For decades, the New York Times’ tagline has been that it will print all the news that is fit to print. For a traditional paper-based publication with a limited number of pages, it was a tall claim that held for generations.
But in the modern digital era, space is not a limitation. Online newspapers and media outlets permit comments from registered subscribers, but these are heavily moderated and taken down under the terms of agreement of each publication.
On X, given the relatively relaxed rules for citizen debate, people can comment on other people’s opinions and originate content. This is a powerful way to share information, even with many posts’ errors and disinformation. Disinformation is community-noted and flagged where the original post stays, and experts who disagree with the author provide information that users can see for themselves. The best part is that there is no censorship as long as whatever appears is legal.
All speech is permitted because X, as a platform, has no specific political agenda. This makes X a valuable resource unmatched by any publication, and the fact that it is free makes it even more useful.
Consider a critical moment on Monday during oral arguments in a First Amendment case at the Supreme Court. Justice Ketanji Jackson said something appalling for someone on the Supreme Court. Addressing the lawyer representing Louisiana, Missouri, and private plaintiffs, Jackson said:
My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the federal government in significant ways in the most important time periods.
It was an extraordinary statement for a Supreme Court justice to make. The First Amendment outlaws the Government from abridging speech or preventing its free exercise – so was Jackson directly contradicting the Constitution?
The majority of liberal media outlets ignored Justice Jackson’s ridiculous question, but X picked it up. No sooner than Jackson spoke, hundreds of posts had mocked her comments, many of which included the full audio comment from C-SPAN to provide context.
When Fox News dutifully reported the story later, it relied on these posts on X to build its story. This kind of citizen journalism, where ordinary people can expose the truth, thrives on X and is a deep disrupter of the established media outlets.
It is easy to forget that the term “the Fourth Estate” was created so that the media could bring truth to those in power and serve as a watchdog over the other three branches of Government. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post brought down an entire administration through brilliant and copious investigative reporting. Thirty years later, Knight Ridder Washington reporters Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay fought a lone battle to expose the questionable intelligence used to justify Bush 43’s war in Iraq even as the legacy media blindly printed pro-government stories.
Media outlets are hopelessly compromised by their biases and wilfully omit context when they report. Speaking at an election rally in Michigan, former President Trump used the word “bloodbath” to describe the economic hardships that would result if China used Mexico as a region from which to flood cars to America using USMCA, the North American trade agreement. Trump was talking about jobs in automotive manufacturing that have already been negatively affected by Biden’s aggressive push for EVs, which, on average, require fewer workers to build.
Every major news outlet, including NBC News, CBS News, and CNN, endlessly repeated the bloodbath comment and connected it to Trump’s purported desire to promote political violence. Again, X came to the rescue. Within minutes of these reports criticizing Trump, hundreds of posts showed the actual clip to provide the full context to readers.
X also has the reach to dispel lies. When Elon Musk retweeted Trump’s full bloodbath video clip, it got 67 million views, more than the combined viewing of all the media outlets that promoted the negative bloodbath story. It was another outstanding example of citizen journalism where ordinary citizens held the media powers-that-be to the truth.
When Liz Cheney brought out her star witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, to narrate her sensational story that former President Trump lunged for the steering wheel of the Beast to force the vehicle to go to the J6 rally, the media gasped. Thousands of stories criticized Trump for his obsession with keeping power even after losing the 2020 election. No established reporter directly questioned Hutchinson about her hearsay testimony in which she said she had overheard her then-boss, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, talk about the lunging.
On March 11, 2024, a House administration subcommittee on oversight released a report stating that four White House employees, under oath, directly contradicted Hutchinson’s claims. One unnamed driver told the committee’s investigators: “[President Trump] never grabbed the steering wheel. I didn’t see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all.” These Secret Service employees are far more credible than Hutchinson. They were in the car when the alleged lunging took place.
