Cable news ratings are collapsing because of a design flaw in the coverage. Washington, DC-based media sees the world in a stilted way. The coverage presumes politics is upstream from culture. It isn’t. It’s downstream. That’s the fundamental disconnect, and why people are tuning out.
It's ALL about power and money, starting with Trump and continuing through the entire Republican Party. The game they're playing is transparent: long-term power at all costs, even if it means courting Nazis and trashing the Constitution. They are not for the United States or its people. They are in it for themselves.
You begin with cable news here. You excoriated media and celebrity with an earlier missive this week. Both are correct, but the problem is money -- rather the idea that covering the news is a path to revenue. The constant, 24-hour cacophony that is "news" now, has cheapened it, certainly. But it (and our democracy) face near-death because "news" is a major money-maker -- Fox News, CNN, MSNBC. These, and lesser networks and websites, are now expected to be profit centers.
Oh for the good old days of public airwaves and public service and no multiples of media ownership in any single market. But mostly, oh for the good old days when the news was insulated from how a network made its money. That firewall was broken down by internet advertising and cable channel copulation. Now that advertising dollars are dispersed and targeted by the data we creat all day, every day, those dollars are harder to come by and cheaper by the click-dozen. So it's news for sale, not just the facts, ma'am.
The framers knew that their creation -- these United States -- could be kept viable by a free and competitive press. This press ain't free, it's just for sale to soap flakes, car insurance and drugs for clearer skin.
The news can't be the product that you're selling 24/365 or it becomes as tawdry and repetitive as a shopping channel.
We need to know what we need to know, but we've killed our local papers, diluted our television reporting by the hundreds of channels and expect that we can find what we need to know in a Tweet or two.
So yes, cable news ratings are collapsing, but it's not just a design flaw in the coverage. It's a design flaw in how the bills are paid. The money should be made across the hall and the news should be reported, not chosen for the advertising eyeballs it can attract.
Yes it is sad that so many people are obsessed with money and power at all cost.
I am convinced that the current Supreme Courts right wing is getting paid a lot of money for the way they rule. They are basically above the law and have life long tenure. They are responsible for all the mass shooting (they overturned the assault weapon ban), citizens united, pollution , forced births etc.
They are more dangerous than the politicians and just as corrupt.
The word “politics” in the U.S. mostly means imbecilic negative TV and social media ads crafted by cynical professional manipulators. There is no widely-available level-headed discussion of policy to be found, where various perspectives are presented in an unemotional way. There are just a series of lies, spins and potshots coming from both sides. Republicans are worse liars, but only a little worse. There is a ruling corporate class that uses media outlets to treat the citizens like morons. The citizens, deprived of substantive information and reasonable discourse from their leaders and candidates, starved with sound bites and lies only, act and vote accordingly. Public education is defunded as “free trade” moves jobs out of the nation and “deaths of despair” rise. News is absorbed in 280-character chunks by the semiliterate majority. Money is speech, say the nations highest arbiters of the law. What do we expect? Exactly what we’re getting.
Absolutely, Steve! I happened to catch that "Yellowstone" moment with Kevin Costner's wise and prescient comment and felt that it so perfectly encapsulates Washington, in all it myriad forms of disfunction and betrayal.
Remember asking my parents as a child why were unions so important ….things were dangerous people shot, beaten killed
BUT they kept fighting and won Unions !!!7
SPeaking truth to power wins ..willing to fight for truth, trust, freedom and even die
…this has happened in the Gilded Age,
Trust Busting…is our Generation and are we individually wiring to SPEAK UP for our Democracy? I AM..I Am never going to give up on our freedom our Democracy needs depends and is worthy of Courage Now!!!
You are right. But the bigger question is, what are the (monolithic?) "American people" going to do when they stop "stand[ing] for it"? What will actually work?
Not much longer, Steve. What we must remain is civil, not civil war inclined. It is preposterous that in our time now something of the sort would even be considered and, yet, once every several days-cycle of the news, a mention of it is made. Preposterous! Corruption is the one issue that affects all those who are not participants of it, but instead are the RECIPIENTS in full force of the effects it has had and continues to have upon citizens everywhere. And most evidently in America because we have the evidence at long last. The book on Elite Capture was written by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. The book of who it affects is written daily across the world. The elites are a bunch of plutocrats. A small membership. Plutocracy is the grand evil of our time, the destroyer of lives, the submission of peoples, the attack on belief in our institutions, the sinister current that would want us "lesser beings" out of the venues of Privilege to nitpick topics to swipe away with no concern whatsoever of the effects on problems they "take on," to solve they say, because the effects of their intervention turns problems more complex and, certainly, at some point unsolvable. The elites give a damn. Sure it attracts so many people in the news, media and politics! Every shortcut to fame and fortune will always produce the necessary supporters of elites. The difference is that at the lower level maybe those who are driven by greed and contempt towards those who attain riches and well-being by hard work and value systems in place, those will make the fast million desired, but the billions and trillions are offhand. It is a lesson for those who aspire to belong to circles that have banned them since time immemorial. They will never be accepted by the elitists as one and the same. Never.
