Rep. Jim Jordan shows Americans how Donald Trump would pressure private businesses, particularly in media and social media, to do his bidding if he wins a second term.
As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the Ohio Republican is trying to force news outlets, social media platforms and advertisers to submit to conservative demands — providing a template for even more aggressive pressure for control by a Trump in power.
In his most recent attack, Jordan went after CBS News, the kind of mainstream media organization that Trump likes to accuse of treating him unfairly simply by doing basic journalism. Jordan did so by taking advantage of CBS News’ decision to fire reporter Catherine Herridge in February, scheduling a hearing for next week.
A former Fox News reporter, Herridge was among journalists who promoted debunked claims about President Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in a foreign influence scheme, showing particular gullibility toward a politically motivated Republican report of the Senate and earning praise from Trump for it. Naturally, conservatives see nefarious motivations, with Jordan describing the end of his employment as a suppression of “free speech” and claiming that CBS “seized” his files.
The organization denied the seizure allegations, saying it delivered his personal belongings to his home and kept his files intact in his office. “We respected her request not to review the files and, out of concern for source confidentiality, the office she occupied has remained secure since her departure,” read a statement from CBS to TVNewser. A representative of the SAG-AFTRA union later monitored the return of his report notes. Jordan is giving Herridge a chance to speak at the hearing while also demanding information from CBS about who decided to let her go and whether anyone looked at her records after she left.
Herridge has so far made no public comments other than sharing a statement from a group of veterans praising his journalistic past on social media and another from SAG-AFTRA about its files.
Hundreds of journalists have been laid off in recent months as the news industry continues to be disrupted by changing market conditions. Some were no doubt working on major investigations into all kinds of powerful interests at the time. But Jordan’s decision to highlight Herridge is not an attempt to support journalism but to undermine it, by portraying this particular journalist as the target of a vast, but anonymous, media conspiracy against conservatives.
This fits a pattern with other recent Jordan efforts. Late last month, we saw him put pressure on major advertising companies that were trying to prevent ads from being placed next to content or on platforms known for spreading misinformation. In Jordan’s letter to these ad companies denouncing their anti-misinformation stance, he suggests that they deliberately attempted to “demonetize” conservatives in defiance of antitrust laws. And he has also targeted social media platforms for moderating hate speech and misinformation, alleging that this is also part of a conspiracy against Republicans.
This is what the federal government looks like In fact target private industries. And if this all sounds disturbing to you (which it should), keep in mind that this is what Jordan does when he has little power. If Trump is re-elected and Republicans take back the Senate, Jordan will have many powerful allies in these endeavors to try to influence the news and social media that Americans consume.
CORRECTION (April 9, 2024, 12:19 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. This is the House Judiciary Committee, not the House Oversight Committee.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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