In a recent conversation, my youngest son made an observation that went to the very heart of America’s current political dysfunction: it’s the media–but not in the way that accusation usually assumes. Whatever the considerable deficits of “mainstream” coverage–and there were plenty of them–focusing on the New York Times and Washington Post and their ilk ignores the fact that the vast majority of Trump voters never read them.
As my son pointed out, what almost all of the finger-pointing and attacks on “messaging” miss is that Harris’s messaging was fine (indeed, it was arguably better than Democratic messaging in prior election cycles). That messaging would have made a huge difference–had it reached a majority of voters.
It didn’t.
We live in a time when mainstream media reaches far fewer people than the right wing media ecosystem that has developed in our digital age. That ecosystem goes far beyond Fox and Sinclair–it includes sites like AONN, social media like X/twitter, and all of the rightwing troll farms, bloggers, and podcasters. Their effectiveness rests on a dimly-understood reality: not only do these sources collectively reach more people, unlike mainstream outlets they are all on the same page--they reinforce and repeat the same propaganda, ignore the same “inconvenient” facts, and do so over sustained periods of time. Not only do they distort reality and manufacture issues (immigrants are eating dogs and cats), they encourage their audiences to blame groups against whom they’re already prejudiced.
The center/left has absolutely nothing like this, and would be philosophically allergic to establishing a similar propaganda arm.
There is evidence that Harris’s message would have been persuasive had it been able to penetrate that rightwing echo chamber. When the candidates’ names were removed, and only their policy proposals were polled, Harris’s plans and statements were vastly more popular than Trump’s. But Harris’ messaging never reached a majority of Trump voters.
It is certainly the case that significant numbers of voters simply refused to hear her, thanks to the rampant sexism and racism that characterized much of the voting public, but we cannot dismiss the importance of the fact that a majority of the American voting public never sees mainstream coverage. (People struggling to put food on the table don’t subscribe to the New York Times.) The deciding plurality of voters who delivered the election to Trump received only the Trump cult’s messaging.
If that observation is true–and there’s ample research to confirm its accuracy–Democrats need to stop their carping about what the campaign did or didn’t do right, and address the (pun intended) elephant in the room. How can fact-based information be delivered to people who have opted to get all of their information from a massive, co-ordinated right-wing propaganda ecosystem?
I tend to agree with my son, who argues that the actual messaging mistake wasn’t content or tone. It was dissemination.
Democrats have made a very consequential error in refusing to engage with the propaganda on the propagandists’ turf. Only Pete Buttigeig and Gavin Newsom have been willing to take Democratic perspectives onto that turf–to bring contending facts and messages to the millions of people who get their “facts” from media sources voicing the preferred messages of what Hillary Clinton once–quite accurately– called “the vast right-wing conspiracy.”
Autocrats everywhere understand the power of media, and move to control it. In the United States, a shadowy network of rightwing think tanks, theocratic organizations and plutocrats have been working for decades to roll back the “woke” politics of inclusion and civic equality–to return us to a social order dominated by straight White Christian males. Participants in that network understood that control of information was key to the success of that effort, and the right-wing media ecosystem is the result.
I often remind readers that support for the Constitution and the Rule of Law requires an informed public. When a significant portion of the public is misinformed, when they are fed uncontested propaganda that feeds and plays to their already-potent fears and prejudices, we get outcomes like the one we got on November 5th.
How to penetrate that ecosystem is a conundrum. Making it even more challenging is the vocabulary of the Right. I’ll discuss that further obstacle to political sanity tomorrow.
And let us not forget that other propaganda avenue of the far right…. the pulpit.
The question as to why the right-wing media is so wide-spread, pervasive and full of crap has to answered, in part, by the grasp for money and power by those who FUND that media. As Todd so often mentions, the media – on both sides – is owned and operated by corporate/banking America; the same creatures who own Congress.
