Coalition Demands AT&T Sever Ties With Trump Propaganda Outlet OANN
Coalition Demands AT&T Sever All Ties With Far-Right Trump Propaganda Outlet OANN
JAKE JOHNSON
November 9, 2021
A coalition of prominent rights organizations demanded Monday that AT&T and DirecTV completely sever ties with the One America News Network, a rabidly pro-Trump media outlet that the groups slammed for "spreading anti-democratic disinformation, promoting Covid-19 conspiracy theories, and fueling racism."
In a letter to AT&T CEO John Stankey and DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow, the coalition points to a recent report that exposed the major role AT&—the world's largest telecom company—played in creating and funding OANN, which the media-justice group Free Press described as a "propaganda channel."
AT&T owns a 70% stake in DirecTV, which the telecom behemoth spun off earlier this year.
"OANN has the right to air whatever content it chooses," reads the letter led by Free Press and signed by 16 other groups. "However, AT&T's support for OANN runs contrary to its public commitment to equality given OANN's role in funding and promoting anti-democratic policies as well as its track record of providing a platform for disinformation and calls for acts of violence that undermine trust in our institutions."
The coalition—which includes Color of Change, Greenpeace USA, Common Cause, and Global Project Against Hate and Extremism—argues that since its inception in 2013, OANN "has provided an open platform for purveyors of disinformation to spread dangerous and hateful messages that undermine our democracy."
More at:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/09/coalition-demands-att-sever-all-ties-far-right-trump-propaganda-outlet-oann