The Man Behind RW Sup Ct Wants to Use $1Bill to 'Crush' Liberal Media, Promote RW News, Entertainment

[appalachiablue]

'The Man Behind the Right-Wing Supreme Court Wants to “Crush” the Liberal Media,' by Chris Lehman, The Nation, Sept. 10, 2024. Edit.
✒ The conservative activist Leonard Leo has declared his intention to spend $1 billion on promoting right-wing ideas in news and entertainment.
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Leonard Leo, the main architect of the right-wing capture of the American judiciary, has a new target in his sights: the American media, which, in his view, is rife with bias and leftist agitprop. In an interview with the Financial Times, Leo—the founder and cochair of the Federalist Society—said he expects this initiative will take up $1 billion of the $1.6 billion that Chicago electronic device heir Barre Seid used to bankroll the Marble Freedom Trust, Leo’s ambitious new nonprofit foundation to spread right-wing influence across the cultural landscape.

“We need to crush liberal dominance where it’s most insidious,” Leo told FT reporter Alex Rogers.

“So we’ll direct resources to build talent and capital formation in the areas of news and entertainment, where leftwing extremism is most evident.”

It’s unclear whether Leo intends to marshal these capital investments behind a new media brand or seeks to have future right-wing commentators, editors and reporters matriculate in a Marble-branded ideological boot camp—something akin to Bari Weiss’s Univ. of Austin for a new media elite. Leo indicated that he was thinking of purchasing a media property in a local market, but he’s not yet settled on one.

While $1 billion won’t get one very far toward establishing a game-changing media property on the scale of Murdoch’s Fox News empire, it’s still a commitment that can wreak no small amount of havoc in a media industry that is starved for revenue and already routinely defers to right-wing actors and agendas. The news just broke last week that enterprising Russian propagandists were able to line up a roster of obliging video and social media hacks—er, influencers—for a comparatively modest $10 million outlay. No doubt Leonard Leo regards such flailing efforts as a personal challenge.

Besides, Leo’s proven MO is not to erect the foundations of a RW counter-establishment from scratch—it’s to selectively target the creaking joists and load-bearing walls in a vulnerable property, in order to accelerate its demolition and reconstruction along strict new ideological lines. The Federalist Society’s successful infiltration of the court system with the appointment of Justices Barrett, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh offers a grim playbook that would be easy to duplicate in America’s feckless and wayward news business. The US news industry is so weakened now that Leo could buy a conservative majority on the editorial board of The NYT with less money than it cost him to keep Gorsuch’s seat on the Supreme Court warm for him,”...
https://thenation.com/article/society/leonard-leo-liberal-media/
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- Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has long believed that independent journalism has the capacity to bring about a more democratic and equitable world.

[ColinC]

1. Reinstate the fairness doctrine and reinforce antitrust laws to break up media ownership.

Reinstate a tax system that eliminates billionaires.

[appalachiablue]

6. I wish for that too, it's very serious. Major changes are desperately needed.

[Voltaire2]

11. Fairness doctrine only applied to broadcast media.

However, the abolition of the restrictions on media ownership certainly needs to be undone.

[ColinC]

13. Good point. I forget just how much "independent media" has proliferated.

And additional means of regulation wil be necessary.

[Walleye]

2. At least the billionaires are spending their money, that will help the economy.not much good it'll do them in politics I

[appalachiablue]

5. We can hope! Thanks for replying.

[Walleye]

12. Ridicule may be the best tool we have right now

[Voltaire2]

14. Seriously?

First of all, they don’t keep their loot in gold coins in a vault. They invest it to produce more wealth. It’s always being ‘spent’.

Secondly more well funded fascist propaganda outlets will have an effect and the effect will be more fascist fools.

There is zero good about this. It is oligarchs taking over society using their power and wealth to control and corrupt.

[Walleye]

15. Just saying, we shouldn't be afraid of the wealthy, they don't always win

[Voltaire2]

16. With a few exceptions the wealthy ruling class

has won everything. Even when they have a setback, like for example the New Deal, they just regroup and regain control.

[Walleye]

17. It just means we have to outnumber them and get out the vote

I refuse to believe that we are helpless against this shit.

[Voltaire2]

21. They've been winning for at least 250 years. They are very good at it.

Getting out the vote is necessary but not sufficient.

[Walleye]

22. So what then, armed conflict?

[Voltaire2]

23. Oh hell no. That just makes everything worse.

What would work is a global general strike. I have no fucking clue how to organize it, but with sufficient courage and resolve it would force them to bend the knee and come to terms.

[ColinC]

18. Kinda true

[Walleye]

19. Thanks, I have decided that billionaires are just huge hoarders

If they didn’t have money, their houses would be full of old newspapers, stacked neatly

[rzemanfl]

3. From the title, I thought he was going to use actual dollar bills somehow.

Duh. I need coffee.

[appalachiablue]

4. I get it, heh. Have to abbreviate sometimes and it's early.

[rzemanfl]

20. Well. TSF writes on flags, so why wouldn't he hire people to deface currency.

[WA-03 Democrat]

7. Change the law

Bring back the fairness doctrine after Leo gets his $1b spent. Seems fair.

[appalachiablue]

9. Yes, bring it back, the billion will go fast in this new enterprise.

[onecaliberal]

8. Break up consolidation into a million pieces.

[appalachiablue]

10. Yep, somehow. It's seriously needed, overdue before this country really tanks.

[travelingthrulife]

24. Hey IRS...WHY is this a tax-exempt organization?