As Marx warned the world over a century ago, unregulated capitalism will destroy itself from within. And what have politicians (mostly Republicans) done since their beginning? They’ve worked EVERY lever of government to end regulations. Regulations, to these sociopathic cost accountants, means loss of profits. The stagnant and idiotically low minimum wage is a prime example of that operating scheme.
The right-wing media is just the foot on the gas pedal to our destruction of a nation and a society. Matt Gaetz as Attorney General … Let that sink in.
Professor-I want to meet your son, especially, if this is the same son who wrote the letter to his college age children after the election. He is a very wise person.
This times 10! And the history of the messaging is very long – please look at the 1990 document from Newt Gingrich’s GOPAC:
https://uh.edu/~englin/rephandout.html
The pamphlet is literally titled “Language: A Key Mechanism Of Control”. I have friends and family who live completely comfortable lives who speak with this negative, disparaging, discrediting vocabulary about one of our two major political parties so routinely it’s like a dialect of American English. An actual statement from an 80 year old churchgoing MIL who is dear to me, remarking in November 2020, “Well, I guess you’re glad about the election result. I guess now we’re going to have socialism.” It’s no longer about political disagreement – it’s literally demonization of the other side – when ideas for governance different from the ones you prefer are seen through the lens not of political “opponents” but rather as “enemies”. This is a favorite vocabulary selection of Trump. I don’t recall a pre-Trump politician who spoke so frequently of his “enemies.” 30 to 40 years of some of our friends and family and neighbors marinating in an ecosphere of information designed to control thought and modify sensibilities; and over time multiple generations of otherwise good people have been trained (manipulated) to believe that this is what they want. And, as Sheila mentions, there is no viable analog on the other side. I believe this to be the key reason that Democrats have been bringing a knife to a gunfight pretty much for all of my adult life and my first time voting was for Reagan.
I agree completely. It really is the elephant in the room and I cringe with all of those “analysis” that ignore this. I think there are a LOT of clues and they keep popping up, but I think it might be easier for pundits to try to find blame with something that has an obvious fix. I also agree that the left would find creating a left wing propanda machine abhorrent.
Somewhere in the world somebody must have figured this out, but they might not have freedom of speech baked into their constitution.
Look for opportunities to amplify truth telling in trusted circles in the future.
You are all morons. It us true that Fox is right leaning, but MSNBC and CNN are full fledged arms of the democratic party. ABC, CBS and NBC might as well be call the Democratic Propaganda Machine. Elon recently only bought twitter and then exposed the election and messaging corruption of that platform. Zuckerberg has admitted Facebook had done the same. To say what you have said as a so-called intellectual leaves a lotta room for debate
Wilkie. Your comments strongly support Sheila’s point.
Wilkie — name calling and “what-about-ism” — two of the right’s main debate strategies. Way to go!
Starting a comment with “you are all morons” gives me pause to continue reading that comment. Let us reflect on the control or stranglehold Trump had on all media for three years even more than Biden. Let us remember how Trump hectored the House members to vote his way – that’s fact Fox or CNN or not. How is it that people are researching “tariff” AFTER the election? I submit that anyone can go beyond the media to learn history, to evaluate issues like climate change, to look at the inflation/recession of the Reagan/Bush years, to hear Trump’s rhetorical gymnastics. Perhaps the real morons don’t even know they are. I believe Louis Armstrong said: if they don’t know, you can’t tell ’em.
