President
Donald Trump is making all the headlines with his former lawyer and bag man,
Michael Cohen, getting three years in a federal prison for lying to Congress,
evading taxes, and campaign finance violations.
But what is being missed here, aside from the possible impeachment or
criminal indictment of a sitting president, is that free speech and honest
journalism were shafted.
In a
deliberate effort to make sure candidate Trump wasn’t harmed by a story of sexual
impropriety involving Trump and a Playboy model in one case, and Trump with
porn star Stormy Daniels in another, Trump paid to have stories squashed.
The National Enquirer, though a tabloid rag is still part of the news media, and its actions to not only ignore a credible story but to purposely pay for its rights and disallow anyone else from running it, are despicable and unethical. They should join Cohen in prison, and rot away. Instead, they got immunity to cover their criminal liability – in exchange for dropping a dime on the president.
The National Enquirer, though a tabloid rag is still part of the news media, and its actions to not only ignore a credible story but to purposely pay for its rights and disallow anyone else from running it, are despicable and unethical. They should join Cohen in prison, and rot away. Instead, they got immunity to cover their criminal liability – in exchange for dropping a dime on the president.
Think
about what just happened. We know
there’s yellow journalism out there, where certain media outlets skew the facts
of a story to editorialize a position that is not fair and balanced. We also know many media outlets will
purposely cover or ignore a story because of advertiser demographics and the
political proclivities of the media outlet’s ownership. But did we ever imagine that the media would
knowingly and willingly act in concert with the subjects of a potential
bombshell story to make sure that no one else could ever tell it?
In
the entertainment industry – film, TV, music, and theater – companies can buy
options to stories that they never turn into a product. They pay huge sums to retain these rights,
often with the intention of acting on them only to find out circumstances
change down the road. But some companies
may actually buy the rights with an intent to kill a story from being
told. They fear a competitor will get
it. Or they simply don’t wish for the
story to be told.
But
this isn’t Hollywood or Broadway. This
is the news media – the fourth estate – the checks and balances to the rich and
famous. When the public is deprived of
the truth by manipulative criminals, it can’t make informed decisions or act in
their best interest.
Who
knows how often this happens. Checkbook
journalism is frowned upon anyway. What
if people lie and spin a story in hopes of getting paid to tell it? And what if we have someone with a true story that gets
paid off to silence it?
The government
should have imprisoned members of The
National Enquirer and to take a stand to protect the media and the First
Amendment. That was the real story.
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