SIGN NOW: Gambling markets are invading America’s newsrooms. Demand Congress restore funding for impartial public news like PBS & NPR >>
John, imagine turning on the news during a disaster expecting facts, clarity, and compassion – and instead you’re hit with betting odds on how many people will survive.
I’d be absolutely disgusted, and I’m sure you would too. But that nightmare scenario is closer than anyone expected.
CNN and CNBC just signed deals with Kalshi, an online gambling company, to push betting odds directly into the news. [1]
No matter how bad you think it could get – the reality is probably worse: Kalshi recently ran a betting market on the probability of famine in Gaza. [2] And Donald Trump Jr. has recently joined them as a “strategic advisor,” raising even more alarms about how these gambling markets could be weaponized for political gain. [3]
You can see the obvious problem here. These networks are supposed to cover the news about our government, economy, and society. But now, they have even more incentive to hype, distort, and sensationalize so they can profit from this chaos.
But fortunately, there’s an antidote – if our leaders in Congress are willing to do what’s right: fully funding public media like PBS and NPR. They’re the only major outlets still anchored in public service – not gambling on the news or making billionaires richer – and right now, they’re barely hanging on.
If you’re fed up with corporate media’s race to the bottom, here’s your chance to fight back. Tell Congress to restore funding for PBS and NPR now >>
Trump has already slashed $1.1 billion from public broadcasting this year – gutting local stations, shrinking investigative reporting, and leaving communities without trusted news. That vacuum is exactly what corporate networks are racing to fill with gambling-driven coverage.
This turn to gambling didn’t happen overnight. Corporate media has spent years cutting investigative teams, replacing reporters with pundits, chasing outrage clicks, and prioritizing advertisers over accuracy.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Americans still trust PBS [4] and NPR [5] more than any other news source in the country. That’s because public media exists to tell the truth even when it’s inconvenient, unprofitable, or politically risky.
A healthy democracy requires a shared set of facts. We can’t count on getting that from networks chasing betting revenue.
Public media belongs to all of us – and together, we can protect it. Add your name to demand Congress restore full funding for PBS & NPR before gambling-driven media takes over >>
We hope you’ll join us to speak out and defend independent journalism when it matters most.
Thanks for all you do,
The team at Common Cause
[1] https://popular.info/p/the-casino-fication-of-news
[2] https://truthout.org/articles/cnn-partners-with-a-gambling-app-that-lets-you-wager-on-starvation-in-gaza/
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://foundation.pbs.org/pbs-fast-facts/
[5] https://www.nationalpublicmedia.com/audience/
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