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Autocratic forces are ascendant.

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Autocratic forces are ascendant in America. But truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against the unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought or broken. Please stand with us.

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Cable Access

A television magnate uses the money network.

#78 Robert L. Johnson, 50, Washington, D.C. Party: Both. $194,358 total contributions.

View Johnson’s itemized contributions.

Robert Johnson is an American success story. Raised in a poor family in a rural Illinois town, he now runs the parent company of cable giant Black Entertainment Television. Johnson’s estimated worth: more than $200 million. He says he spread his money around to candidates who helped pass the 1996 bill that will deregulate cable rates. Because of it, Johnson and other cable network executives are now freer to manipulate their prices.