Wie kriegt Tommi Schmitt es eigentlich hin, konsequent nicht sein Maul aufzumachen wenn es Anschuldigungen gegen einen seiner Buddys gibt?
#LukeMockridge#ChristianUlmen
The Orbanization of U.S. Media Has Begun
Donald Trump is following Viktor Orbán’s and Vladimir Putin’s playbook to capture America’s media and silence dissent.
Twenty years ago, Putin snuffed out NTV, Russia’s last major independent TV channel, and placed the country’s broadcast networks under state control. Ten years ago, Orbán did the same in Hungary, handing almost every mainstream outlet to loyal oligarchs and turning the press into a government echo chamber.
Today, we see this same playbook being used in the United States, as powerful businessmen and oligarchs move to seize America’s key media institutions.
This is how democracies die in the twenty-first century: not with overt censorship, but with media capture. The Orbanization of American media has begun.
Putin’s method was simple. First, harass independent media owners with legal pressure until they sell or flee. Second, hand their outlets to loyalists tied to the state or security services. Third, flood the media market with state money (currently to the tune of over a billion euros per year of Russian taxpayer money spent on government propaganda media) while starving dissenting voices.
By the mid-2000s, all of Russia’s major television channels, and most of its print and radio outlets, were either state-owned or controlled by Kremlin-loyal oligarchs. Only then came the final step: laws branding critics as “foreign agents” and banning opposition outlets outright. By then, there were not many left to protest.
After consolidating control, Putin went even further, having dissident voices and investigative journalists imprisoned, exiled, or murdered. This ensured that no independent scrutiny of his regime could survive.
Orbán imported this system wholesale. Loyal allies quietly bought up nearly every major Hungarian outlet, consolidating the country’s mainstream press into the Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA). In 2018, he issued a decree exempting this media empire from competition or media pluralism review. The state became Hungary’s largest advertiser, showering cash on pro-government media and starving the rest.
Within a few years, independent journalism in Hungary had almost disappeared. Elections still happen, but voters now live inside a government-controlled information bubble. Independent voices have fortunately begun to resurface on social media platforms, yet most of the country’s traditional media remains firmly controlled by Orbán’s allies.
The United States is not there yet, but the pattern is unmistakable.
In Russia and Hungary, oligarchs used fortunes built on state contracts to buy media outlets and convert them into political tools for their patrons. This was the engine of media capture: loyal businessmen acquiring once-independent outlets, then reshaping them into propaganda arms while maintaining the appearance of normal journalism.
In today’s ultra-capitalistic America, there are several figures who could fill this role — tech moguls and billionaires whose influence over news and entertainment rivals that of entire states.
Larry Ellison is now following a strikingly similar model. In 2025, through his son, he took control of Paramount Global and with it CBS News.
Ellison has not said he will use these platforms as partisan tools, but his recent moves suggest the potential for political influence. By taking control of Paramount, he now owns CBS News, MTV, and Nickelodeon — some of the most influential media brands in the country. Reports indicate he is also exploring acquisitions of Warner Bros., Discovery, and even TikTok. Analysts warn that his close political ties and growing concentration of media power could eventually steer editorial lines, echoing how loyal oligarchs captured the press for Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin.
He is not alone. Elon Musk’s X has gutted content moderation and supercharged the reach of extremist and partisan narratives, while Rupert Murdoch turned Fox News into a decades-long political weapon that helped mainstream Donald Trump. These are different strategies, but they share the same endgame: private media power deployed to shape public opinion and tilt democratic systems toward their owners’ political interests.
At the same time, the dominant social media platforms where most Americans now get their news are controlled by men whose decisions increasingly align with Trump’s political interests. Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram at Meta use powerful algorithms that shape what hundreds of millions see and believe. Under their leadership, these platforms have dismantled safeguards and amplified partisan propaganda while maintaining a veneer of neutrality.
This is exactly how Putin and Orbán did it: co-opt the gatekeepers, then dictate the narrative.
Once media capture reaches critical mass, the next phase is predictable and has already begun: using state power to intimidate or punish dissent.
Trump and his allies have openly pledged to prosecute journalists they accuse of “treason” or “disinformation.” The conservative blueprint Project 2025 calls for weaponizing the Department of Justice against political opponents and purging civil servants who resist.
Trump has promised to “root out” and “ban” opponents from government and media. His rhetoric echoes Putin’s “foreign agent” laws and Orbán’s purge of Hungary’s last remaining independent outlets.
Pam Bondi, the current United States Department of Justice Attorney General, has said that in a second Trump administration, anyone using what she deems “hate speech” could be investigated and prosecuted. A stunning move in an America usually very critical of European “hate speech” laws — the very same wording the same Republicans were previously so critical about. Authoritarian regimes often start their censorship drives under the guise of combating hate or disinformation, and this framing would allow them to silence virtually any political opposition.
We are already seeing the early signs: threats to revoke broadcast licenses of critical networks, congressional harassment and lawsuits against independent outlets, and the deplatforming and defunding of civil society watchdogs and disinformation researchers after targeted campaigns from MAGA media. Even late-night satire shows are under pressure: Jimmy Kimmel’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended indefinitely after controversial remarks about Charlie Kirk, and new episodes of South Park were suddenly delayed, officially due to missed deadlines but amid growing backlash over their unorthodox political tone.
This is the point where bias becomes suppression, when the propaganda machine starts actively silencing its rivals.
If Americans want to know where this road leads, they do not have to imagine it. They can just look at Russia: first they took the media, then they took the country.
And only the American people can stop it from happening.
@FabrizioRomano Frankfurt Fan here:
This Dude has been incredible this Season, and he has the Mentality to get better every day.
His skillset is really unique: Tall, lanky Striker, incredibly fast, Crazy Dribbling and Agility! Good passing. Needs to work on Finishing and Headers though.
@naomiseibt@ronzheimer@BILD@elonmusk Du hast es einfach nicht drauf, Naomi. Das der Inhalt keinen Sinn macht und du einfach rechte Scheiße behauptest, um irgendeine Relevanz zu haben ist das Eine. Aber du kannst ja nichtmal 2 Sätze am Stück reden ohne dir einen abzustottern.