Steve, at this point we have the answers already. We know all the corruption that happens and how it happens. In politics, I am supportive of your opinion that we need a younger generation who is committed to public service and not personal gain as representatives of the people. And we need the knowledge that can halt the corruption to take place, before it does. I would start by cleaning house. Start by cleaning it in both parties, because corruption is to be found everywhere it will find a person willing to put personal gain over public service. There must be safeguards in place at all levels of government. Then and only then can corruption outside government be addressed. This is as serious as it gets, because in our this moment it has gotten out of hand totally. Thank you for making this a priority. I am most certain that the majority of your readers understand this and want urgent change.
As for culture, we are blessed to have culture workers doing the work. The credit to them comes from those who are saying present at their venues. The disparity of who gets ultra rich doing it is up for discussion and how fans play a role. But then again, quality is in the eyes of the beholder.
"Life is a dream" is a vivid memory phrase from literature for Spanish language speakers. When dreams become a reality to better our existence, not to give way to nightmares, then life IS the dignity we all deserve. Let us all will better political leaders who have humanity at heart. Maybe if we start by looking at the homeless leaving aside our misconceptions about homelessness.
Americans will stand for it as long as we have distractions like the goal of buying a bigger tv, cheap gas, and being mean held up as a virtue. It's what we've come to believe we are entitled to, right? It's long been like the magician who distracts over here while placing the ball in hand and then calling it magic.
Our public educational system has been so eroded over time that it's a miracle young people can even dress themselves. Ok, that piece is snark, but the sentiment is true. Another truth is there is a group of people who will forever be unable to read a ransom note if it's written in cursive.
Yeah, it's interesting how now, after SBF and FTX collapse, we now get a nice, neat story about the corruption. How about we should have gotten the story BEFORE the collapse.
You have captured today’s important events in the crystal clear lens. Ukraine war is an important example that making your case and winning the info war comes before everything else.
I need to believe that we are emerging, finally, from very dark times….I hang with smart people..I only read things written by exceptionally smart people. The last 6 years have been excruciatingly difficult and having worked in politics for what seems like forever…the McGovern campaign, the 2000 recount in Florida, both Obama campaigns and a lot in between..I still believe that the good people will prevail.
It's ALL about power and money, starting with Trump and continuing through the entire Republican Party. The game they're playing is transparent: long-term power at all costs, even if it means courting Nazis and trashing the Constitution. They are not for the United States or its people. They are in it for themselves.
You begin with cable news here. You excoriated media and celebrity with an earlier missive this week. Both are correct, but the problem is money -- rather the idea that covering the news is a path to revenue. The constant, 24-hour cacophony that is "news" now, has cheapened it, certainly. But it (and our democracy) face near-death because "news" is a major money-maker -- Fox News, CNN, MSNBC. These, and lesser networks and websites, are now expected to be profit centers.
Oh for the good old days of public airwaves and public service and no multiples of media ownership in any single market. But mostly, oh for the good old days when the news was insulated from how a network made its money. That firewall was broken down by internet advertising and cable channel copulation. Now that advertising dollars are dispersed and targeted by the data we creat all day, every day, those dollars are harder to come by and cheaper by the click-dozen. So it's news for sale, not just the facts, ma'am.
The framers knew that their creation -- these United States -- could be kept viable by a free and competitive press. This press ain't free, it's just for sale to soap flakes, car insurance and drugs for clearer skin.
The news can't be the product that you're selling 24/365 or it becomes as tawdry and repetitive as a shopping channel.
We need to know what we need to know, but we've killed our local papers, diluted our television reporting by the hundreds of channels and expect that we can find what we need to know in a Tweet or two.
So yes, cable news ratings are collapsing, but it's not just a design flaw in the coverage. It's a design flaw in how the bills are paid. The money should be made across the hall and the news should be reported, not chosen for the advertising eyeballs it can attract.
Yes it is sad that so many people are obsessed with money and power at all cost.
I am convinced that the current Supreme Courts right wing is getting paid a lot of money for the way they rule. They are basically above the law and have life long tenure. They are responsible for all the mass shooting (they overturned the assault weapon ban), citizens united, pollution , forced births etc.
They are more dangerous than the politicians and just as corrupt.
Yep. “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men (and women)” - Abe Lincoln
The word “politics” in the U.S. mostly means imbecilic negative TV and social media ads crafted by cynical professional manipulators. There is no widely-available level-headed discussion of policy to be found, where various perspectives are presented in an unemotional way. There are just a series of lies, spins and potshots coming from both sides. Republicans are worse liars, but only a little worse. There is a ruling corporate class that uses media outlets to treat the citizens like morons. The citizens, deprived of substantive information and reasonable discourse from their leaders and candidates, starved with sound bites and lies only, act and vote accordingly. Public education is defunded as “free trade” moves jobs out of the nation and “deaths of despair” rise. News is absorbed in 280-character chunks by the semiliterate majority. Money is speech, say the nations highest arbiters of the law. What do we expect? Exactly what we’re getting.
