Billionaire Mark Cuban said he would vote for any politician who puts forth legislation that cracks down on news networks presenting opinion as news.
“Any politician that says they will push for a law that says no tv or streaming network can brand,market or name themselves a News Network unless the 6 most viewed hours of every night is >80% fact checked news and opinion is clearly labeled as opinion only, gets my vote,” the owner of the Dallas Mavericks tweeted Sunday, adding that, in his opinion, “It would reduce the partisanship in this country almost overnight.”
IMO, It would reduce the partisanship in this country almost overnight
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 4, 2019
Cuban, 61, defended his idea on Twitter against skeptics and explained how it would work.
“Peer review,” he said after one Twitter user asked who would do the fact-checking. “News reporters will hold each other accountable. Sure there will be misses and issues ,but it works fairly well in other originated content industries and would certainly be an improvement over now and In the case of news, reporters accuracy is career impacting.”
Peer review ? News reporters will hold each other accountable. Sure there will be misses and issues ,but it works fairly well in other originated content industries and would certainly be an improvement over now and In the case of news, reporters accuracy is career impacting
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 4, 2019
Cuban compared the idea to book genres, which have fiction and non-fiction sections. He also argued it was not unconstitutional because the FTC already had guidelines that fit with his proposed legislation.
We do it with other products. You can’t say a fiction book is non fiction. And only politicians get to lie in ads.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 4, 2019
Read the FTC website. The same, for reasons of public interest, via new legislation, could be applied to non broadcast networks https://t.co/3RmzDwcYYm pic.twitter.com/7haQwd702U
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 4, 2019
Cuban has teased a potential independent 2020 presidential run on multiple occasions earlier this year, citing a weak Democratic field. He said in an interview this fall that his “family voted it down,” and he would not run unless someone convinced them to let him.