Again, it was citizen journalists, thousands of them who are aghast at how the Biden administration has charged and held J6 protesters in prison, who promoted the House report on X. It soon became viral, trending so rapidly that the established media outlets were forced to cover the story.
TIPP surveys repeatedly show Americans’ trust in media coverage has hit rock bottom. The media exists to promote a liberal agenda, just as authoritarian governments in Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea. In the ultimate irony, our media criticizes these governments for doing precisely what it does here at home.
The proof is in the pudding. Chickens have come home to roost for the legacy media. The festering lack of trust has persisted for too long and serves as a significant, albeit often unstated, reason behind headlines such as News industry off to brutal 2024 start as mass layoffs devastate publishers, raising questions about the future of journalism.
Thanks to X, we do not have to consume such biased corporate media content. We can judge the truth for ourselves, with no moderation needed.
TIPP Takes
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. U.S. Submits UN Draft Resolution Calling For Gaza Ceasefire, Release Of Hostages – AFP
“Well, in fact, we actually have a resolution that we put forward right now that’s before the United Nations Security Council that does call for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages, and we hope very much that countries will support that,” Blinken said.
The United States, Israel’s main backer, had previously used its UN Security Council veto to block the world body from calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
2. Hamas Says Israeli Response To Its Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Was Negative – Reuters
A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government were responsible for the failure to negotiate a hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and stop the fighting in Gaza.
3. Why Israel Is So Determined To Launch An Offensive In Gaza’s Rafah – Al Arabiya
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel can’t achieve its goal of “total victory” against Hamas without tackling Rafah.
Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last major stronghold in the Gaza Strip after operations elsewhere dismantled 18 out of the militant group’s 24 battalions, according to the military.
Israel says Hamas has four battalions in Rafah and that it must send ground forces to topple them. Some senior militants could also be hiding in the town.
4. Ukrainian Drones Attacked Engels Air Base Deep Inside Russia, Kyiv Source Says – Reuters
Ukrainian drones operated by the GUR military intelligence agency attacked the Engels air base deep inside Russian territory, and Kyiv was assessing the damage, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
The governor of the Saratov region, where the base is located, said Ukrainian drones had been downed near the city of Engels but did not report any damage.
The base is the main home of Russia’s long-range strategic bomber fleet and is hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border.
5. Kyiv Is Under Russian Missile Attack, Mayor Says – Reuters
Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, early Thursday, injuring eight people and damaging residential buildings and industrial facilities, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
It was the first large missile attack on Kyiv in recent weeks.
6. Russian Oil Refineries Targeted By Ukraine’s Drones – tippinsights
Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion has entered a new phase, pitting homegrown drone technology against a swathe of largely Soviet-era oil facilities.
At least nine major refineries have been successfully attacked this year, currently taking 11% of the country’s total capacity offline by some estimates.
7. Germany Won’t Accept Putin-Dictated Ukraine Peace — Scholz – D.W.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has told lawmakers that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a mistake if he thought Germany would stop supporting Ukraine. His speech, which preceded an EU summit, also touched on Gaza.
“If the Russian president believes that he just has to sit out this war and we will weaken in our support, then he has himself miscalculated,” said Scholz. “We will not accept a dictated peace at the expense of Ukraine,” he added.
8. China Plans To Ease Visa Rules To Attract Foreign Talent And Money – Nikkei Asia
China promised to relax its visa requirements to attract overseas workers under a wider liberalization plan after foreign investments fell to a record low last year.
The government outlined plans at a news conference that range from eliminating entry barriers to foreign investment in the manufacturing and financial sectors to issuing long-term work visas to expatriates and their families.
9. Experts: China Is Sequencing Uyghur DNA For Organ Harvesting – RFA
Chinese authorities are collecting genetic data from the country’s Muslim Uyghur minority as part of a forced organ transplant program marketed to Muslim medical tourists from Gulf states, experts told a U.S. congressional committee hearing.
