I had an entirely different article planned this week.
Then I began listening to talk about Pres. Donald Trump’s address last week and how it wasn’t aired on a variety of national news stations.
Okay, I just want to shake my head and ask why you guys are still sucking up mainstream media news as if it is accurate.
If you are… well, let’s just say this is 2026 and you are woefully behind the times if you have not clued into mainstream media.
Mainstream media like most big players in the psyop world are not your friends. It’s like feeding candy to a baby and people gobble it up without stopping to look at the ingredients.
My personal outlook is the news media should go ahead and air all president’s addresses and let the public decide.
You give a little, you get a little.
I’ve heard people saying the networks not airing the speech was communism/socialism and all the other buzzwords that get people frenzied. And, while that isn’t true, it was poor form by the media.
You do know that same media sets the agenda you live and breathe by every day, right? It’s why I’ve not owned a television for many decades.
So yes, they should have aired it, but there have been other presidents who did not have their addresses aired.
In September 2022, President Biden’s address wasn’t aired by ABC, CBS, and NBC. They declined to broadcast his primetime speech on threats to democracy, deeming it too political so close to the midterm elections.
In November 2014, ABC, CBS, and NBC declined to broadcast Barack Obama’s primetime address on executive actions on immigration, citing it a political policy speech not a national emergency.
And in 1986 and 1987, networks bypassed some of Ronald Reagan’s addresses, like the Contra aid speech and an address supporting a Supreme Court nominee, labeling both political advocacy – not breaking news.
Trump’s address last week wasn’t aired because networks cited concerns over the intentional spread of unverified statements and election conspiracies.
That seems like a big ‘ol elephant in the room like someone is throwing stones from a glass house.
CNN said they did not air last week’s address because of Trump’s “well-documented history” of false claims regarding the 2020 election, prioritizing fact-checking over giving a live, uninterrupted platform to unsubstantiated claims.
Anytime I hear the term fact-checking and media I break out in belly laughs.
Major television networks do maintain editorial independence and are not required to broadcast presidential remarks; they can do what they want.
So, for all those sounding the alarm of communism or socialism let me remind you the networks have First Amendment right to decide what they broadcast even if the motivations, and fallout differ because of the reasoning.
Either way, you could have watched another network who was airing Trump’s address.
If we ever have an entire blackout of all networks airing a presidential address or anything else, then we’re in trouble.
For now, it is worth mentioning media control, government pressure on broadcast licenses, and the filtering of a leader’s speeches, these do currently touch on fundamental political and psychological concepts.
The question really is who owns the media?
That is an elementary question; BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, who are they? Money people with big reasons to own the media and big reasons to make sure you are sucking it all up without asking questions.
BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street do not represent socialism or communism – they represent controlling the agenda.
Remember, in classical socialist and communist political systems, the state owns or heavily regulates key industries, including the press.
We could run into the issue of a political leader threatening to revoke a broadcast license from an independent media network for not airing a speech. But that isn’t state-run media, that is at the moment in the United States, lobbyist run media.
And we’re back to the word of the year psyop, a psychological operation that involves organized dissemination of information – or the withholding of it – to influence the emotions, motives, and objective reasoning of a target audience.
Sounds familiar? It keeps everyone in an uproar, and no one actually sees what is really happening.
This mess we saw with Trump’s address is a deeper-rooted systemic tension existing in modern democracy where the media decides what is true and what is newsworthy (think lobbyist agenda again). Then you have the government’s role in regulating public airwaves without infringing on free speech.
Finally, the public must navigate for themselves the fractured information landscape where it has become increasingly difficult to find trusted, neutral sources.
So, if you didn’t see Trump’s speech it’s your own fault because there were networks that aired it.
And just to offer advice on if you are being indoctrinated – analyze headlines and identify loaded, emotional language designed to trigger anger, fear, or validation.
Also count how many viewpoints are represented; fair reporting includes quotes from multiple opposing sides.
Distinguish fact from opinion, spot bias by omission, and consider tone and judgmental adjectives that tell you how to feel rather than reporting facts.
And as you keep fighting over who got censored last week while the trillion-dollar fund managers laughed all the way to the bank, I am headed back to my blissful, TV-free life. Wake me up when they figure out how to monetize our actual thoughts. Until then, keep your eyes open – and stop swallowing the corporate candy.
Rita Cook is a freelance writer for The Ellis County Press. She can be reached at rcook13@earthlink.net.