Yup. It is the reason those folks keep voting against their own best interests: disinformation, mountains of it, repeated nonstop. As Sheila points out, they simply don’t listen to/watch the same sources of “news” or “information” that we do. The sources they do listen to/watch are both domestic and foreign, all with one interest in mind: believe our propaganda so we can defeat the truth-telling nice guys who are weak and incompetent. They are conned into believing that an autocrat like trump has their own best interests in mind when truth be told it is the opposite. This is not going to be a pleasant 4 years, and many of those who voted for him, actually a great number of them, will be victims of those campaign lies, as will the rest of us. Pete Buttigeig and Gavin Newsome, as Sheila noted, were willing to take on the disinformation express, successfully as far as I could ascertain, and that has to be done now as de rigueur for the political discourse in this country, wherever and whenever possible. We have been operating in a comfortable bubble, myself included (I mostly watch MSNBC and CNN), and it has seemed to make sense, but it certainly didn’t prepare me for the 2024 election results. I was enamored by the positive, even joyous Harris/Walz campaign (although I must admit to a tiny bit of reservation at the kumbaya Walz presentation) and could absolutely not believe that more folks could vote for all the horrific baggage trump presented. Boy was I wrong. So back to the drawing board with the knowledge that misogyny, racism and disinformation rules. Disinformation is the only one of those three that can be influenced, so Sheila is spot on; we have to figure out how to effectively counter it by disseminating the truth any way possible.
We watch a few channel/time regulars, like network news. I always wonder why the commercials never seem to change: the same old tired acts selling the same old tired actors and scripts. But then, when the commercials were interrupted by “content,” it was the same. Donald Trump. Since 2015.
Kamala almost caught him in about 100 days.
Linda, you raise the issue of the Dunning-Kreuger effect, wherein the stupid are too stupid top know that they are stupid. Yes, the effect has been questioned, from within the field of psychology, but, in either case, one can n to fix stupid.
Wilkie, I believe you speak inaccurately.
Sheila, your son hit the nail on the head. The Dems messaging is poor, to begin with. Harris did it well, but Biden could have been out in the hustings touting the positive results of his economic program, because, aside from the bigotries, “It’s the economy, stupid!”
“Sometimes America’s just going to America,” said Wanda Sykes when Jimmy Kimmel asked how she explained what happened.
I too, would like to meet your son. He’s obviously a very astute observer of life and I probably would say that even if I didn’t agree with every word he said. 😁
9 years of pro-Trump messaging vs 3 months of Harris/Walz campaigning! The election results were a lack of exposure to reality and millions of Americans only ever seeing a carefully-curated, anti-Democrat caricature of VP Harris. 74 million right-wing disinformation viewers have been conditioned to ignore reality and wonʻt believe truth or evidence even if it bit them in their ignorant backsides. Not even a headline about General Kelly, former White House Chief of Staff, made nary a difference – when only ten years ago his statements would have immediately disqualified Drumpf.
After watching media since the election, and to some degree before it, there is the assumption that dealing with Trump as a rational being was the plan. But as we now see, those brave enough to call this particular spade a raving psychopath is more accurate. So, how does a media, right or left, deal with the conflict of presenting rational thought vs. the subject who is utterly IRRATIONAL.
Someone just messaged me that the Pillow Guy was about to be named surgeon general. How’s that for “rational”?
As for solutions to fight disinformation, outright lies, and both foreign and domestic propaganda – perhaps more strong messengers like Pete Buttigeig and reasonable Republicans such as Adam Kinzinger must regularly appear on Fox Spews and other right-wing outlets. Or perhaps only when enough people are suffering and affected by Drump and Project 2025, then that critical mass will realize their mistaken sense of loyalty. Or not.
thanks, this is at the heart of my bitch. no one reads,no one made any attempt to straighten the facts. yesterday i ran across a local buisness owner, we have had our share of chats., hes pro worker,per se. doesnt see how goverment can support this country with its tax base, though hes well off, as far as a small town buisness person, hes not against taxing,to a point who and how much. i asked him if he read project 2025. his answer, i dont read that garbage.. word for word. i reminded him how the overtime labor pay will be changed to straight warges and less taxes, (cuts to social sec)and thanks for ignoring the fact i work in a prevailing wage job, and you just axed it.. we have many wind tower projects here in NoDak.. guess what trump wants to kill…his buisness is directly involved in energy… yoall come back now ya hear!