The medical tourists are willing to pay premiums for organs from fellow Muslims who abstain from pork and alcohol, the experts said, with DNA-matched Uyghur “donors” being rendered brain-dead and flown from Xinjiang in the country’s west to hospitals in the east.
10. China-Based Canadian Accused Of Stealing Tesla Secrets – D.W.
Two men have been accused of starting a business in China by stealing trade secrets from electric car manufacturer Tesla and conspiring to sell them to undercover law enforcement officers, U.S. federal prosecutors said.
The prosecutors did not name the U.S.-based company. Still, they said it had acquired a Canada-based manufacturer of battery assembly lines in 2019, and both men are former employees of the Canadian company. Tesla was then the sole owner of the technology.
11. “Recognise Arunachal Pradesh As Indian Territory”: U.S. On China’s Claim – PTI
State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said the U.S. recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and strongly opposes any attempts to advance territorial claims across the Line of Actual Control.
The remarks come days after the Chinese military reiterated its claim over the state following the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit there. China routinely objects to Indian leaders’ visits to the state to highlight its claims. Beijing has also named the area Zangnan.
12. U.S. Targets Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Programs With Fresh Sanctions – UPI
The Biden administration has blacklisted three procurement networks accused of supporting Iran’s ballistic missile, nuclear and defense programs.
According to the U.S. Treasury, the networks, which consist of five people and five entities, are based in Iran, Turkey, Oman, and Germany.
The Middle Eastern country has been accused of selling drones to Russia, and evidence has been uncovered that the Kremlin has used them in the Ukraine war.
13. Khamenei: ‘Resistance’ Groups Independent, U.S. Wrong To Blame Iran For Their Actions – Al Arabiya
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the United States was wrong to blame Iran for every anti-U.S. action in the Middle East, saying that Tehran-backed militants in the region operate autonomously.
“Of course, we defend the resistance. We support the resistance groups as much as we can,” Khamenei said, referring to a network of regional militant groups supported by Tehran, including the Palestinian group Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, various militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen.
“But these groups decide and act independently,” Iran’s top leader added.
14. Tanker Loaded With Acid Capsizes Off Coast Of Japan – Infographic – tippinsights
A South Korean-flagged chemical tanker carrying industrial acid has capsized in stormy seas off southwestern Japan, killing at least eight of the crew.
The tanker carried around 980 tonnes of acrylic acid, used in plastics, resin, and coatings, and can irritate the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes.
15. Sudan One Of The ‘Worst Humanitarian Disasters In Recent Memory,’ UN Warns – Al Jazeera
Sudan is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history after nearly a year of war, the United Nations has warned.
Fighting between the army, headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, since last April has killed tens of thousands of people, as the threat of famine looms amid international inaction.
According to the UN, the conflict has led to more than eight million people being displaced.
16. How Gangs Came To Dominate Haiti – tippinsights
The spiral of gang violence sparked by the still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 has left much of the poverty-stricken Caribbean country on the brink of collapse.
On March 12, Ariel Henry, who leads an interim government, said he would step down amid growing violence and a humanitarian crisis. Henry’s resignation, however, seems unlikely to solve Haiti’s decades-long crisis of governance – punctuated by violence, natural disasters, and external interventions.
17. Global Fertility Rates To Plunge In Decades Ahead: Report – Reuters
According to a study published in the journal Nature, fertility rates in nearly all countries will be too low to sustain population levels by the end of the century, and most of the world’s live births will occur in poorer countries.
Senior researcher Stein Emil Vollset from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said the trend would lead to a “baby boom” and “baby bust” divide across the world, with the boom concentrated in low-income countries that are more susceptible to economic and political instability.
18. Because Of Weather, Forecasters Warn 2024 Could Be Bad For Allergy Sufferers – UPI Health
AccuWeather meteorologists are already warning that it could be a bad year for allergies due to the weather.
“This year will start much earlier than most years in the East,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert said. “We could look at things to be a full month ahead of normal with tree pollen and still ahead with when grass pollen starts.”
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
