PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: May 1, 2024
Media covering up Bloomberg hand behind Nevada background check group :: 11/17/2014
Self-identified “news” organizations are suppressing the involvement of billionaire citizen disarmament advocate Michael Bloomberg and his Everytown group in the recently announced ballot measure petition submitted by Nevadans for Background Checks.
While a case may at first have been made for laziness and sloppy journalism, now that major local media players have been notified, along with a documentation trail to prove involvement leading to the Nevada Secretary of State, the absence of follow-ups and independent investigative reports to inform readers and viewers can only be attributed to directed editorial decisions to keep information from public cognizance.
Of all reports about the submission of signatures gleaned from a Google news feed search for the term “Nevadans for Background Checks,” none mention an Everytown connection. KTNV/ABC “Action 13 News” did not so inform viewers in its report. Likewise, KLAS-TV/CBS “8 New Now” said nothing about any affiliation. KRNV/NBC “News 4 On Your Side” also neglected to report a connection, as did KNPR News 88.9, and nationally, The Hill was similarly silent.
Media outlets that did offer acknowledgement of the Bloomberg group’s involvement included the Las Vegas Review- Journal (which nevertheless had the information buried in the 17th paragraph), the Mohave Valley Daily News (11th paragraph), and (disparaged as “conservative”) Breitbart Big Government, which, along with SeattlePI.com brought the connection to the fore. Ironically, MSNBC also mentioned the affiliation, but the brief mention left the impression of an alliance between independent efforts, rather than the work of a front group established by Bloomberg, having its corporation name reserved with the Nevada Secretary of State by the same New York law firm that represented Everytown’s trademark registration, and with its Political Action Committee established by Everytown’s treasurer, who also directed the I-594 Action Fund in Washington State.
If the negligent “newsrooms” did not know of these connections beforehand, several do now. Significantly, those include the local network-affiliated television stations, meaning the potential for duping and manipulating low-information voters is heightened. Following their deficient “reports,” Gun Rights Examiner informed KTNV, KLAS and The Hill via Twitter that they "forgot something." That updates have not been forthcoming suggests the omission of this information is intentional, the indifference is deliberate, and they do not intend to inform those relying on them as reliable and unbiased news sources.
Perhaps more reports like this will make it problematic to continue suppressing information about billionaire-funded outside special interests buying Nevada elections. Still, even if pressured acknowledgments are made, they will be overshadowed by the type of propaganda masked as reporting that inspired Joe Biden to refer to press partners for citizen disarmament as “legitimate news media.”
If they can't be trusted to report the basics -- like who the man behind the curtain is, what assurances are there they will fulfill their obligation to provide a complete picture of the issue, including that "background checks" require gun registration, which enables confiscation? What assurances are there that ostensible media government watchdogs and gatekeepers aren't just willing surrogates and doormen for elites opposed to true egalitarian power-sharing?
UPDATE: Donald M. Turner of the Nevada Firearms Coalition will be giving more back story on Bloomberg's involvement and his group's efforts tonight on Armed American Radio.
