When the Networks Became the Problem

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

The Broken Bargain

Broadcast television was never supposed to be neutral wallpaper. Networks like NBC and CBS were granted privileged access to public airwaves under a clear condition: serve the public interest. Inform the electorate. Challenge power. Maintain a shared factual baseline necessary for democratic decision-making.

That bargain no longer exists in practice. What remains is a set of legacy institutions trading credibility for access, and accountability for comfort.

NBC and the Art of Normalization

NBC’s modern failure is not loud propaganda; it is quiet erosion. Its coverage patterns repeatedly elevate official statements, soften language around state violence, and introduce “both-sides” ambiguity even when video evidence is clear. This is not balance. It is normalization.

By framing acts of violence as tragic misunderstandings and foregrounding federal talking points, NBC converts accountability into abstraction. The result is predictable: confusion replaces clarity, outrage dissipates, and responsibility vanishes into procedural haze. That outcome consistently favors entrenched power — including the current administration under Donald Trump and its enforcement agencies.

A network that manages risk for power rather than interrogating power is not serving the public good. It is performing institutional self-preservation.

CBS and the Economics of Capitulation

CBS crossed a brighter line when it removed Stephen Colbert from the air. This was not a defensible business decision. Colbert’s program consistently ranked among the network’s highest-rated shows. The numbers do not support the excuse.

What does fit is capitulation.

Late-night satire has long functioned as a civic release valve — a place where hypocrisy is punctured and authority mocked. Pulling that voice during a period of democratic stress sends an unmistakable message: access matters more than truth, and stability matters more than courage. When a network silences its own most effective critic to avoid political friction, it forfeits any claim to public-interest legitimacy.

Fox News: A Different Category Entirely

If NBC and CBS are guilty of erosion, Fox News represents outright replacement. Fox does not distort reality accidentally; its business model depends on it. Over years, it has functioned as a parallel reality generator — reframing facts, delegitimizing institutions, and preemptively discrediting any challenge to its narrative.

This is not bias. It is industrialized propaganda.

Fox’s role in radicalizing audiences, undermining trust in elections, and excusing political violence is extensively documented. The argument for its retirement is no longer moral outrage. It is democratic necessity. A society cannot sustain self-government while mass media actively teaches citizens to distrust the concept of shared truth itself.

The License Is Not a Right

Broadcast licenses are permissions, not entitlements. They exist because the airwaves belong to the public, historically overseen by the Federal Communications Commission. When license holders abandon the public-interest mandate, the public is entitled to withdraw consent.

This is not censorship. It is accountability.

NBC and CBS are free to become entertainment brands or corporate risk-avoidance firms — just not while enjoying the privileges of public trust. Fox is free to exist as a subscription service, a website, or a podcast network. What it should not have is the institutional legitimacy conferred by pretending to be news while functioning as a partisan mobilization engine.

Letting the Old Die

The reflexive question — what would replace them? — misunderstands how media ecosystems evolve. Local journalism, nonprofit newsrooms, cooperative outlets, and independent investigative platforms already deliver more public-service reporting with a fraction of the resources these networks consume.

NBC, CBS, and Fox are not irreplaceable. They are merely large.

They mattered once. That time has passed. Preserving them out of habit only prolongs harm. The responsible course is not nostalgia or reform theater, but acceptance: institutions that no longer serve the public good should be allowed to end, making space for something better to take their place.

For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com

This article will be archived and made available as part of a future Amazon publication.

References

Federal Communications Commission. (2023). The public interest standard in broadcasting. FCC.gov.

Poynter Institute. (2024). Covering state violence and official narratives: Journalism ethics in polarized times. Poynter.org.

Pew Research Center. (2023). Public trust in news media, 1972–2023. PewResearch.org.

The New York Times. (2023). How Fox News blurred the line between opinion and propaganda. New York Times.

Variety. (2024). Late-night ratings and the economics of network television. Variety.com.