TVs in U.S. military camps will no longer run news, according to a military memo released Wednesday, highlighting the polarizing reporting of U.S. news media.
TVs in military food courts, customer service centers, malls and other common areas will no longer show news channels, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service said in the memo with the subject line “Change in TV Policy.”
“As a federal entity, we remain neutral on political issues. News channels should not be shown on common area TVs due to their divisive political nature,” it added. “The Exchange has elected to play sports channels/sports programming on all common area TVs” when its own informational service known as EXTV isn’t being shown, the memo said. According to U.S. media reports, the directive was met with mixed response among soldiers.
Some supported keeping politics out of military camps, while others lamented that cutting news channels will limit the soldiers’ exposure to the outside world. The decision underscored how politicized U.S. media has become, with a great number of news outlets showing clear political leanings and playing to certain demographics.
A rocky relationship between the Donald Trump administration and the media also undermined social opinion on the press, with the U.S. president often calling various news outlets “fake news.”