Most, if not all, of us that voted for Kamala and down ballot Democrats are extremely concerned about the damage that trump and his Project 2025 funders/supporters will cause to our country and this so-called democracy. My one hope is that his voters will soon realize just how dangerous he is as he uses his power to cause financial damage not only to our country, but also to their lives. But that hope quickly vanishes because the uber wealthy people that control right wing media most likely possess a vast amount of propaganda ready to counteract the truth of what is actually happening and will assure their viewers/listeners that all of their pain is being caused by Democrats and those viewers/listeners will believe what they are told.
To Wilkie: the truth leans left. And the “mainstream” media give much more balanced and nuanced information than you allege. For instance, they were and are often highly critical of key Biden administration policies and actions (think Gaza). Finally, in no way do the non-MAGA media indulge in the appalling hate- and fear-mongering of radical right media. The latter consistently market hate and fear of “the other,” falsely attribute to their “enemies” notions they simply and demonstrably do not hold, and cover up or try to justify the lies and distortions of hate-spewing, lying, and pathologically power-hungry demagogues. The Democrats have their serious ideological and practical failings, but those pale in comparison with the extreme and dangerous actions and schemes of Trump World. Wilkie, I feel sorry for you; you have swallowed a false narrative that has poisoned your mind and must make you profoundly suspicious and unhappy. May you someday be “woke.”
The so-called traditional media or mainstream media, ABC, CBS, NBC, and even CNN really dropped the ball by sticking to their “both sides” narrative. It made Drumpf seem like just another political candidate. They did not do enough to refute or correct his lies. They did not say that he got fact-checked more often because he lies so much. They over-corrected to seem non-biased in their coverage and their expectations of both candidates. Vernon is correct that only a few brave souls pointed out that the raving lunatic is indeed a dangerous psycho.
Very few Americans make a commitment to lifelong learning because it requires you to constantly research and change your mind often. Consuming news that confirms your beliefs is so much easier because you can do it with a beer in one hand and a remote in the other.
The NY Times is the newspaper of record for this country which means it is the propaganda arm of American Exceptionalism. Bezos newspaper is nothing but disinformation leaked by our Sec of State and National Security apparatus. It is propaganda for the oligarchy running the show just like Putin and Jinping have their propaganda media. They all tout the greatness of the leaders and the country.
It should be noted that the first thing the CIA did in Ukraine was set up an army of public relations gurus to assist Zelenskyy with his messaging. Everything coming out of Ukraine is bullshit.
As I mentioned the other day, all the entertainment media is owned by very large entertainment companies with Jewish executives. Why do you think AIPAC and ADL went to war with TikTok? Why do you think the ADL and AIPAC used their politicians in Washington (both sides of the aisle) to ban TikTok and their pro-Palestinian messaging? It wasn’t really pro-Palestinian because it shared videos of the genocide, it just wasn’t sharing the Israeli propaganda. The US can’t have that!
Americans are lazy. They consume news from entertainers on their televisions because they don’t have to think. As I also mentioned the other day about my classmates in rural Indiana (most of them have lived in Indiana their whole life), they still hold the same racist beliefs they had in our rural high school that was all white. Right-wing messaging is very appealing to this crowd.
As Vern noted above, the right-wingers love to call me a socialist or communist. They have no concept what other term means, but they believe it is a pejorative. I saw a bumper sticker in a guys large pick-up truck which said, “Socialism: You make it, and they take it.”
I believe they confuse taxation with socialism. 😉
A win for the Sandy Hook crowd, The Onion is awarded the bankrupt Alex Jones’ Infowars media empire. They are going to remake the media entity into a mirror of itself – a satirical news agency. I guess “free speech” does have consequences!
I read yesterday that one of the most searched topics now is “can I change my vote?” Buyer’s remorse is already setting in because the MAGAts have pulled the curtain aside to reveal what was going on all along. No need to hide or deny: Project 2025 it is, and always has been. To quote (paraphrase?) the great American philosopher, Pogo: We have seen the enemy, and he is us.
