In 2019, I wrote the following in a piece titled, "Here We Go Again: The Corporate Media Is Ready To Repeat 2016:
The corporate media is in an abusive relationship with Donald Trump.
No matter how many times he attacks with claims of "fake news," and calls journalists the "enemy of the people;" no matter how worked up networks get over how he treats them; no matter how many times it appears as though they are finally gaining the courage to stand up to their abuser, the mainstream networks just can't get seem to muster up the courage to quit him.
Have they not learned anything from 2016?
It's been nearly six years and two presidential elections since then.
Sadly, nothing has changed.
Now that the convicted felon is making a comeback to the Oval Office, the mediasphere is all abuzz asking "What happened?" and there are no shortages of postmortems of the Democratic party and Vice President Harris' campaign.
While there is certainly blame enough to go around, the for-profit corporate ratings-driven media has consistently failed to do its job of calling out mis- and dis-information (aka lies) in favor of political personality horse races.
Its particular offense the past three presidential election cycles was its tendency to, as MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell put it, "sane-wash" the twice-impeached adjudicated rapist's behavior and rhetoric as if they were normal while fixating on President Joe Biden's age instead of his historic accomplishments. This allowed the Overton window to swing open so widely, just about anything is dog whistle-free in political campaigns now--racism, sexism, xenophobia, lies, ad hominem attacks, and bluster devoid of any policy.
The right-leaning corporations that own the media are once again going to rake in untold amounts with its cash cow president poised to stand behind the presidential seal-- "again. Its pandering to the billionaire class has paid off-- "again.
Will there ever be a truly "liberal" media?
Can we expect, with enough capital and organization, to see a mainstream progressive cable channel akin to Free Speech TV and the plethora of podcasts and Substack pages re-inventing how Americans get their news?
Can we realistically work toward creating a network or series of networks that could compete with such well-funded juggernauts as CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and the king of infotainment propaganda, Fox so-called "news"?
Last week Comcast announced it will be selling offUSA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, the Golf Channel, and-- "drum roll-- "CNBC and MSNBC, leaving them vulnerable to the next billionaire interested in pushing a particular narrative.
Will it be billionaire Rupert Murdock, looking to solidify the propaganda he has been bankrolling since forming Fox so-called "news" with Roger Ailes in the 1990s? (Fox was forced last year to pay a $787.5 milliondefamation settlement to Dominion Voting Systems.)
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