A Black Executive Perspective. Now presents need to know with the award-winning hyphenated Dr. Nsenga Burton. Dr. Burton, what do we need to know?

Good afternoon. Welcome to Need to Know Dr. Nsenga Burton. It is she. Today I am talking to you about censorship. Censorship is something that is supposed to be. Outlawed illegal in the United States, right? One of the First Amendment rights is the right of speech. Um, and we are seeing that eroded every single day. So for example, we have Bill Owens, who is the executive producer of 60 Minutes, who resigned. He resigned because he said he could no longer do his job without outside pressure. Um, coming from not only the Trump administration, but also from corporate interests. Now, you know, media has always been run either by private families or corporate interests. Um, eventually after the, the private family sell, right? So even now, the Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, who's put forth these, um, mandates about what can and cannot go in a newspaper. And why this is problematic for people who don't understand it is newspapers, journalism. Online media specifically is supposed to be what is called the fourth estate. The three, you have the three exec, the three branches of government, right? Executive, um, uh, legislative, and the judicial. The press is supposed to be the fourth estate, IE, the checks and balances of those three branches, and so that is why they report. On what is happening, even all the way down to your local school board, right? They report on everything, even for your animal shelters like the dog catch everything because there has to be not only coverage, but they have to have the right to report things to operate in what is called the public interest. So one of the reasons that you have that available to you is because we have the First Amendment right. Right. Speech, press, assembly, religion, protest. All right. So what is happening is the Trump administration is making all of these demands on institutions that were previously, uh, self-actualize, right? Self mandated, all right. And so the press is one of them. IE they hold those three branches of government accountable, and 60 Minutes has been doing incredible work on. Pretty much everything, but certainly this administration. And so Owen has resigned because he thinks he can no longer do the work because the pressures are mounting and it looks like, uh, CBS might go the way of other companies. Um, like, uh, NBC that's settled. I think it's NBC. I'm having a brain fart. It might be a, B, C, it's um, NBC that's settled. Sorry. Tony's like, hurry up. Um, but, uh, other media companies who have settled lawsuits, so they've been engaged. CBS has been engaged with the lawsuit with Trump, um, since 2 20 24. And he's pissed about some interview they did with, um, Kamala Harris, um, where they. Edited the interview, which they edit everything that goes on television, uh, to make her look better. I don't know why it matters 'cause he won the election, but whatever. He's still, um, mad about it. So it looks like CBS might settle. Plus there's a possible merger. Um, and they know, they have been told that if they don't settle that they're not gonna be able to go through with this merger, um, or acquisition. So at any rate, what you need to know is that you have got to support your media. Outlets. You've got to support NPR, you've got to support PPS, you've got to support, um, even the major outlets. They have to be able to tell you the stories that are fact-based, fact checked, and evidence-based. They have to be able to do that. And we know media is not perfect. It's complicated. They have a lot of gatekeeping. A lot of it is racist, a lot of it is sexist, all the things, right? I'm a media scholar. I have a PhD in the subject matter. Um, so I know it's complicated. I write a lot of stories about the problem with media, the problems with media. Um, but what I have to say that is that if you don't have the media, we are definitely going to be. In a fashion state, we will not have a democracy. It will be gone by the end of this, this presidency. I feel very comfortable saying that some people will call me an alarmist, but based on how fast this is sliding into that IE where you can't have a free press, IE, we're reporters are already being banned from the White House covering the White House. Right where you can't say these things. Here's our handout of what you can and can't say what you can and can't report on what you can and can't do. And if you do these things, we're going to, uh, sue you, we're going to defund you, we're gonna take all of these things away from you. And that is in no way, shape or form for the public interest that is for the personal interest. So what I need you to know is. The president actually works for you. I don't know why people keep acting like we work for Trump, like he works for us. Congress is supposed to work for you. Your news media is at all levels. I. Local, regional, fe, federal, international, it's supposed to, uh, work for you. National International is supposed to work for you. All right? So what you need to know is you need to get involved and make sure that you can get verified information and that you can continue to have stories elevated about the three branches of government so that your rights are protected, and that is it. So tune in next Thursday to another Black Executive Perspective podcast, which is an award-winning podcast with Tony Franklin and Chris. Um, and tune in next week, um, where you can hear me as well. I wish you a wonderful day. Stay vigilant, fight for your rights and fight. For free press,

A Black Executive Perspective.