There is quite a lot the American people need to stop standing for...
Absolutely, Steve! I happened to catch that "Yellowstone" moment with Kevin Costner's wise and prescient comment and felt that it so perfectly encapsulates Washington, in all it myriad forms of disfunction and betrayal.
Remember asking my parents as a child why were unions so important ….things were dangerous people shot, beaten killed
BUT they kept fighting and won Unions !!!7
SPeaking truth to power wins ..willing to fight for truth, trust, freedom and even die
…this has happened in the Gilded Age,
Trust Busting…is our Generation and are we individually wiring to SPEAK UP for our Democracy? I AM..I Am never going to give up on our freedom our Democracy needs depends and is worthy of Courage Now!!!
You are right. But the bigger question is, what are the (monolithic?) "American people" going to do when they stop "stand[ing] for it"? What will actually work?
Not much longer, Steve. What we must remain is civil, not civil war inclined. It is preposterous that in our time now something of the sort would even be considered and, yet, once every several days-cycle of the news, a mention of it is made. Preposterous! Corruption is the one issue that affects all those who are not participants of it, but instead are the RECIPIENTS in full force of the effects it has had and continues to have upon citizens everywhere. And most evidently in America because we have the evidence at long last. The book on Elite Capture was written by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. The book of who it affects is written daily across the world. The elites are a bunch of plutocrats. A small membership. Plutocracy is the grand evil of our time, the destroyer of lives, the submission of peoples, the attack on belief in our institutions, the sinister current that would want us "lesser beings" out of the venues of Privilege to nitpick topics to swipe away with no concern whatsoever of the effects on problems they "take on," to solve they say, because the effects of their intervention turns problems more complex and, certainly, at some point unsolvable. The elites give a damn. Sure it attracts so many people in the news, media and politics! Every shortcut to fame and fortune will always produce the necessary supporters of elites. The difference is that at the lower level maybe those who are driven by greed and contempt towards those who attain riches and well-being by hard work and value systems in place, those will make the fast million desired, but the billions and trillions are offhand. It is a lesson for those who aspire to belong to circles that have banned them since time immemorial. They will never be accepted by the elitists as one and the same. Never.
Steve, at this point we have the answers already. We know all the corruption that happens and how it happens. In politics, I am supportive of your opinion that we need a younger generation who is committed to public service and not personal gain as representatives of the people. And we need the knowledge that can halt the corruption to take place, before it does. I would start by cleaning house. Start by cleaning it in both parties, because corruption is to be found everywhere it will find a person willing to put personal gain over public service. There must be safeguards in place at all levels of government. Then and only then can corruption outside government be addressed. This is as serious as it gets, because in our this moment it has gotten out of hand totally. Thank you for making this a priority. I am most certain that the majority of your readers understand this and want urgent change.
As for culture, we are blessed to have culture workers doing the work. The credit to them comes from those who are saying present at their venues. The disparity of who gets ultra rich doing it is up for discussion and how fans play a role. But then again, quality is in the eyes of the beholder.
"Life is a dream" is a vivid memory phrase from literature for Spanish language speakers. When dreams become a reality to better our existence, not to give way to nightmares, then life IS the dignity we all deserve. Let us all will better political leaders who have humanity at heart. Maybe if we start by looking at the homeless leaving aside our misconceptions about homelessness.
Thank you Steve. Your writing is award winning.
I hate the fact that the most relevant historian I can read nowadays is Cicero's works on the fall of the Republic. We are soo far down that hole.
Americans will stand for it as long as we have distractions like the goal of buying a bigger tv, cheap gas, and being mean held up as a virtue. It's what we've come to believe we are entitled to, right? It's long been like the magician who distracts over here while placing the ball in hand and then calling it magic.
Our public educational system has been so eroded over time that it's a miracle young people can even dress themselves. Ok, that piece is snark, but the sentiment is true. Another truth is there is a group of people who will forever be unable to read a ransom note if it's written in cursive.
Yeah, it's interesting how now, after SBF and FTX collapse, we now get a nice, neat story about the corruption. How about we should have gotten the story BEFORE the collapse.
You have captured today’s important events in the crystal clear lens. Ukraine war is an important example that making your case and winning the info war comes before everything else.
I need to believe that we are emerging, finally, from very dark times….I hang with smart people..I only read things written by exceptionally smart people. The last 6 years have been excruciatingly difficult and having worked in politics for what seems like forever…the McGovern campaign, the 2000 recount in Florida, both Obama campaigns and a lot in between..I still believe that the good people will prevail.