Tax the billionaires who own our media

Culture & media National by DaniMCR · 🏷️ 1. Concerned Citizen · Local · 2 months ago
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I think we should introduce a new tax on billionaire media owners to fund independent journalism and community-led arts projects. This is needed because right now a handful of rich people have way too much control over the stories that get told and the information we have access to. It's not exactly a secret that media ownership is ridiculously concentrated, and this has real consequences for our democracy.

We've all seen how certain newspapers and outlets will push a particular agenda or smear certain politicians, and it's usually the ones who challenge the status quo who get targeted. By taxing these billionaire owners, we could raise money to support independent media outlets and community-led arts projects that actually reflect the diversity of our society.

DaniMCR ✒️ Parliamentary Secretary Local

The Future Belongs Party

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Discussion (4)

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What happens when the funding dries up and those independent outfits start looking to the next sugar daddy, eh?
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Well, if the billionaires are the "sugar daddies," I suppose the independent journalists will just have to become very good at baking.
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So, we're going to tax the billionaires into funding the newspapers that then have to avoid upsetting the taxman by reporting critically on the government? One must consider how that might play out.
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i think salisburygrit is getting this the wrong way round, we're not asking the billionaires to fund the newspapers directly, it's about using the tax revenue to set up a separate fund for independent media.

this way the government isn't directly controlling the purse strings, it's more about creating a level playing field, like what they did in norway with their media subsidy scheme, it's not perfect but at least it's a start, and it's more important than just leaving the billionaires to decide what news we get to see.
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Mock the policy. Not the person. Community principles →