The Right’s propaganda ecosystem is a huge problem. The spinelessness and cowardice of today’s legacy media is arguably worse.
A week or so ago, I argued that Trumpism has been aided by the inadequacy of our mainstream, “legacy” outlets. As I pointed out, there’s a reason that so many professional journalists have decamped to places like Substack– a reason why so many of us depend upon daily reports from reputable scholars like Heather Cox Richardson and Paul Krugman. My complaint was aimed at news reporting that “sanewashes” and normalizes behaviors that are objectively insane and abnormal, and as an example, I cited NBC’s report of the attack on California Senator Alex Padilla when he tried to ask Homeland Security’s Kristi Noem a question. Tom LLamas repeated Noem’s assertion that the Senator had failed to identify himself–but made no mention of the fact that widely available video of the incident showed that Padilla had in fact done so.
It wasn’t a “one-off.”
A couple of nights ago, NBC reported on the status of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” and rather than describing any of the truly horrific elements that explain public resistance to that legislation–its vast increase in the deficit or the millions who stand to lose healthcare– it reported that the bill would “reduce taxes,” and ignored the fact that those reductions would lopsidedly benefit the rich.
NBC’s evident fear of incurring Trump’s wrath–its “compliance in advance”– pales, of course, in light of Paramount’s recent agreement to pay off the Mafia Don who occupies the Oval Office. Paramount has been in the process of an $8 billion merger with Skydance, for which it needs regulatory approval. The company settled a lawsuit with Trump that was so ridiculous that a first-year law student could have predicted it would have been laughed out of court. (Trump sued over what he claimed was unfair editing in a 60 Minutes interview of Kamala Harris.)
Paramount’s agreement to pay sixteen million dollars for dismissal of this laughable threat was widely–and accurately– seen as a kickback that will allow the merger to go forward. It was payment for a government approval–in other words, a bribe. CBS thus joined Disney (the parent company of ABC News) another part of the mainstream media that has bent the knee to our gangster President.
After “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens in April announced his resignation, correspondent Scott Pelley said on air, “Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”
Honest journalism requires noting that Paramount’s leaders will never, ever hear the end of this abject decision. Nor should they. Much has been made in the recent past about attacks on the First Amendment, whether it’s the administration’s expulsion of the Associated Press from the White House press pool because it won’t swallow “Gulf of America” (a dispute that’s tied up in the courts); the targeting of student protesters for their speech; attacks on lawyers for their past work; or any number of actions seeking to snuff diversity language from the handbooks of corporate America.
There is ample case law establishing the right of editors to choose what material they publish and the manner in which they cover public issues and officials. “That very function — the one that happens many times a day at newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, networks, social media accounts, newsletters, whatever — is what Paramount failed to stick up for. It doesn’t deserve the likes of “60 Minutes.”
So here we are. We’re awash in propaganda from Fox News and its even more pernicious clones. And now we’ve learned that we can’t depend upon the so-called legacy media to set the record straight. Sometimes, it’s sins of omission–NBC failing to provide even rudimentary “both sides” coverage. Increasingly, it’s the betrayal of the very purpose of journalism, which is to inform as accurately and completely as possible.
It’s one thing to make honest mistakes. It’s another thing entirely to allow your bottom line to dictate your coverage.
America’s experience under Trump has made one thing abundantly clear: American institutions are filled with self-protective cowards devoid of integrity. Those cowards dominate Congress and corporate boardrooms. The lesson of Paramount’s shameful capitulation to our gangster President’s blackmail is that corporate ownership of previously reliable media outlets deprives We the People of news we can trust.
Unfortunately, without a fully and accurately informed electorate, democracy cannot exist.
The legacy media are mouthpieces for the oligarchy and have been for decades. It’s why I laugh at those who claim Trump is destroying our democracy. It was lost long before the most litigious man in history. Roy Cohn taught him well.
It’s funny that the WaPo had an article critical of another knee-bending media outlet, considering they paid Melania tens of millions for the rights to a documentary of her gold-digging life. This occurred immediately after Trump took office and coincided with the invitation to the inauguration for Bezos. When Amazon informed customers that they would display prices on their products reflecting the higher prices they would pay for goods due to Trump’s tariffs, Trump called Bezos to demand that he not do so, and Jeff obliged.
I’m now waiting to hear from Whitney Webb about the FBI’s Jeffrey Epstein announcement. They now claim he had no client list (the black book is published on the internet, and so is his airplane flight log), and no high-profile clients. They also reviewed the videos and said it was clear that Epstein committed suicide. What the hell is up with that? AG Bondi said she had reviewed all the “bombshell evidence on her desk” and would reveal it shortly, even though she was dragging her feet. Now, no evidence exists. LOL
The younger male MAGA loyalists who follow Elon Musk on X will go crazy on this bullshit announcement. They’ve been harassing Bondi for months. Every time she announces another immigrant deportation, they scream about “distraction” and demand she release the Epstein files because it is evidence of the pedophile perps of the Deep State. I guess the Chmos are safe under Trump’s watch.
As I’ve written before, Epstein was a Mossad agent gathering blackmail material on the world’s elite. He had videotape setups in all his palatial real estate and even on his plane to gather blackmail material. Who has all those tapes today? Who’s blackmailing whom today? Is Trump also a Mossad agent like his best friends Epstein and Maxwell?
