The collapse of the American media

Part one

The United States of America is the most complex society in world history. Among the most important foundational principles of American society is the First Amendment, which establishes the inviolate American birthrights of the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly and the press. The free press is fundamental toward the functioning of any democratic form of government, but like the powerful institutions it covers, the media is also prone to the vices that produce corruption.

The American media is profoundly broken. The collapse of local newspapers and television coverage at a local level has allowed for impostors like George Santos to con their way through an election without fear of investigation or scrutiny.

At a national level, the overwhelming majority of the US political media has become economically dependent on their political partners. It is a symbiotic relationship that has spawned a vast “access economy.”

‘ABC World News Tonight,’ ‘NBC Nightly with Lester Holt’ and ‘CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell’ are islands of integrity against the access tsunami. They are not immune to its waves, but have been able to break their momentum.

‘60 Minutes’ has not been perfect over 55 years, but it has been pretty close. PBS ‘Frontline’ has claim to being the best investigative journalism series in the world.

My criticisms are not directed towards journalism and journalists, but rather, the hollow facsimiles that have arisen in their place. Oftentimes, it is helpful to be able to look back on events freed from the passions of the moment. Sometimes reflection can bring new insights.

I appeared on ‘Morning Joe’ on June 18, 2015, two days after Donald Trump announced his presidential campaign. The Washington, DC, conventional wisdom was that Donald Trump was a clown and a joke. This was a moment in time that existed before a single Republican official elected to federal office endorsed Donald Trump. This was a moment in time that occurred before Lindsey Graham said that the Republican Party would be destroyed by Trump. This was a moment in time when the only television show in America that understood Donald Trump was for real — and the conventional wisdom was wrong — was ‘Morning Joe.’ Click here to watch the conversation from that day nearly eight years ago.

Three years later, Donald Trump was the president of the United States, and by 2018 he had profoundly transformed the American media. The president of the White House Correspondents’ Association that year was Margaret Talev of Bloomberg News. She would be scandalized by her invitation of the comedian Michelle Wolf, and bullied into defending the integrity of the White House press secretary, who is one of the most prolific liars in American history by sheer volume of lying.

Michelle Wolf blasted the media at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner with a statement of the obvious:

Here is the statement that was released by the White House Correspondents’ Association, following her performance at the annual dinner, which has become a parody of itself:

“Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people.”

When it convenes each year, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner offers a brief respite to the annual Davos WEF confab, and takes its place as the most out-of-touch place on Earth.

When Talev introduced Michelle Wolf, the introduction was both telling and jarring. Talev spoke to the room not as a journalist, but rather as a Washington elite talking to a room full of Washingtonians. When she introduced Wolf, she opined that Washington, DC, journalists had missed the rise of Trump, and that the room might be well-served by hearing from an outsider, such as Wolf.

It is important to remember that the crowd of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2018 was filled with uniformed military brass, lobbyists, CEOs, cabinet secretaries, governors, members of Congress, and the executive suites of the largest American media companies. When Talev addressed them, her speech was that of a provisional mayor addressing her community. She searched for unity, and in the end, what the evening proved was that the American media is irredeemably broken.

The statement following the dinner was a reaction to the outrage of Matt Schlapp, the corrupt lobbyist and leader of the American fascist movement. This story from The New York Times, which covers Schlapp’s building outrage over Sarah Huckabee Sanders being called out for lying, while being chauffeured to the exclusive MSNBC afterparty, is both beyond belief and ridicule. The fraudulence and corruption is the game. 

There are two videos below. The first, which lasts for exactly 13 astonishing minutes, is a historical marker. It is an interview between Alison Camerota and Matt Schlapp, which takes place after the dinner. The great offense was primarily two jokes, one which called Sarah Huckabee Sanders a liar — which she is — and one that pointed out how dependent the American political media was on Trump by the spring of 2018, as we were well on our way to January 6th. 

Let’s watch and wait for the end for the special surprise:

This clip explains how American society arrived at the moment where Fox News’ performative fascist and puppet master Sean Hannity, who makes $36 million a year, and flies in a G-V, feels comfortable denouncing East coast elites, and praising the diversity of the MAGA House majority. Every person in the Hannity clip is a member of Congress. Let’s watch the evolution of the conservative ‘victim schtick’ and the performative journalism on two of the leading-edge platforms of the ‘Trump industrial complex’ from 2018 to 2023:

The Camerota interview from 2018 and the Hannity interview from 2023 are exactly the same. Neither is real. It is theatre. Every bit of it.

This is why cable news ratings are collapsing. The formats, performers and shtick are all stale. The losers are the American people, who are subjected to a constant barrage of disorientation that is the leading edge of a billion-dollar business that haughtily celebrates its virtues, while ignoring its vices.

The American people despise America’s media almost as much as they despise its extremist politicians. Increasingly, they understand the two sides of a coin are both attached to the same coin — just like the media and the extremists.

To be continued…