Sesame Street, State Media, and the Fast March to Fascism

Public Broadcasting is dead, "Bias Monitors" are alive, and we're one step closer to state media -- but we are not helpless

It’s hard to overstate how devastating the Trump regime’s latest move is: the total defunding and shutdown of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). This calculated attack will kneecap NPR and PBS, strip millions of children of educational programming, and further erode one of the few remaining pillars of independent, public-minded journalism and storytelling in America. Adding to this injury is the insult of a required “bias monitor” before Trump’s FCC approves the Skydance/Paramount merger. We are one step closer to state media, and we need to keep ourselves informed. How? Let’s Address This.

Canceling the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

I didn’t grow up with wealth or privilege, or with English as my primary language. But I did grow up with Sesame Street. Like countless low-income kids across the country, and like many immigrant children just trying to get by, PBS was my first classroom. It taught me letters and numbers, but also empathy, fairness, and how to see people different from me as neighbors, not threats. That kind of education—the kind that opens minds instead of closing them—is precisely what the conservative movement is desperate to destroy.

Their efforts are nothing new. In April 1970, Mississippi’s all-White State Commission for Educational Television voted to ban Sesame Street from its airwaves. Why? Because the show dared to show Black and White children playing together. “The state has enough problems to face up to without adding to them,” said one commissioner (who was appointed by segregationist Governor John Bell).

And here we are again.

Public broadcasting, with all its imperfections, was designed to uplift truth, diversity, and shared humanity. But truth and diversity are anathema to authoritarianism. So Trump’s enablers, like their segregationist predecessors, are targeting the voices that challenge white supremacy, corporate greed, and state-sanctioned cruelty. But it gets even worse.

The Definitely Not Fascist “Bias Monitor”

Meanwhile, Trump’s grip on the media is tightening in more explicit ways. I recently reported on the murky details behind the settlement that allowed the controversial merger between Skydance and Paramount to proceed—which seemed to include the cancellation of Stephen Colbert. And now we know the cost of that deal: censorship and compliance.

To gain approval, Skydance agreed to implement a “bias monitor”—an ombudsman tasked with investigating and reporting on perceived political “bias” within CBS. Think about that. A right-wing-aligned corporation will soon have someone installed to police news content for the crime of offending MAGA sensibilities. This is not just regulatory overreach—it’s a blueprint for state media.

The terms of the deal go even further. Skydance also pledged to eliminate all of Paramount’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. In letters filed with the FCC, they proudly declared that they do not—and will not—support DEI in any form. When a government takes punitive steps to deny qualified voices from going on air, just because they come from marginalized communities, while simultaneously enforcing a “bias monitor,” the result is anything but fairness.

So let’s be clear: we are watching a coordinated campaign not only to gut free press and educational programming, but to re-engineer American media into a tool of white nationalist, anti-democratic propaganda. When you erase DEI, you erase civil rights. When you install “bias monitors,” you erase journalistic integrity. When you shut down PBS and NPR, you erase access to truth for millions of working-class families.

We must demand better. We deserve better. And we must fight like hell to protect what’s left—because what’s happening isn’t just a funding decision. It’s a test. A test of whether we still believe in democracy, equity, and a free press—or whether we’re willing to trade all of it for the comforting lie that authoritarianism brings order.

Here are steps we can take to pass that test. While the first step is, and always will be, to recognize the challenge we face, we also need more substantive steps than “trying harder.” Here are some examples of what that looks like.

How We Fight Back

1. Support Independent Media

I launched Let’s Address This to loudly and clearly confront injustice while demanding accountability. More than 525 articles and 30 million readers later, we’ve built something powerful. We’ve exposed corruption, elevated marginalized voices, and challenged fascism at every step. But I can’t do this alone.

If you’re a subscriber, thank you. If you’re not yet, please join us. No paywalls. No billionaire backers. Just people-powered media. Every subscription, every share, every read chips away at the disinformation machine.

2. Use Ground News to Cut Through the Noise

How do we counter government run “bias monitors” and recognize the actual bias behind major media corporations? How do we know the article we’re reading is grounded in fact, not government talking points? I invite you to look at what Ground News has to offer, because it is more than a news website and app—it’s a critical tool in a disinformation age. I use it every day. If you care about combatting misinformation and disinformation—and I know you do—you need Ground News.

In addition to gathering related articles globally in one place, revealing source bias and factuality, they cut through partisanship and sensationalism to focus on the facts—Ground News reports on who funds a media outlet.

Only 14% of media is Independent while 38% are owned by billionaires. That’s a problem. And that’s what we’re trying to address by keeping readers better informed.

So even if you didn’t know a media outlet had a government mandated “bias monitor,” you would have an independent resource to show you how a media outlet comments on the critical issues you care about. Moreover, Ground News will show you where media funding comes from.

Example of Ground News showing you how the White House vs an Independent media outlet reports on the same story.

It’s also worth mentioning that Ground News itself is subscriber supported, not billionaire funded. So by subscribing, you directly support my newsletter and you contribute to keeping the media transparent. And right now if you subscribe to Ground News at my exclusive link below, you’ll conveniently get 40% off their Vantage Plan, the same one I use. That's $5/month to stop letting other people's agendas control how you think.

Conclusion

Once, the media was called the “fourth estate,” a watchdog to hold power accountable. Today, much of it has been reduced to a lapdog, justifying its own subservience under the guise of “neutrality.” But there is nothing neutral about normalizing fascism.

So we’re left with a choice: accept this collapse, or build something better.

That’s why I created Let’s Address This. Because justice needs a megaphone, not a muzzle. Because the truth deserves more than 30 seconds of airtime before being buried under ad revenue and shareholder appeasement.

If you believe in that mission—if you believe in independent media that doesn’t flinch when power roars—then now is the time to act.

👉 Subscribe to this human rights newsletter.
👉 Share this with someone upset about Trump gutting public media so they can act.
👉 Join Ground News, see who’s shaping the narrative, and reclaim a media narrative grounded in facts.

Sitting idle is not an option. Let’s make the right choice and continue to fight for our republic, while we still can.