RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
PHANG: “Amazing, I catch you on IG live, as well. You are obviously an accomplished author, but how important is it, then, for independent media going into the second Trump presidency? You clearly have left Twitter, you have left Elon Musk, gone to Blue Sky, for example. This isn’t the digital Times Square, but people can get information from you and independent media client platforms. How important is it to make sure that that voice is available for you and others to be able to disseminate the facts?”

LEMON: “Attention to those of us who are in digital media and may not have the platforms that a Joe Rogan, or whatever. But it is critical for us, as journalists. It’s tough in independent media to sell, quite frankly, journalism and politics. Advertisers don’t like it, you know what I mean? Republicans by cereal, Democrats buy cereal, they are afraid of it, right? Remember what happened with Bud Light. I think it is even more critical for people like you who are in corporate media, to be able to be allowed to speak the truth, to speak truth to power. Even when the folks above you, may be one, two, three, four steps above you, the shareholder corporation or the shareholders, when they may not agree with what you are saying, when they may need another narrative out there other than what you, as a journalist, should be putting out there, it is more important that we pay attention to that, rather than I think independent media – I think independent media will do what they can do because we don’t have a corporate overlord. We basically say what we want to say, it is important to support independent media, important for the folks watching here, important for the folks that are average, everyday Americans to support, but I think it is important that you, since you still do in this corporate media game, that you still have a big influence. It is a winning influence, I will be honest, we know this was a streaming election, but still have the big influence that you are able to say what you want to say and what you think is right as a journalist. It is also important, I believe, for journalists still in corporate media to get rid of the false equivalency. Just because some things are objectively bad, a lot of what Donald Trump offers, quite frankly, most of what he offers to America is objectively bad. And because you point that out, it doesn’t mean you have to point out something that is bad about the other side because you feel you have to give balance. That is false. And that is a disservice to the American people. And I think many journalists now feel they have to do that. And I feel, and I know that in the back of journalists’ heads now, they are thinking, what is my boss going to say if I go in, if I am troubled – tough on a trumpet surrogate? Are they going to think I am being too harsh on someone unfairly? Are they going to be upset because the guys at the top want, you know, they want to survive in a business environment under a Trump Administration? So, I think that I believe, the problem, if you really want me to tell you, I believe the problem with corporate media now is that there is no wall between the journalists and the folks on the business end.”