[guest post by Dana]

Government-run media is not the answer to saving journalism:

What we need now are three major shifts. First, we need to pursue a program of fresh near-term media policy reform. Second, we need a new paradigm for media — an ambitious longer-term transformation in funding and ownership. And third, we need an immediate harm-reduction response for reporters and smaller media entities at grave risk.

The writer then proceeds to detail the first point:

On the first count, we should look to civic media models like the one proposed by communications scholar Robert McChesney. Drawing from participatory budgeting and inspired by economist Dean Baker, McChesney’s idea for reform is a local government process where citizens vote on how their county or city’s government media budget should be directed. McChesney proposes a news media voucher program — the Citizenship News Voucher — which, as he wrote in 2010, would make it so that “every American adult gets a $200 voucher she can use to donate government money to any nonprofit news medium of her choice. She will indicate her choice on her tax return. . . . A government agency, possibly operating out of the Internal Revenue Service, can be set up to allocate the funds and to determine eligibility.”

—Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Imagine, Republicans who publicly express deep concern for the child trafficking and exploitation voted no on a resolution condemning Russia for their illegal kidnapping of Ukrainian children and taking them back to Russia during the ongoing war:

On Tuesday, the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution to condemn Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children in the two years since the war began.

Nine Republicans voted against the resolution.

Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the resolution holds the Russian government “responsible for the wrongful and illegal kidnapping of children from Ukraine” and states that doing so “amounts to genocide.”

It would have cost these Republicans nothing to vote yes on the symbolic resolution, other than worrying about what you-know-who might think about it. It’s nothing less than pathetic when 9 House Republicans can’t even muster up the courage to agree that what Russia has done to Ukrainian children (and by extension, their families) is inhumane, depraved, and part of an ongoing genocide. Why should anyone believe their cries against child trafficking here in the U.S. when they can’t even bring themselves to condemn an alleged a murderous war criminal who steals their neighbors’ children by the thousands. This resolution didn’t have any budget strings attached to it. There was no aid money earmarked for Ukraine. It was a simple symbolic resolution that provided our elected representatives the opportunity to go on the record and collectively acknowledge that they (like we) recognize evil. I’m even going to go so far as saying that by not voting for the resolution, these 9 Republicans have given their tacit approval to what Putin is doing.

Here is the summary of the resolution:

This resolution states that the House of Representatives holds the Russian government responsible for the illegal kidnapping of children from Ukraine and condemns these actions. The resolution also (1) declares that illegal adoptions are contrary to the Genocide Convention (the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide); (2) claims that Russia is attempting to wipe out a generation of Ukrainian children; and (3) asserts that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the risks of children being exposed to human trafficking, exploitation, child labor, gender-based violence, hunger, injury, trauma, deprivation of education and shelter, and death.

Here are the nine Republicans who voted against the resolution:

Andy Biggs of Arizona
Eric Burlison of Missouri
Warren Davidson of Ohio
Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
Clay Higgins of Louisiana
Thomas Massie of Kentucky
Matt Rosendale of Montana
Chip Roy of Texas
Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin

Gee, what’s the common denominator there??

–Dana