Conservatives need to relax. See their ranting about Netflix’s proposed purchase of Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD).
Podcaster Benny Johnson described the possible deal as “the most dangerous media consolidation in American history.” Trump “loyalty enforcer” Laura Loomer wrote on X that if the “Trump administration doesn’t kill off the merger, CNN will be transformed into the Obama News Network,” while “activist” Jack Posobiec lamented that the merger “is all about the Obamas taking over media.” Not said enough is how very anti-conservative all the emotion and whining is.
Thought of in terms of WBD’s shareholders, the conservative view about Netflix’s acquisition would historically have been that the shareholders (yes, the owners) get to choose their new owners (or not) without regard to political pressure. Telling people what to do with their private property while backed by government was formerly a left-wing thing.
From there, what of the traditional conservative embrace of freedom? Assuming what reads as highly unlikely, that a business (Netflix) with a $437 billion market cap is aiming to forfeit so much of the latter by handing over the reins to two individuals (Michelle and Barack Obama) with no notable business experience, since when do conservatives want to control the ideological outlook of private businesses?
Barring government control that used to be anathema to conservatives, it was formerly the case that they embraced naturally arrived at market outcomes born of market forces over government force. Applied to Netflix, it can’t be said enough that businesses and their shareholders have the right to be wrong. This includes the right to be “woke,” Obama friendly, or anything that perhaps might bother conservatives.
Naturally they wouldn’t, or shouldn’t care precisely due to their awareness that in the marketplace of content, they can cease subscribing to Netflix if it makes its present and future business aim all about turning its nose up to the right. Again, it’s highly unlikely that Netflix would make it strategy to run off such a large portion of the U.S. buying public, its programming (think The Hunting Wives, among others) signals a desire to win the eyeballs of Republican watchers too, but the free markets formerly embraced by the right exist to solve the alleged problem of ideological lean inside certain businesses.
Think the rise of Fox News. What was the latter but a market response from Rupert Murdoch to a lack of news programming meant to meet the needs of conservative consumers of news?
Which raises obvious questions about Loomer’s “Obama News Network” lament. As Loomer must know, as must Johnson and Posobiec, CNN already leaned left. Which was and is no big deal to the right considering the existence of Fox, along with the rise of Newsmax, OANN, and countless other online sources of news. In short, markets work. Let them.
Which brings us to arguably the most odious aspect of the conservative meltdown over Netflix and WBD: it reeks of the affirmative action they used to disdain. Conservatives didn’t want special treatment for any gender, color or ideology, they just wanted everyone to have the right to compete.
Sadly, it’s increasingly the case that an ideology long associated with limited government is demanding that private businesses not just do as they’re told by President Trump, but that those same private businesses must be staffed by Trump partisans while gearing their content to the needs of his supporters. No thanks. The demand is way too left wing.
Originally posted to Real Clear Markets.
