The US is seeing lots of pressure on media because of not parroting the ruling party line. The current US president openly says any news he doesn't agree with is not only a lie but that the media companies are literally the enemies of the people. This doesn't even get into the tweet storms and the canceled programs in order to fall in line!

Your last point seems to be the parent's point as well -- if you want to keep your media business alive (to make money; that's what businesses are) in the US you have to be careful criticizing those currently in power. Unless I misunderstood you to and you meant that parroting the party line is a way to make more money but not doing it is also perfectly effective and not at all a risk.