The parallels between today and the 1920s is stunning. I think we need to prepare for market crash, bank failures, massive unemployment, etc. Please write about this and how to prepare. By the way, the layoffs in IT and software are beginning. My walking buddy’s son-in-law was told that his job is going away.
This is not new news though. We’ve known for decades that the right wing billionaires were buying up news organizations for an easy profit. Too bad, so sad that the bad man Soros didn’t buy a media company. Those pharma commercials are so annoying!
Whoopie Goldberg is starting a “24/7 Woman’s Sports Network” that will show women’s sports around the world. This is the kind of investment we need in media. We need more liberal voices to put up documentaries to educate the masses. Hey George Clooney, I’m talking to you.
For example, yesterday I got so fed up with the news stations (Gaetz and that nonsense) that I opened up Netflix to watch Will Farrow’s “Will and Harper” movie. It was amazing. I laughed, my heart was swelled with love and I cried tears of sadness and joy with the places they visited. I recommend it highly to anyone that wants to see, feel and understand a trans’ person’s process. That’s the kind of media we need to get to that educates us and gives us a new perspective about life as we know it. But some people, like my brother, turn the tv on when they wake up and it never shuts off until bedtime. We can’t reach those people, they are lost and will die eventually. Young people don’t watch traditional tv so miss everything and get their “news” (or actually views) from Tik Tok. We’re f*d.
Even Heather Cox Richardson believes that the media is the major factor in losing this election. Go to her Facebook page and look for her live video from Tuesday. It’s 52 minutes and excellent coverage of all of this.
Leslie, I agree and we are bracing for the mess coming next year and the following year. Yikes.
With respect to Wilkie’s comments: I wish the “liberal” media enjoyed the same freedom from truth and ethics as Fox et.al. The issue is, if the liberal media abandon their remaining commitment ethics and real news, the whole system is lost which is yet another victory for MAGA. The free press should document every detail of the coming debacle and keep it everyone’s face for four years. Probably just wishful thinking.
AgingGirl,
Don’t discount TikTok’s positive influence on young Americans. There is a reason the AIPAC-owned politicians (85% of Washington) used their influence to ban the Chinese social media platform. Marco Rubio is one of the highest-paid shills for AIPAC.
Because a Chinese company owns the media platform, they can’t be pressured by our national security apparatus. Facebook and Twitter admitted they allowed the security apparatus to control their platforms. Zuckerberg and Musk also got what they wanted when the US government banned TikTok, so ask yourself why. 😉
Some congress members take advantage of the protections of the “Speech and Debate clause” to promote their extreme fictitious narratives. The right-wing Eco chamber plays the officials soundbites all over the place and reinforces messaging to millions of people who believe congress members. Seems we could expect better, like not lies, from that level. The elephant in the room has a toxic way of stepping on others to promote his own selfish agenda. Too bad people don’t see through it.
I think “dissemination” is not quite right. As noted, when people are simply shown policies, they prefer the Democratic ones. But, even if they acknowledge this–which is not particularly likely–when pulling the lever (metaphorically) in the voting booth, they will still select Republican.
The issue is how do we undo the very real _brainwashing_ that has taken place over the past several decades. Until that spell is broken, you may as well be whispering to them in the midst of a hurricane.
That said, I generally agree with the point of today’s post. However, there were two major constituencies of the Democrats for whom the message itself was terrible. The message was essentially to maintain the status quo, including the current government’s stance on the middle east conflict. With some overlap definitely, there were those who absolutely want to burn government down because they don’t see it working, and those who abhor Biden’s unwavering support of the slaughter in Gaza. This group is largely younger people. This explains the large number of people who were happy to vote for AOC and Trump, for instance. (AOC polled her supporters trying to understand this phenomenon, and the responses they gave were illuminating.) So, some of these certainly voted in ways we find incomprehensible, and others may have just decided not to vote at all, or waste the vote on a third-party candidate.
