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The Transparency Foundation
State-backed media is a hallmark of totalitarian regimes like Russia, China, and North Korea, but a new proposal in the California legislature would force taxpayers to fund newspapers and media outlets throughout the state — with funding awarded by government bureaucrats of course.
California State Senators Steve Glazer, Benn Allen, and Josh Newman introduced Senate Bill 911 last week to create a $50 million fund which will provide grants for failing local news organizations operating in the state. If enacted, the proposal would make California the first state in the country to force taxpayers to fund the media annually through the state budget.
Critics say the proposed bill is nothing more than a blatant attempt to subsidize left-wing media with taxpayer money.
Carl DeMaio, Chairman of Reform California and a vocal opponent of the proposed bill, said these liberal news outlets have shed subscribers in recent years and are now relying on a law that in essence creates “compelled subscribers” out of California taxpayers.
“After years of one-sided coverage that favors the Left, California media companies have lost millions of moderate and conservative subscribers and are now struggling financially, yet they have no one to blame but themselves for offering a shoddy product,” explained DeMaio.
“These liberal media outlets don’t want to earn back their lost subscribers by providing fair and balanced news, so they are running to their politician friends in Sacramento to pass a bill that essentially makes California taxpayers their ‘compelled subscribers’ through this taxpayer-funded subsidy program,” DeMaio said.
“California politicians just want to bailout their buddies in the liberal media so they can continue to benefit from the media’s one-sided left-wing narrative being advanced on a daily basis by virtually every newspaper and broadcast station in our state,” DeMaio said.
Funding for left-wing media is not necessarily a new idea. Many left-leaning public broadcasting radio stations (and their associated websites) are already funded by your tax dollars thanks to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
In addition, President Joe Biden proposed billions in “tax credits” in his currently-stalled Build Back Better budget that would go to for-profit media outlets. Biden is asking to spend $125 million to subsidize 1,500 “journalists” for five years with annual tax credits ranging from $15,000 to $25,000 per position in the media subsidized.
In introducing the bill, Senator Glazer said California is suffering from a lack of news coverage. While over 1,800 newspapers have shuttered nationally since 2004, California lost the most daily press of any state according to a study by UNC Chapel Hill.
DeMaio says it is absurd to claim California lacks news coverage and contends most of the shuttered newspapers simply reflect a transition from printed newspapers to online platforms providing news.
“What’s next — a proposal to subsidize wagon-wheel manufacturers?” DeMaio quipped.
Glazer also claims SB 911 is needed because media acts as a “government watchdog” that is “vital to the survival of American democracy.”
DeMaio says the opposite will be true under SB 911 and warns there is an inherent conflict-of-interest created when state government funds what should be an independent press.
“If the government is telling woke media that their new business model is to fund themselves with your tax dollars, do you think they’ll report favorably on any efforts to stop tax hikes in the upcoming elections or on liberal candidates for the legislature who will promise to expand the subsidies for media outlets?” asked DeMaio. “Not a chance — this scheme of state funding for media will become a corrupt quid pro quo,” he said.
SB 911’s funding of liberal media outlets is just the tip of the iceberg according to DeMaio. California politicians are finding numerous ways to use taxpayer money to fund left-wing groups and causes.
In January, DeMaio exposed a new program by Governor Newsom to hire 6,500 college students at $10,000 each to canvas door-to-door for left-wing political causes, such as climate change and access to healthcare. The program is funded by California taxpayers and is open to illegal immigrant applicants.
When asked if anything can be done to stop the funding of these liberal causes, DeMaio said that concerned Californians can join him in supporting the nonprofit Transparency Foundation. Their investigatory research aims to shed light on how state and local politicians are funding left-wing groups and causes with taxpayer dollars.
“I urge every concerned California taxpayer to contribute to the Transparency Foundation so they can shine a light on how state and local politicians are trying to fund left-wing groups,” DeMaio concluded.
Get More Information: Transparency Foundation Investigation to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Left-Wing Groups
