Rep. Jim Jordan is showing Americans how Donald Trump would pressure private businesses, especially in news and social media, to do his bidding if he wins a second term.
As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, the Ohio Republican is attempting to coerce news outlets, social media platforms, and advertisers into submitting to conservative demands — offering a blueprint for an even more aggressive push for control by an empowered Trump.
In his most recent attack, Jordan has gone on the offense against CBS News, the kind of mainstream media organization that Trump loves to accuse of treating him unfairly simply by doing basic journalism. Jordan has done so by seizing on CBS News’ decision to lay off reporter Catherine Herridge in February, scheduling a hearing for next week.
A former Fox News reporter, Herridge was among the reporters who promoted debunked claims about President Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in a foreign influence scheme, being especially credulous about a politically motivated report from Senate Republicans and earning praise from Trump for it. Naturally, conservatives see nefarious motives, with Jordan framing the end of her employment as a suppression of “free speech” and claiming that CBS “seized” her files.
The organization denied the seizure claims, saying it delivered her personal belongings to her home and kept her files in her office untouched. “We have respected her request to not go through the files, and out of our concern for confidential sources, the office she occupied has remained secure since her departure,” read a statement from CBS to TVNewser. A representative from the union SAG-AFTRA later monitored the return of her reporting notes. Jordan is giving Herridge a chance to speak at the hearing while also demanding information from CBS about who decided to let her go and whether anyone went through her files after she left.
Herridge has so far not commented publicly other than sharing a statement from a veterans’ group praising her past journalism on social media and another from SAG-AFTRA about her files.
Hundreds of journalists have been laid off in recent months as the news industry continues to be roiled by changing market conditions. Some were, no doubt, working on important investigations into all kinds of powerful interests at the time. But Jordan’s decision to highlight Herridge is not an attempt to support journalism but to undermine it, framing this one particular reporter as the target of some broad but unnamed media conspiracy against conservatives.
It fits a pattern with Jordan’s other recent efforts. Late last month, we saw him put pressure on major advertising companies that have tried to prevent ads from being placed alongside content or on platforms known for spreading misinformation. In Jordan’s letter to these ad companies’ railing against their anti-disinformation stance, he suggests they’ve been deliberately trying to “demonetize” conservatives in defiance of antitrust laws. And he’s also targeted social media platforms for moderating hate speech and disinformation, alleging this, too, is part of some conspiracy against Republicans.
This is what it looks like for the federal government to actually target private industries. And if all this sounds disturbing to you (which it should), keep in mind that this is what Jordan is doing when he has little power. If Trump is re-elected and Republicans retake the Senate, Jordan will have a lot of powerful allies in these schemes to try to influence the news and social media that Americans consume.
CORRECTION (April 9, 2024, 12:19 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the committee that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairs. It is the House Judiciary Committee, not the House Oversight Committee.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.