Collapse of Internet Subscription Services

(April 22, 2022) Although the incipient collapse of Internet subscriptions services may seem to be irrelevant to the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction, it indicates a shift in how information will be disseminated to the public. The collapse of Netflix’s stock price and the quickly abandoned CNN+ streaming platform signify two points.

First, inflation has left consumers with too little discretionary income to pay for the subscriptions. Second, the public is getting increasingly annoyed at the political bias of entertainment and news media. As Elon Musk put it after learning of the Netflix stock collapse: “The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable.” That is not an exaggeration. Almost 100% of the political donations that Netflix and its employees make are to the Democrat Party and the programming is saturated with Identity Victimhood, antiracism, and Critical Race Theory messaging.

As for newspapers, it seems only a few short years ago that Internet surfers could access nearly all of them for free, including the Washington Post and the New York Times. The exceptions, like the Wall Street Journal, were few. Now, virtually all newspapers—including those in small towns—sharply limit free access and try to quickly shift visitors to a pay wall. (The New York Post is a welcome exception.) They’re probably not having much success with the pay walls as evidenced by their pleas for Federal subsidies. In fact, they are begging for subsidies that will transform each one into an American version of Soviet Russia’s Pravda, which is a word that ironically translates to “truth.” You don’t believe me?

Consider that nearly all newspapers have been kept in operation by COVID relief government bailout money. Almost none will repay the so-called loans. My town’s local paper got $8 million and its already a version of American Pravda. Now that COVID funds are drying up local news organizations across the country are urging Congress to pass the Save Local Journalism Bill. It provides two remedies to the so-called local journalism crisis.

First, it provides direct monetary subsidies from the Federal government to selected legacy news organizations (the Regime Media) such as local newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations. Second, it provides an antitrust exemption to those legacy news organizations enabling them to collude in order to negotiate collectively with Internet traffic generating websites such as Google, Meta (formerly FaceBook), and the Drudge Report. The result will be a news cartel empowered to charge the traffic generating sites fees for links to cartel news articles and videos of the cartel members. NBC, ABC, CBS, the New York Times, and the Washington Post will all be cartel members but independent sources, such as Joe Rogan, will not. Thus, Google and Meta will not pay Rogan but will be required to pay Big Media.

In short, the Save Local Journalism Bill shows that the Regime Media realizes there are too many media properties trying to survive on subscription services. Therefore, they must use coercion to extract fees from traffic generators and exclusion of newer media properties from cartel’s revenue sharing agreements. Unfortunately, the Regime Media has such influence that the Save Local Journalism Bill is getting support from both political parties. If your congressman supports the Bill, consider voting him out of office in November.

Another consequence of the pending subscription media shakeout is that the survivors will be echo chambers. A lot of people like me will never pay a dime to the Washington Post, whereas I would visit their website if the articles were free. Consequently, subscribers to the Post, the New York Times, and similar outlets will all be of the same political persuasion. Although the Daily Wire is likely to survive the shakeout because it provides a true alternative to the delusions promoted by the Regime Media, it will also be an echo chamber. It is doubtful that they will say anything in defense of the South and our heritage.

Presumably all of you realize there is no news subscription that gives a damn about Southern and Confederate Heritage. Therefore, one way for you to fight back is to buy my books. They will provide information favorable to Southern history that will never see the light of day at the academies and Regime Media.