Judgment, Alex Jones and RT America: When Worlds Collide
Common Sense Entertainment VP and Fit To Speak: From The Archives Host Eugene Obah explains the interesting timing of this week’s edition given recent--and recent past--events
Today’s edition of Fit To Speak: From The Archives, which revisited the conversation we had about cancel culture, included commentary on RT America’s overall impact in media, in which, just like this recent announcement on the future of NBC’s 1PM hour, the sands on the hourglass ran out. And who would have guessed that, when we recorded the newer portions of the program in July, that we’d run into quite a bit of news that relate to the episode...when you watch it, you’ll see how everything interconnects.
By the way, I single out that commentary on RT America’s legacy as a journalistic outfit because—besides the fact that I worked for both production companies in the control room of which RT was the client for 11 years, and that the segment, along with my segment on Unsuck DC Metro’s death, works in context with this edition of the program—while I generally find, as I explain on the program, RT America’s run in the U.S. neither angelic nor devilish, there was one editorial decision at the start of the network’s run that, at a minimum, called the editorial judgment of the network into question (there were others, including the network’s flirtations, if not outright tilt, toward right-wing tropes and the bad-faith that comes with the modern day flavor of “conservatism” toward the end of its run that, in my judgment, was a contributing factor for the network’s demise, but that’s a topic probably best saved for my eventual memoir):
In the early years, one of the network’s frequent bookings was Alex Jones—yes, that Alex Jones of InfoWars fame (such that it is) and who just yesterday was ordered to pay $4M in compensatory damages to two parents of the Sandy Hook shooting, and today was ordered to pay $45M in punitive damages. Alex Jones was, for a period of time—at least until about 2012—a fixture on the network’s newscasts, spouting much of the same nonsense then as he continues to do (it is also worth noting that the network was one of many outlets he plagiarized articles from).
At that time, Alex Jones was nothing more than a fringe guy. But as evidenced throughout the years of Donald Trump’s presidency, much of the fringes have become mainstream. I find that the network, in my judgment, is partially responsible for planting the seeds for Alex Jones’s bloom to the mainstream consciousness. Now, note I did not say that the network is responsible for his actions—Alex Jones is his own man, and he bears all responsibility for anything that he does.
But for a while now, I have strongly believed that the network has not answered enough for, essentially, giving bad faith actors like Alex Jones a platform to spout whatever fiction they please. As you’ll see in two weeks when we air the third part of the cancel culture episode, it is my belief that those of bad-faith should not have a hearing; that by allowing those like Alex Jones their time in the spotlight, it poisons the well of the national discourse. Yes, people like Alex Jones can say whatever it is they want. But as he found out yesterday, speech has consequences, and further, as was the case with RT America earlier this year and maybe soon enough with One America News…
…nobody is obligated to listen.
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