NPR reported the State Department has instructed its staff to reject H1-B visa applications from people who worked in fact checking, content moderation or “other activities the Trump administration considers ‘censorship’ of Americans’ speech.” ¹

Welcome to the United States. Check your facts at the door.

You must realize this gives the Trump Administration complete license to continue to spew, and gives Fox Corp. license to broadcast unchallenged, the lies that poisoned so many in our nation already. Our society used to have guard rails on free speech that suggested that truth mattered (and network news personalities were trusted guests in living rooms across America).

Today, the corporations that own the networks are sure to avoid subjects that might upset the current administration or its hyper-partisan FCC commissioner Brendan Carr — author of the FCC chapter of Project 2025 — for fear some merger won’t be permitted. It’s not really about news anymore — it’s about business.

This behavior is not limited to the evening news, either —

• Just ask Disney (owner of ABC) who yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air for a remark he made. Disney+ saw its subscriptions plummet in response.
• Or ask Paramount (owner of CBS) who canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after Colbert criticized the network’s settlement of a lawsuit from President Trump to avoid risking rejection of a proposed merger with Skydance, and saw their Paramount+ subscriptions drop by 1.3 million that quarter.
• CBS News chief Bari Weiss — who joined CBS News in October when her Free Press was acquired by Skydance — also tanked a report scheduled to air on 60 Minutes about a prison facility in El Salvador where Immigration and Customs Enforcement were sending Venezuelans. Earlier this year, the show’s executive producer left after 37 years “following months of heavy-handed treatment of the show by corporate leaders.” By the way — how are things going for the new “MAGA-friendly” CBS Evening News anchor? ^{2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}
• By the way, NBCUniversal is not immune. Parent company Comcast has renewed its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery last month. Shortly after President Trump began his second term, MSNBC (a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC) removed from its anchor positions nearly every person of color. MSNBC’s reporting was critical of the Trump administration. ^{9, 10}

But the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution does not mention anything about truth or lies:

You can bet this was fully explored by the Heritage Foundation and the State Policy Network before Secretary of State Rubio set policy.

Meanwhile, Americans seeking truth — and actual news — must turn to independent media outlets who operate under the radar of mainstream media.

We will all continue to suffer as voices of opposition and truth are suppressed.

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1. Bond, S. (2025, December 4). State Department to deny visas to fact checkers and others, citing “censorship.” National Public Radio. Retrieved January 14, 2026, from https://npr.org ↩︎
2. Farhath, A. (2025, October 21). Disney saw ~ 7M subscription cancellations due to Kimmel’s suspension: report. seekingalpha.com. Retrieved January 14, 2026, from https://seekingalpha.com/news/4505959-disney-saw-7m-subscription-cancellations-due-to-kimmels-suspension-report ↩︎
3. Bradley, L. (2025, July 29). Inside the fiery backlash against Paramount’s ‘Late Show’ cancellation. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/colbert-cancellation-comedy-writers-fiery-backlash?srsltid=AfmBOorJfvaxXjYIEdnbXe8DxRDBnBwSgifA3J7219nZaZwxLBq98a0K ↩︎
4. Gruenwedel, E. (2025, August 10). Paramount+ loses 1.3 million quarterly subs; UPS revenue, operating profit. Media Play News. https://www.mediaplaynews.com/paramount-plus-loses-quarterly-subs-ups-revenue-operating-profit/ ↩︎
5. Folkenflik, D. (2025, December 22). CBS News chief Bari Weiss pulls “60 Minutes” story, sparking outcry. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/22/g-s1-103282/cbs-chief-bari-weiss-pulls-60-minutes-story ↩︎
6. Folkenflik, D. (2025b, April 22). “60 Minutes” chief resigns, saying show’s independence was compromised. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5372733/60-minutes-bill-owens-cbs-trump-paramount ↩︎
7. Baragona, J. (2026, January 14). Despite CBS News’ hype, Tony Dokoupil’s first week as evening anchor is a ratings dud. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/cbs-evening-news-ratings-tony-dokoupil-b2900487.html ↩︎
8. Baragona, J. (2026a, January 7). Tony Dokoupil’s ‘embarrassing’ first days at CBS Evening News savaged by staff: ‘It’s state TV.’ The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tony-dokoupil-cbs-evening-news-debut-reactions-b2896387.html ↩︎
9. Gabbatt, A. (2025, March 2). Shake-up for Trump era gives liberal MSNBC a whiter, more centrist look. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/02/msnbc-staff-changes ↩︎
10. Propper, D. (2025, February 25). MSNBC host Rachel Maddow rips own network for axing Joy Reid’s show and other “non-white” hosts’ programs. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2025/02/25/media/msnbc-host-rachel-maddow-rips-own-network-for-axing-joy-reids-show-and-other-non-white-hosts-programs/ ↩︎
11. U.S. Constitution – First Amendment. (n.d.). CONGRESS.GOV. Retrieved January 14, 2026, from https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/ ↩︎