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 2: companies from doing this buy out, and Trump administration is 389 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 2: using the fact that the media is being bought out 390 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 2: by his allies in order to try to get people 391 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,920 Speaker 2: to buy CNN and simply eliminate negative news coverage of him. 392 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 2: And I don't really think I need to explain why 393 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 2: it's extremely bad that the president of the United States 394 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,400 Speaker 2: could simply order a news outlet to be bought out 395 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 2: and then suddenly it's bought out. I think it's kind 396 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,719 Speaker 2: of self explanatory why that's unbelievably bad, But that is 397 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,879 Speaker 2: the situation that we may rapidly find ourselves in because 398 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 2: we don't live in anything that even sort of looks 399 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 2: like a democracy. We live in the dictatorship of capital. 400 00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 2: And a thing about the press under a dictatorship, even 401 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 2: one that's as decentralized as the distainship of capital, is 402 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:53,159 Speaker 2: that one particularly fascist faction of capital can simply roll in, 403 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 2: buy the media and take control of it. And that's 404 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 2: the project that we're seeing now. But these people are 405 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 2: not under We beat them before we can beat them again. 406 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 2: And in some ways the project is kind of self 407 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 2: defeating in that they have spent a significant amount of 408 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 2: time hollowing out people's trust in these institutions. And there 409 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 2: is an extent to which, as bad as all of 410 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 2: this is, they may simply be taking control of a 411 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 2: husk that they had already caused or rot from the inside. 412 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 2: And meanwhile, all of these, all of us control of 413 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 2: the media that they've been taking has not stopped everyone 414 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 2: from fucking hating them. And that's the note that I 415 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,959 Speaker 2: want to leave everyone here on. It doesn't matter how 416 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 2: much of the media these people buy, everyone still hates them. 417 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 2: We can fight them, and we can. 418 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:45,880 Speaker 1: Win It could Happen Here is a production of cool 419 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 1: Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit 420 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: our website cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out 421 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,680 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 422 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,360 Speaker 1: to podcasts. You can now find sources for it could 423 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: Happen here listed directly an episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.