Todd. It’s amazing to me that you think Chinese controlled media would be a reliable source of information. Do you really not understand how autocracies work? Remember Tiananmen Square? China doesn’t just influence their media, they control it with an iron fist! You have far more freedom of speech than anyone in China, Russia, or North Korea.
Unbridled social media may, at some point, be a boon to humanity if we ever learn how to sort the wheat from the chaff but we sure aren’t there yet. Most obviously, you are not.
100% Correct. All the finger-pointing about what the campaign did or didn’t do misses this important fact. The splintering of information and the fact that Trump has been undermining faith in fact-based journalism for years has created a “define-you-own-truth” subculture.
Sharon,
Why did Genocide Joe and Kamala Harris have TikTok accounts?
The Chinese government doesn’t control a Palestinian in Gaza from opening an account so they can post videos of the horrendous devastation occurring at the hands of the US-backed Israeli government.
Meanwhile, YouTube, controlled by Google, throttles those accounts, if not completely deletes them, when the US security apparatus tells it to. This is why independent journalists holding the oligarchy accountable don’t use Facebook or YouTube. That is why Telegram is so popular.
You need to turn off Rachel Maddow and CNN because you’ve succumbed to the red pill illusion. At least your ideology aligns with Marco Rubio’s on China. That should tell you something! LOL
* blue and red pill illusion
The Kakistocracy is getting more and more Kaki. The latest news that a worm headed, bear smuggling, antivaxer, who loves conspiracy theories will be in charge of HHSA, which is responsible for NIH and CDC is worse than any of the other picks. Are we really going to invite measles, polio, and other controllable diseases to please come back. Do we really miss sick and dying children enough to do this? Extreme? Yes, but accurate.
Todd. I don’t watch Rachel Marrow or CNN and I’m sure China loves seeing the U.S. embarrassed on Tik Tok or anywhere else. That’s part of my point. The rest of my point, the most important part, is that China, Russia and North Korea are autocratic regimes. They cannot be trusted to provide either complete or accurate information. We can debate to what extent other sources are trustworthy, but outlets controlled by autocrats are not. The U. S. doesn’t assassinate journalists who criticize the government or you would be dead.
China under Mao was an absolute dictatorship. It is still a society tightly controlled by the government where human rights go mostly unrecognized. If you do not know that, you are badly uninformed.
I’m not sure I agree. Joe Rogan was pretty progressive on most issues. He was ripe for the Democrats picking, but they hated that he engaged with everyone. So he ends up mostly only talking to Elon, Trump, Vivek, or whoever. Theo Von I don’t think is really political at all. He seems to offer anyone who comes on the most softball agreeable interview ever.
Democrats chose to demonize those folks when they could have owned them.
Those guys weren’t necessarily a part of the “co-ordinated right-wing propaganda ecosystem” until Dems cast them out for not fitting the mold.
So, some of this was of their own doing. Messaging was still a big part of it.
Was the Democrat messaging too good? Most non-right wing media were reporting on the big crowds and surging energy of the Harris campaign. Did that contribute to the belief it wasn’t necessary to vote for Harris?
No matter how widely good information had been disseminated, those who voted for Trump would never have believed it; they’ve raised rationalizing, justifying, and denying to a whole new level. I do believe their elevator will be speeding down toward the basement pretty quickly. That should wake (most of) them up—not that they or we will be able to do anything about it in the foreseeable future. (Object lesson.) But there will be others who’ll crawl across glass shards on broken legs before they’ll acknowledge how wrong they were, who took them there, how, and why.
P.S. Mitch: Had it been “the economy, stupid,” Harris would have won. It won’t take long come January 20th before it will become crystal clear how good our economy has been for the past couple of years. These will have been the Good Old Days.
Just a thank you to Sheila Kennedy for the conversation starter and her thoughts on the subject.