“The transformation of CNN from a relatively unbiased news source into the notoriously slanted vehicle that it is today has to be the most remarkable devolution in our history that I can think of.” - Slanted
Americans hate the media! In 2020, Gallup polls showed that only 9 percent of Americans had a great deal of trust in today’s partisan reporting. When surveyed by political ideology, 73 percent of Democrats had favorable views of the media, while 64 percent of Independents and 89 percent of Republicans didn’t trust them very much or not at all. Furthermore, while most observers understand that Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are one-sided networks, many still do not realize that ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS are as well. Perhaps the proof might be found in the fact that over 90 percent of political contributions from journalists, in 2020, were given to Democrats. So, it’s not surprising to catch these corporate broadcasters with their thumbs all over the scales, attempting to give their side a clear advantage. But it wasn’t always this way.
Some of us are old enough to remember a time when we had to wait until the six o’clock evening news to find out what happened in the world. Some newspapers even issued both morning and afternoon editions. Yet, even with the limited number of news sources, we felt relatively confident that stories and reports were researched, fact-checked, and true. If there were two sides to an issue, both views were typically given. Citizens were reasonably knowledgeable about their cities and their nation. Unfortunately, that train left the station long ago. Impartial, neutral reporting is now considered “right-wing”.
Where facts once led a story, narrative is now the driver. The fact-riddled reporting of lore has been replaced with a preselected set of truths that lead one to a predetermined conclusion. Events and how they unfold are no longer left in the hands of dogged reporters but carefully crafted by corporate interests and party politics. “Journalists” further seek to influence issues by reporting opinions and biases as if they were gospel. And with the glut of news programming and options, networks now tailor their news to meet a particular clientele, a biased political class. Local news stations, affiliates of the national networks, increasingly regurgitate national stories providing little context for their regional audience. Longstanding principles of conduct and journalistic ethics have also been neglected. Every issue is politicized because the media no longer believes that viewers can be trusted to make up their own minds.
Once lauded as the fourth estate, a watchdog over the three branches of government, the media held tremendous sway. The free press, so important to the functioning of democracy, has abandoned its role as a bipartisan overseer of the political system. And although the downward spiral has been escalating over the past decade or more, Trump was the final straw. The media politicized the Coronavirus and used it to attack Trump leading up to the 2020 Presidential election. After the election, the media willfully ignored obvious fraud in their attempt to drag Biden over the finish line. Now they openly employ character assassination, lies, and distortions, to mislead and manipulate opinion. News is no longer provided by respected anchors but instead delivered by media celebrities and their panel of pundits. The mainstream media has become nothing more than a shady wing of the Democrat party.
In Sharyl Attkisson’s 2020 book, “Slanted”, Attkisson, an award-winning investigative journalist previously of PBS, CNN, and most recently CBS, reveals a multitude of examples of the devolution of news over her nearly 40-year career. Attkisson, now an independent journalist, details the descent from fact-centered news reporting to opinion journalism. She proceeds to lament the media’s attempts to outright censor opposing views and realities while encouraging the public to do so as well. Attkisson ends her book with an exhaustive list of lies and untruths the media blatantly aired during the Trump administration.
Complete acceptance of the manufactured narrative is now required to live harmoniously with polite society. Inquiry is no longer allowed, nor is there any curiosity left in the media’s war against ideas. Over time, news consumers have increasingly succumbed to the one-sided propaganda and now believe whatever they are told, with or without evidence. We can thank, in part, the government-controlled education system that tells students what to think, and not how to think, a prime audience for this new era of cult news programming.
There remains a gaping market for straight news from neutral actors. News without censorship. You report I’ll decide. Thankfully, a decentralization of sources has arrived in the form of the citizen journalist.
The mainstream media is corrupt beyond repair. 2020 is sure to be their final curtain.
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