Q: Who is the audience for the GOP's & Putin's insistent revisionism of Jan 6?

[ancianita]

A: The 100+ million Americans who do not have broadband access and didn't witness it!



The GOP & Putin networks are hell bent on keeping it that way for 2022 and 2024.

[hedda_foil]

1. Cable television doesn't use broadband, neither does broadcast tv.

[ancianita]

2. Right. A lot of media aren't broadband. A lot of non-broadband media depend on broadband in both

their acquisition of content and the production of that content on tv, radio and smart phones.

Oh. I see now what you're saying. Sorry.

People's access to cable tv is important for footage, sure. Most cable tv didn't even cover the event as it happened, though.
Does cable tv show news context? Or public discussion? No.

[hedda_foil]

3. CNN and MSNBC both covered in depth for weeks, with long citizen video segments.

Are you saying that the only way to really understand on the news is to watch citizen's individual streams on your phone?

[ancianita]

4. I'm aware. The Internet will cover it for longer, and remember past information more broadly,

and always be there to refresh when people want a long term understanding of events.
I'm not saying anything about citizens' ability to understand the facts of news of the day, or even coverage of a few weeks, even if they have phones that stream. I'm saying that the meanings and importance of events come more through the internet over time than they do other media.

I infer that you don't see broadband access as a problem. Fine. I see limited to no access as a problem insofar as event news, even extended for weeks, can pass from memory, be revised, with new information not conveyed, or footage not re-seen with new understandings.

If broadband access, internet access, weren't a problem, broadband wouldn't have been in the the Democrats' infrastructure bill, and 40 governors wouldn't have highlighted broadband infrastructure and the technologies required for remote learning and telemedicine, as critical to closing equity gaps and responding to both the pandemic information updates and the economic crisis. Nor would the FCC, Microsoft or Pew research broadband mapping, nor would countries call internet accessibility a human right.

Rather than have to compete with new information about Jan 6, covid or other problems for their constituents, Republican incumbents benefit from the digital divide, want their voters to depend on their interpretations of events, and use that divide to build narratives that empower themselves, not their voters. But access to the internet helps voters keep an accurate track of the past.