The villains of social media are going unchecked.
NewsNation's Johanna Maska on who's interfering in our next election and why we aren't focused enough on external threats.
Elon Musk told Madison Avenue to put their ad dollars where the sun don’t shine this week. Here’s the video in case you missed it.
His comments spawned a gazillion hot takes and headlines but in all seriousness shouldn’t we be just as focused on China flooding X and TikTok with disinformation in an effort to swing our next election. (X is already out pitching for political ad dollars, according to Ad Age. )
One person who’s trying to get politicians to look more carefully about what is happening in our social media landscape ahead of the 2024 Presidential election is Johanna Maska, a former Obama aide, the host of podcast Press Advance and a NewsNation contributor. We talked this week on The Media Mix about Musk, China, TikTok and the Republican Primary debate on NewsNation.
“Elon Musk is literally building himself a rocket ship to get off of Earth should he need to. He is not some patriot. It’s the responsibility of Congress to hold him and other media and business owners accountable and we have not. Section 230 has allowed the internet to just develop unchecked. And I think it's high time for Congress to take action on that,” says Maska.
“We need to see a situation such that Republicans and Democrats are going to hold Elon Musk as accountable as Mark Zuckerberg, as accountable and hopefully more so than the Chinese Communist party and TikTok, which has been taking over our young people's brains.”
Maska points out that in America we are so at war with each other that we are missing the external threats. She had a chilling and compelling conversation this week with Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher, Chairman of the House Select Committee on what could happen if China takes over as the dominant global power.
“Every meeting you take with them is with a committee,” she told me. “And they are absolutely aligned on some of the things that they do and the objectives that they have for the next hundred years. We think in four year increments of election cycles, they've got long term plans.” Maska adds that American business needs consistency and predictability so they can plan far out so that it doesn’t matter what political party holds the Presidency.
That would seem to be a pipe dream but back to the media business. Maska has been a warrior in trying to neutralizing political polarization. “I don’t believe everything one person or one party believes. I don’t think most Americans do. And so to have that honest conversation is what’s necessary to break down this toxic partisan divide in our media,” Maska told me on the podcast.
Maska is part of the contributor line-up at NewsNation which is hosting the Republican Primary on Wednesday, December 6. She shared some thoughts about NewsNation’s non-biased branding lane and what makes the station different. (I’m intrigued to see Megyn Kelly back on TV as one of the anchors.)
I asked Maska about the uproar at Univision and at CNN when the two outlets broadcast interviews with Republican front runner, Donald Trump - and why media outlets are struggling with accusations that they’re platforming the enemy. Hear what she had to say about how the media created this problem for themselves. “These mainstream news outlets reap what they sow,” she said. Maska also has some thoughts about Trump’s arrogance in sitting out the debates.
Check out this week’s podcast and let me know what you think and then have a listen to Johanna’s “Press Advance,” and her conversation with Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher.
Programming note: Johanna also runs the company that helps produce The Media Mix. If you’re interested in chatting about hosting your own podcast drop the Situation Room Studios a note.
Thanks as always to The Media Mix podcast crew: EPs Jamie Maglietta and Ray Hernandez and Situation Room Studios.