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Through Fox News, Murdoch has created a right-wing media landscape that has helped slice our country in two, radicalized millions of people, and propagated misinformation. As evil as “Succession” made Logan Roy look, the reality is much, much worse. 

Ellison may be less well-known. He made his billions co-founding the tech company Oracle.  Recently, he has decided to spend a part of his fortune to help Donald Trump. 

If you were concerned about the manosphere dragging our sons to the right, you should be terrified now. Forget Joe Rogan influencing the opinions of his army of listeners. Imagine a generation mindlessly scrolling on TikTok and being inundated with MAGA propaganda. Some of it will be subtle, some of it will be blatant. But, I fear, it may soon be all they’re seeing.

With Ellison and Murdoch as the puppeteers behind TikTok, our young people will wake up to Donald Trump and go to sleep to Donald Trump. The man who radicalized your elderly dad will now radicalize your son. The lies that rotted the brains of millions will continue to rot the next generation. 

The space for media independent of Donald Trump’s influence is quickly shrinking — and we may not realize it until we’re in too deep. While Trump is tapping his son Barron for a leading role at TikTok, the Washington Post is laying off staffers on Yom Kippur and hiring MAGA-friendly columnists. 

Meanwhile, Bari Weiss of the Free Press is leading CBS News as its Editor-in-Chief. Make no mistake, whatever you think of Weiss, this is a calculated move to drag the once solidly center organization to the right. 

Organizations on the center-left are also under pressure to move to the right. We have already seen this playbook with CNN and the Washington Post.

I am watching very closely to what happens at MSNBC — soon to be MS NOW — once it spins off. Mark Lazarus, the CEO of the new company, called Versant, dismissed the importance of MS NOW’s progressive voice and concerns over having a target on his back. “I think more holistically about the portfolio,” he replied in an interview with Semafor. He pointed to NASCAR and the Golf Channel for pieces of his company that serve “both sides of the aisle.” 

When asked about the speediness of political analyst Matthew Dowd’s firing, he stuck to the decision and said it was simply about ensuring there is “open and honest dialogue, not speculation, not contrived speech that’s going to cause a divide.”  

Time will tell whether these are simply the words of a new CEO trying to manage a complex spin-off during the Trump presidency or the signal of something more ominous. Either way, we must be committed to building new progressive voices and media outlets.

That is why I am so insistent that we support and grow pro-democracy media. As a part of that, I am dedicating more time and resources to grow Democracy Docket’s staff and distribution while remaining committed to its pro-democracy stance and its audience.

Now is not the time to run to the middle in fear. Now is not the time to hide on the right and hope the storm will pass. We must be louder, braver, and more vocal about our values than ever before. We must realize the seriousness of this moment and stand up for our democracy and our country. 

I can promise you that Democracy Docket will not shirk this responsibility. We will not hide or pull our punches. We will always be a space for you to find the truth and the courage to fight.