The Demise of the Mainstream Media

The demise of the MSM, we all see it, we all know it, but somebody needs to clue them in because it is business as usual as far as I can see. They continue to lie, make excuses for the demented one. and lie and misrepresent Trump. It's in their blood, it is who they are, they will never change. You would think the election and their ratings in the toliet would tell them something, but apparently not.

In the words of “Cell-Block Tango”: “They had it coming. . .they had it coming. . .they only had themselves to blame. . .”

No criticism of the author implied but this is a 1,176 word piece that mentions government just three times and makes no mention of the CIA and programs like Mockingbird. While media figures have long bored us with their pigeon-strutting about 'journalism' and 'upholding the First Amendment' it's clear that they chose the coward's way out getting into bed with the intelligence community aka deep state. The WWII effort was the origin of much of the spook network and The Cold War was both pretext and ruse to expand it. With few significant military threats in the postwar era, the CIA et al involved themselves in political upheaval in dozens of nations (eg Vietnam) and waged a decades-long domestic campaign up to and including covid panic which featured the likes of Special Agent Elvis Chan setting up a dedicated communications system with social media execs and even agents making weekly or daily visits. None of this excuses media's own choices or behavior. As usual, studying incentives gives us a rather simple explanation and prediction model. Why risk being harassed, burgled, prosecuted like Sharyl Atkisson or Catherine Herridge to say nothing of risking unemployment for doing one's actual job? Much easier to print 'leaks' (read: memos) verbatim, claim an exclusive, take the hosannas and wait on the next bit of propaganda to reprint. Ironically, Woodward & Bernstein are feted for taking down a president they all hated but all their smoke ultimately relied on the fire of disgruntled Mark 'Deep Throat' Felt. In other words, they portrayed themselves as anti-government while doing government's bidding. Media's sins are many - laziness, repetition, groupthink, superficiality - but they were certainly 'encouraged' to pursue this dumbed-down approach by the intelligence community. Media figures often claim that it's a cutthroat, competitive business and that all the back-biting is justified when pursuing big contracts but is it really competitive when they're all parroting lines about 'Russian collusion' or 'Wear a mask?'

They will continue to slice there on throats by continuing their 'get Trump' mindset. Good riddance.

"The mainstream media can trace its beginning to Franklin Roosevelt." This is very interesting. Essentially the media was a government creation, designed to be in their pocket, and has ALWAYS been their tool. While the relationship was carefully subtle at first and perhaps ebbed and flowed with who was in power in Washington, it has always been liberal leaning and since BO, all in for the Left. "just thirty percent of the citizenry have a great deal or fair amount of trust and confidence in the media" While the article makes it clear that we NEVER should have had confidence in the independence of the media, they previously wore convincing masks of fairness that they ripped off in their zeal for BO and hatred of Trump. Further, their hatred of Trump has nothing to do with anything Trump believes, says, or does. It is because he is not a member of the government/media partnership and that he refused to lay down and die when they attacked him. Trump destroyed the media with a simple reality, they are Fake News. They always have been, at least from the perspective of being truthful, fair, and objective, which were ESSENTIAL expectations that the public had for the Constitutionally protected free "Press". The small minded media decided that they would launch a full throated attack against Trump. They failed to understand the cost of this, the almost complete loss of their carefully constructed, fake credibility that is required for their acceptance by the public. It was the media's own reaction to to Trump that was an existential threat to them. They committed/are committing suicide. The problem is, We the People now realize we cannot just go to a "trusted source" to gobble down information. We need to read and analyze things for ourselves. That's the cost of belonging to a Republic, as Lincoln said, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”. We need to be informed and discriminating. When you think about it, that's why the Left is in such angst. They are sheeple and want to be told what is real. They are in the matrix and want to stay there where they think they are safe. We are challenging that with BIG RED PILLS.

It seems the media hasn't yet realized there's this thing called the 'internet.' Their lies are easily laid bare by actual 'fact checkers' that don't use ''unnamed sources.'' May they all fail.

Not quite. The msm won't be dead until its advertisers stop advertising on the msms' news programs.

#5 Your analysis is spot-on. I, too, caught the FDR connection. In the beginning the radio "fireside chat" approach was meant to inform, calm and hopefully uplift the spirits of a beleaguered nation. My beloved father lived through those troubled times as a young man. He shared his stories of survival so we would never take everyday things for granted. He was a big fan of FDR and a lifelong Democrat. As I grew older, I realized the media was not the 5th Estate "gatekeeper" it proudly proclaimed to be. Hubris infected the upper echelon of journalism schools. I sat in those classrooms in the 1970's. I looked around and shook my head at how easily people could be manipulated. Critical thinking was in short supply...even back then. "Go along to get along" sounds good, but can produce mediocrity. Mass Media provided a pathway of least resistance. Analysis takes time. Clear-headed thinkers learn to connect the dots quickly. You are one of those thinkers. Please keep posting here on L.com. Your insights are worth reading and re-reading.

Saw a video from Warren Buffet who sends a letter out to his managers every 2 years. Essentially it says, we can lose money, even a lot of it, as we can always figure out how to make more. But, we can't afford to lose our reputation. We've spent 37 years building up our reputation, but it can all be gone in 37 minutes. And it will be difficult to get it back. The MSM has lost their reputation and it will be difficult to get it back. They decided to listen to the Progressives of the Democrat party and been lead astray. That was their decision and they're reaping the consequences. Bezos and Zuckerberg look to be trying to regain some of that lost reputation but time will tell if they're consistent and not simply trying to bend to the new political environment.