I’m a strong believer in non-profit news. I regularly donate money to The Guardian because it’s a great non-profit newspaper.
http://www.theguardian.com/about
Many for profit news organizations are absolute garbage. But please don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Not all for-profit news organizations are clickbait propaganda. It depends on their business model and their owner.
The New Yorker depends on subscriptions. They employ some of the best writers in the english speaking world.
The Information depends on subscriptions. It’s (very) expensive but they have the best coverage of Silicon Valley.
Rupert Murdoch owns the New York Post, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. In Britain, he owns The Sun. In Australia, he owns 90% of newspapers and Sky News Australia.
He uses his media empire to push his own political views. He encouraged Tony Blair to invade Irak. His newspaper The Sun encouraged British people to leave the European Union by claiming the Queen supported Brexit:
Rupert Murdoch has been publically accused by several world leaders of attempting to blackmail them.
John Major, former British Prime Minister:
http://www.channel4.com/news/major-denies-sun-editor-abused-him-after-black-wednesday
Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister:
Malcom Turnbull, former Australia Prime Minister:
Kevin Rudd, former Australia Prime Minister:
Rupert Murdoch is a real bastard. He was regularly invited by Ronald Reagan to the White House. He came with his lawyer, Roy Cohn.
He is so powerful because there are millions of people who swallow the crap from his media.
Donald Trump praises him.
“Rupert Murdoch is in a class by himself, he’s an amazing guy” President Trump said of the conservative media magnate, who sat smiling in the Oval Office this week
http://thehill.com/media/5133600-trump-murdoch-relation/
Now the bad news
Senator Josh Becker, who represents Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Mountain View, is a major opponent of the bill. While he voted to advance the bill, he emphasized in an interview that his support hinges on significant changes that would need to be made.
Senator Becker said if this were the final vote, he would not have supported SB 79. “I was clear to the team that I will not vote on this bill on the way back unless the radius has changed” he said.
The bill also proved divisive in Palo Alto, where City Council member Pat Burt described the prior version of the bill as a “one-size-fits-all” proposal that takes the “chainsaw to local zoning.
“We’re talking about 55 feet and 5 stories by right without any parking requirements in an Eichler neighborhood” Burt said at an April meeting, referring to Eichler neighborhoods in Palo Alto that are within half a mile of the San Antonio Caltrain station.
This is a great article from Dalhousie University. It especially applies to Canada.
Justin Trudeau, the leader of the centrist Liberal Party, tried to pass a ban on single use plastics.
He faced brutal political backlash. Pierre Poilievre, populist leader of the Conservative Party, campaigned on defending plastics.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-scrap-plastics-ban-1.7514037
Poilievre made television ads claiming the federal Plastics ban was inflicting pain on Canadian families :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bri5-IqHqw