Today TalkRadio was de-platformed by YouTube.
Many commentators were horrified and called this move by the google owned video hosting service out for what it is. Censorship and intimidation.
TalkRadio has a few hosts that challenge the UK Government’s ‘we follow the science’ narrative by discussing the tier system and lockdown measures with scientists who have opposing opinion regarding the UK Gov’s own statistics and their analysis of such.
TalkRadio has never been a ‘covidiot’ and has never been an ‘anti vaxer.’ TalkRadio is owned by the Murdoch empire and as such is very much in the mainstream. It is therefore believed that the de-platforming is a slap on the wrist, and ominously done immediately following the UK going into it’s third national lockdown. It is very likely that YouTube will in due course allow TalkRadio back along with it’s mega archive of clips from shows, albeit with a few deleted interviews.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. Martin Niemöller
It has been true for a very long time that the fringe elements of commentary, analysis and forums of debate have been saying that ‘first they will come for me but mark my words they will come for you.’ Alex Jones of InfoWars has, for perhaps twenty years or so, warned that the alternative media would be de-platformed. But, he also warned that the mainstream was also at risk and would be guided into ‘correct forms of reporting’…
Well, Alex was totally de-platformed in August of 2018. Few spoke in his defence. In fact most were gleeful that his voice had been, if not silenced, turned down in volume. Then during the first few weeks of the first UK lockdown a raft of free thinkers and many who are concerned about drugs companies and vaccinations lost their accounts with the likes of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Vimeo.
Again, the mainstream did not rise to the defence of these outspoken fringe reporters and commentators. Of those that had to seek alternative avenues to disseminate their work included David Icke, a globally renowned alternative voice. And David has many times warned that in the interests of the elites the purge would not stop with him but that all journalists would become silenced.
Have you watched a BBC News report recently? News? It really cannot be classed as news, can it? It’s actual government propaganda, as if the government doesn’t need more of that to feed the folks at home. Watching a BBC News report is like listening to a government advert for Covid legislation compliance. The mainstream press, apart from a few columns, in particular that of Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday, have wholeheartedly accepted the governments line and peddle the inaccurate reporting of the manipulated statistics with fervour and I must say a manic glee.
The US Senate has been grilling the social media giants who act in concert when de-platforming and shadow banning. It must be asked who is pulling the strings… This is not news, this is and has been mainstream for quite some time. It’s great fun to watch the Dorsi’s and the Zuckerberg’s squirm under intense questioning. But we need more. We need all journalists to actually defend one another, to do what they actually were trained to do and that has to be to report the truth. (See yesterdays Assange post calling for the defence of freedom and starting that with the defence of Assange.)
TalkRadio is guilty of chatting to some people who see a different approach to the Covid crisis as possible and also of putting government ministers under pressure in interviews. Their de-platforming sends a rather strong message to all reporters and news outlets that freedom of speech is not allowed even if in the main you support the efforts of those you are criticising.
But then we knew that. The earlier trend to remove content, to label Donald Trump tweets and false or disputed but to let Obama inaccuracies through without comment, to de-platform one then many… We knew that freedom of speech and indeed freedom of thought has, for quite some time, been banned.
NEWS IN – TALK RADIO IS BACK!
It will be interesting to note what videos from their back catalogue, if any, are missing and whether TalkRadio have an updated editorial policy in line with ‘guidance’ from YouTube executives.
This was never about de-platforming TalkRadio but all about scaring the bejesus out of journalists and editors across this once pleasant land.
Of course the simple solution to all of this is to have either the platforms admit that they are publishers and so responsible for all content OR have the platforms allow all content without any filters. It really is that simple. But that of course is not in the interests of those with power who seek only to increasingly wield that power.