Oligarchs and authoritarians threaten independent information – infosperber

Red. Richard Reich was US Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He campaigned for increasing the minimum wage and workers' rights. Today he publishes on Substack and works for Inequality Media Civic Action, which he co-founded. His view relates to the USA, but is also relevant to Europe.

Where can we find trustworthy sources of information as we enter the darkness of the Trump regime? What and who can we count on for trustworthy sources of information?

Let me first explain why reliable and independent news sources are threatened by a growing alliance of oligarchs and authoritarians. The mainstream media does not use the term “oligarchy” to describe the billionaires who use their wealth to monopolize information and convert it into propaganda. But it is the most accurate term. The oligarchs range from Elon Musk's “X” to Jeff Bezos' “The Washington Post” to Rupert Murdoch's “Fox News”, Vladimir Putin's global disinformation campaign and Donald Trump's ongoing stream of lies on “Truth Social” and “X”.

Even the established mainstream media – most of which are owned by corporations or billionaires – did not speak plainly during the 2024 election campaign about how incoherent and bizarre Trump was becoming. They normalized and “sanitized” his increasingly wild remarks while reporting on Joe Biden’s every little slip-up.

The New York Times published its report on the presidential debate between Trump and Kamala Harris in September 2024 – in which Trump spouted conspiracy fantasies about stolen elections and Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs – with the title: “Harris and Trump bet to their own, starkly contrasting views of America.”

Trump called the free press “scum” and an “enemy within.” He threatens to revoke TV channels' licenses and put journalists in prison if they don't reveal their anonymous sources. Last month, Trump sued CBS because “60 Minutes” allegedly made “Harris-friendly video edits” at the end of the Harris interview.

Starting January 20, Trump and his billionaire sycophants – including Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Howard Lutnick, Scott Bessent, Doug Burgum and Linda McMahon – will control the executive branch of the US government. Trump's MAGA Republicans will be in charge in both chambers of Congress.

Members of the Supreme Court (some of whom, like Clarence Thomas, were financially backed by billionaires) have already signaled their willingness to concentrate even more power in Trump's hands, shielding him from prosecution for his actions and opening the floodgates for big money in to open up further to American politics.

All of this sends a message from the US that the basic principles of liberalism, including the rule of law and freedom of the press, are at stake.

Elsewhere in the world, alliances between business elites and authoritarians threaten public access to the truth, without which democracy cannot thrive.

It's a vicious circle: Citizens have become cynical about democracy because economic elites dominate decision-making. This cynicism in turn led to authoritarian governments, which these elites serve even more.

Trump and his lapdogs idolize Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian Fidesz party, which is transforming a once-vibrant democracy into a one-party state, powering the media worldwide and rewarding the rich.

Trump's success has already thrilled Marine Le Pen and her “Rassemblement National” party in France, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the far-right Italian politician Giorgia Meloni and right-wing radical parties in the Netherlands and Austria.

Trump's triumph will not only make Russia's Vladimir Putin – the world's most dangerous authoritarian oligarch – stronger in Ukraine and possibly Eastern Europe, but also help his global campaign of disinformation to undermine democracies.

According to a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Musk posted at least 50 false election claims on “X” that were viewed a total of at least 1.2 billion times. None of them had a “community note” from “X’s” alleged fact-checking system.

Murdoch, another oligarchic advocate of authoritarianism, has turned his media outlets Fox News, Wall Street Journal and New York Post into ever louder mouthpieces of right-wing propaganda, further amplifying Trump's lies.

Artificial intelligence could make it even easier for oligarchs and demagogues to manipulate the public.

Bezos banned the Washington Post from supporting Kamala Harris. He obviously didn't want to incur Trump's wrath, since Bezos' other companies depend on government contracts. The very possibility of a Trump presidency forced one of America's boldest newspapers to censor itself. Marty Baron, former editor of the Post, called the move “cowardice of which democracy is the victim.”

Billionaire Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong also blocked his newspaper's planned endorsement of Harris, prompting the editorial director to resign. Mariel Garza said she “doesn’t agree with us remaining silent,” adding, “In dangerous times, honest people must stand up.”

It takes honest people to stand up now to resist authoritarianism and protect democracy. And to act as a watchdog against abuse of power, to monitor those in power, to question them and to raise the alarm about misconduct and wrong policies.

But how can one rise up when there are no reliable sources of truth?

As we enter the darkness of the Trump regime, as many citizens as possible must try to gain access to accurate information about what is happening. To get closer to the truth, I am currently consulting the following sources:

The Guardian, Democracy Now, Business Insider, The New Yorker, The American Prospect, Americans for Tax Fairness, The Economic Policy Institute, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, Heather Cox Richardson and Substack.

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Translated from the original with the help of DeepL, edited and slightly shortened by Max Feurer/upg.