Dear President Trump,

Liars using news broadcasts to misinform Americans are the greatest risk to both our individual liberty and the future of America as a free country.

Lies in the news are a classic tool for enemies of a State to foment hate, unrest, anarchy and ultimately the overthrow of government.

As a victim of lies in the news, you should be very sensitive to the destruction these lies cause.

As the leader of the free world you should be concerned enough to take executive action to immediately put a stop to it.

WE REQUEST AN EXECUTIVE ORDER directing the Consumer Protection Agency to:

• Levy a $10,000 fine against reporters who produce news material which knowingly or purposely misrepresents the truth. (This includes making false inferences: It’s the reporter’s duty to clarify the speakers meaning – Free Speech is not a license to misrepresent a speaker’s intent – and Americans have a right to expect reporters are responsibly investigating issues thoroughly and reporting them fairly.)
• Levy a $100,000 fine against every news organization which uses its resources to broadcast that material. (They are the first line of defense to hold news-people accountable.)
• Compound these fines, against each reporter and organization, for every separate broadcast of that lie. (Each network or media is responsible for its own broadcast and not the broadcast of other networks or media, and we can’t penalize any one entity for the number of newspapers that are read but we can penalize broadcasters for each time lies are repeated throughout the day.)

The purpose is not to bankrupt anyone but to put an official mark on their record and help Americans gauge their professionalism. The fine should have conditions for reversal: If caused by a bad source, the reporter must cooperate with prosecutors, and injured parties should be allowed to issue pardons and outline the conditions of retractions (to ensure these are earnest and forthright,)

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY HAS JURISDICTION

• The Consumer Protection Agency is tasked with protecting American citizens against unfair trade practices, and lies are an unfair trade practice.
• Americans are extremely vulnerable when they are consuming news items because Americans have a right to implicitly trust that the term “news” is synonymous with fact and truth.
• Americans have a right to trust news reporters are doing their homework to thoroughly investigate the issues they report upon and that they are not twisting facts or sound bytes to create drama that sells copy. (It’s not the consumers job to check on reporters –That’s your job)
• There is nothing more unfair in trade than when lies invade the news and there is nothing more insidious than to take bytes of comments out of context for the sole purpose of causing or profiting from unrest within a nation. Fact is drama enough; we don’t need reporters adding spin to the news (leave that for the editorials and comedy shows.)
• News reporters must be accountable to someone.

FREE SPEECH IS PROTECTED, and THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER PLACES NO UNDUE BURDEN UPON ANYONE

This is an order for separation between fact and opinion. Free Speech is protected because both the entertainment value and the artistic expression already have forums which are already in operation (all broadcasters have existing editorial and satire programs and many have multiples of such programs.) Because these editorial and satire forums already exist, this order places no additional or unexpected burden upon any entity.

All parties should fairly recognize that Americans are less vulnerable when consumers are made aware in advance that the information they are about to consume is either an individual opinion and/or satire and that it is offered for entertainment purposes (as opposed to a “news source”). This declaration is necessarily for the consumer to know that the comments may not include all -or any- of the facts. This order does not represent an additional burden because all broadcasters already include disclaimer segments which identify the “opinion of the speaker – is not necessarily shared by the broadcaster”.

EVEN DOCTORS USE THIS SAME FORMAT

When your tests are completed, doctors will first give you the news (this is what the tests show) then he will give you his opinion. Doctors will always draw the line between fact and opinion by saying “it is my opinion that…”. Good Doctors will also follow up with an encouragement for the patient to seek a SECOND OPINION.

Why can’t news-people use the same standards that doctors use (except opinion should use an entirely separate program/forum in case a listener tunes in late and only hears the opinion part of the rant?)

Here’s a better question: What news agent would argue with standards that elevated their stature to the same level of trust that doctors enjoy?

As a commensurate negotiator, no one is better qualified than you to see the benefit this order provides to all sides.

We’re happy you take your responsibility to preserve the Constitution and protect American citizens from harm seriously.

There is no greater harm done to this nation than lies parading as truth; because of how they tear this country apart from within.

We the undersigned request you please issue this executive order immediately because lies in the news are killing the U.S.A..

Sincerely

George Finn
CivilLiberty101.com