Trump investigates public media reporters for criticizing his administration (www.alternet.org)

submitted 1 month ago by Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 17 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In the tweet, Herman quoted a nonprofit leader who criticized Trump's cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development as making Americans "less safe at home and abroad." Grenell called Herman's tweet "treasonous."

“You don’t get to work against the official U.S. government policies while being paid by US taxpayers,” said Grenell, who is officially the Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions. “You should be immediately fired.”

And there it is. It is now "treasonous" and a fireable offense for a member of the press to express an opinion critical of the Trump administration. This is where we are now. Freedom of speech, expression, and the press are no longer a thing. You can literally lose your job and be put under criminal investigation for criticizing Donald Trump.

[-] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 month ago

a fireable offense for a member of the press

VOA journalists are anything but. They are not free press.

[-] gon@lemm.ee 0 points 1 month ago

I'm not sure what you mean by this. They're state-sponsored, but they are at least supposed to be free, on account of the firewall and the VOA charter.

[-] Blooper@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No no no - only paywalled, ad-supported, doomsday prep and gold bullion-slinging, enshittified news outlets are "free press". Honestly, if you're not creating value for shareholders, can you even consider yourself a journalist?

[-] gon@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

Honestly, if you’re not creating value for shareholders, can you even consider yourself a journalist?

Surely not!

[-] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Reminder, it’s pledge week for many public radio stations / NPR affiliates.

DONATE

Give whatever you can. This is the time to actually give. These poor journalists are having to pay for legal counsel with a shoe string budget.

[-] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

As much as I hate Trump, there's a logic in this. VOA has always been a publicly-funded propaganda mouthpiece. They are NOT an independent media. Independence entails not taking money from people you want to criticize.

If VOA refuses to spew out the latest flavor of propaganda, they're not doing their job.

[-] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago

So you're going with "freedom of speech doesn't apply if you work for the government"?

[-] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 month ago

It would be better if it did, but you shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't, anymore than you should expect the Washington Post to criticize Bezos or Fox News Rupert Murdoch.

[-] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Except for the whole "first amendment" part, remember? Bezos isn't legally prohibited from infringing on freedom of the press.

The government isn't allowed to do things an individual might be able to.
You're literally arguing that the first amendment doesn't apply to government employees, which is absolute horseshit.

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Bootlicker.

[-] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org -1 points 1 month ago

What part of "As much as I hate Trump" don't you understand?

[-] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

The part where you then licked the boots, most likely.

"I'm a staunch vegetarian, but even I like a big ribeye once in a while". You can see why people might disregard the first part.

It's hard to focus on where you say you dislike trump when the following bit is where you justify calling criticism of him treason.

[-] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

The President has plenty of propaganda tools at his disposal without having a "news organization" make shit up.

[-] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

But what you don't understand is that VOA is not a news organization. It was created during WW2 by the Office of the Coordinator of Information for the express purpose of spreading pro-American propaganda in Germany and in Japan. And it has kept doing exactly that ever since.

I remember it showering the USSR with pro-American high-power shortwave radio broadcasts in Russian and in English when I was a kid in the 70's. Everybody knew VOA was America's response to radio Moscow.

VOA is quite explicitely a propaganda thing. Really! You guys can downvote me all you want, it's the plain truth. VOA journalists are quite literally paid to spread American propaganda.

His Orangeness has decided to turn the country around 180 degrees and make it a fascist pro-Russia state and I despise him with all my heart. But Trump is right: the VOA has no business not being 100% aligned with him.

That makes the VOA an enemy of freedom, democracy and common decency, just like Trump.

[-] EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 month ago

VOA, RFA, RFE, and a shitton of others are nothing but propaganda machines for the US

[-] EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml -3 points 1 month ago

The number of people thinking the AID in USAID implies assistance is insane. The number of media outlets receiving propaganda money from USAID to spread US propaganda is insane.

this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025

3 points (100.0% liked)

politics

22833 readers

3678 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News