Dirty Mitch McConnell Agrees To Allow Passage Of The JCPA, A Media Cartel Bailout

On Monday Mitch McConnell once again threw conservatives under the bus by siding with big tech and big media companies who want to monopolize news being reported on big tech platforms.

McConnell reportedly agreed with Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer in adding the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) Big Media Bailout Bill to the Defense Authorization Act that will be voted on this month.

Yes, the political establishment, is working to bail out the establishment news establishment, as they are losing viewers and readers so fast their collective financial futures look bleak. Just as George W. Bush bailed out the big banks, and Obama the auto industry, Congressional leaders want Biden to bail out the news industry.

Technically lawmakers are planning to attach it to the NDAA, a “must pass” bill that is meant to fund U.S. national defense.

There is a narrow exception in the JCPA carving out publications that are clearly “owned or controlled” by foreign powers. This very weak exception has not been revised since the JCPA was introduced and would instantly be abused by Russian, Chinese, and other foreign interests. “Owned or controlled” does not mean Chinese or Russian entities cannot partner with or pay publications in other countries to carry their propaganda.

According to Breitbart, the JCPA is a transfer of wealth from Silicon Valley to Big Media — the same people who are currently being scrutinized for their involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

The JCPA creates a “must carry and must pay” scheme, forcing U.S. tech companies both to carry and pay for the content of news organizations through mandatory arbitration agreements.

The bill will also allow Big Media to form a joint entity to suppress content from independent competitors.

Breitbart.com reported:

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell has caved to outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and will allow the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to include the highly controversial media cartel bill the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News.

Over objections from House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, the likely next Speaker of the House come Jan. 3 of next year, other congressional leaders acquiesced to lobbyist pressure and agreed to include the JCPA in the base text of the NDAA. McCarthy was the only member of Congressional leadership to fight back against the inclusion, but was overruled three to one after McConnell caved.

The JCPA has absolutely nothing to do with national defense, so the move—a swan song of sorts for Pelosi, who just announced she is leaving congressional leadership but retaining her House seat after Democrats lost the majority to the GOP in the midterm elections—is an egregious step for an outgoing leader of the past against precedent as the NDAA has generally been reserved just for national security matters…

…The JCPA, essentially a transfer of wealth from Silicon Valley to the discredited and distrusted corporate legacy media, is highly controversial. Beyond the financial payouts to media companies, they will be able to form a “joint negotiating entity” — a cartel, immune from antitrust law — to negotiate with Big Tech companies on the “terms and conditions” for carrying their content.

Censorship is sure to be a frequent demand of media companies. Despite provisions in the bill that purportedly stop media companies from negotiating the suppression of any one competitor, there is nothing to stop them asking their content to be prioritized over broadly-drawn categories that are used as pretexts for censorship, like “disinformation.”

Nothing to see here, right Mitch?

Wrong, if this passes it will most likely prevent small publications and independent journalists from getting their message and reporting in front of the masses online but could allow our enemies to get their propaganda through using a current loophole in the bill.