How will the “legacy media” respond to this announcement? LOL
I miss the days when e.g. David Brinkley could and would editorialize about news events. It was his opinion, but it shined light on an issue covered in the news. He and others were allowed to share an insight or offer a deeper description of the issue.
We have slid far down the slope since then.
One of your best, Sheila. Thank you. It’s so important to have people we can trust like you, Heather, and Paul. Blessings on you.
Heywood Broun, when asked why the media are biased toward “big business,” replied, “The media aren’t biased toward big business. The media ARE big business.” On a different note, with Musk’s announcement of his starting a new party, I blogged about the lesson he’s going to learn. I’ll post the link to my blog. I’m not sure how many are able to read it. I called an op-ed writer, because of her July thing, “mean spirited and a dumbass.” Oh well. http://civildiscoursenow.com/profiles/blogs/dear-mr-musk-you-got-a-long-row-to-hoe
since POX news and headline news made its debut, its all been down hill. the fairness act was dumped over favoritisim of one side of the isle. along with socialmedias must have, Americans no longer see or have a steady view of anything going on, unless you devote your time to the subject. advertising is the most sought after need to this mainstream, kiss the billionaire shareholders ass first.
the lawyers in this field of oppression have made a word salad of basic law and turned it into a freelance bullshit agrument. seems the same judges deal with the same lawyers,hense a buddy system of who can muster the judges ire or his humor,instead of good of the whole. congress falls short of doing the whole job. when writing laws, they allow loopholes. this is part of the problem. if the word can,may imply the consent, why is it not written that way. lawyers find the most crappy way of leaning on a tree. instead of the law insuring its taken word for word without argument then write the law as such. that is how the news should be applied. trumps minions of law have become the problem, not a solution. it has now become a defacto law of who gets to say what. ask goebbels how he thinks. this is in fact a authoritarian takeover by lawyers who insist they are right while undermining our democracy. call it what you want, its just another nazi with a suit..
It might not be pretty, but it is rational to pay $16 million to do an $8 billion deal. OJ has a penchant for delay and mergers won’t wait forever. Of course, the agreements he has signed with media all send the funds to his Presidential Library Fund, where the money is far less monitored. It might not take so much money to build a home for one book.
Todd:
the epsteine issue. theres a wide world of this going on everyday. saudis will now lavish the rich with such pleasures while trumps demon seeds provide the resorts. you missed the issue, its alive and well today.
Some day we’ll learn we cannot afford some things that make us feel good now but more broke later.
That’s the experience of getting by with less than on hand. Conserving. Living on less. Less deficit spending and more saving by every measure.
Among things we can conserve on are entertainment screens, fossil fuels, wars, too many children per woman, and blaming others for past actions rather than us doing something about problems now.
Another one is Muskrat’s, go fast, break things, fix them now; the polar opposites of statistical process control which posits, don’t make waste.
Unfortunately we get too soon old and too late smart which respects an effective dose of listening to those with more experience than you in each and every specialty (often called education).
Well, when one man dictates all three branches of government, that they capitulate to his desires, they better be afraid. The judicial branch can Make decisions that are beneficial for society, but the supreme Court can overrule that. Congress ie the legislative branch, is afraid of the executive branch which has an unstable executive order edict driven lunatic who is so unpredictable, they quake in their boots, even his allies. Will something unexpected happen? Will there be a mass uprising? Will people refuse to pay their taxes? Will people start George Floyd type protests that will turn violent? We are already living in a police state, and things are probably going to get worse. If the people decide to make it more miserable for those in the legislative branch than the king, money makes the world spin. When and if that dries up, then you’ll see some movement in the opposite direction than we are seeing today. As long as the honchos are in charge of the printing presses or the fake digital currency, I don’t see the flow of fake money slowing down. As a matter of a fact, it’ll be speeding up. Of course that presents its own issues, which could lead to a world collapse of financial institutions and governments.
Jack, your first sentence, in your first comment, today, says it all.
sixteen million for an 8 billion $ deal? Sure. Selling your soul? That’s another story, and who is going to write that one?
Sheila, another person, here, has said this is “one of your best.” Well, you have been on a roll, and circumstances being what they are, you will have no lack of issues, situations, about which to continue to roll along.
I keep seeing stories claiming that Trump has “…made the big mistake, and it’s going to cost him big time” and the like, but those seem to be little other than wishful thinking at this point. Keep your pencil sharp!
I’ve found the Ohio Capital Journal to be an excellent source of information about national politics and many of their Ohio political stories tend to be informative about what is also going on behind the scenes in Indiana. If anyone is interested you can easily sign up for their free email newsletter.
Now, if you have the stomach for it, you might want to consider signing up for IN Senator Banks’ newsletter. I did so right after the election so that I would get his BS straight from the horse’s mouth (or in his case the horse’s ass). I intend to call his office with the messsage to shove his limp-wristed pro-oligarchy idolization up his ass. I’ll keep calling his office until they block me. His legal aides will also get an ear full about their lack of shame and integrity for choosing to work for such a POS. Banks is one of the most hate-filled assholes in DC and deserves to be treated the way he treats others.
Speaking of News… I’m reminded of the film “Robinhood: Men in Tights” when the sheriff is asked to tell the bad news in a good way so that it doesn’t sound so bad.