The Media is a Racket
CJR - the Columbia Journalism Review - posted an important story this morning. It's about a 5-minute read that breaks down the failures of the New York Times and the Washington Post regarding political reporting. Consumers of both broadsheets will note that CJR correctly tars the Times as significantly worse at their job, though both papers of record are shitting the bed when it comes to maintaining a properly informed public.
For all the talk about the polarization of news, the siloing of information, or even the bizarre and mindless assertion of a liberal-biased media, the real problem is capitalism - though CJR doesn't come right out and say that, so I'm saying it here.
Before anything noble or enlightened about informing the public and the virtues of independent journalism, newspapers want to keep their readers' attention. So, when it comes to politics, the absolute imperative is to sell the horserace. If, by the very nature of the horses involved, that race is a thoroughbred vs. an old nag, then the media needs to boost the slowpoke, hobble the speedster, or both.
Right now, in the United States, we are facing an election between one party that is talking about putting vermin into camps, shutting down the government unless it goes full-on Gilead and letting the planet melt, while the other is trying to keep the lights on, transition to a post-carbon economy, and defend democracy for another generation. In a neutral media environment, this is not a contest in any way, shape, or form. It is a runaway for the Dems. Thus, the media takes it as its duty to deliver the news in such a way as to guarantee a 51-49 split come November 2024.
Most of the journalists and editors at the majors don't want the GOP to win for personal reasons. They are urbane, sophisticated professionals who likely vote a progressive line and most definitely are the camp-bound vermin of whom Trump speaks. But above all, they need to keep people buying their product, or they're out of a job. Thus, they hobble one and juice the other to guarantee a nail-biter of a finish between Joe Biden and a modern-day Mussolini.
It's frustrating as hell, but the coverage patterns are so obvious as to be disregarded simply as the landscape. From now until late summer of 2024, the Times and the Post - along with CNN and even MSNBC and affiliates - will trim their coverage to advantage the GOP. They will hammer every single negative for the Dems, focusing relentlessly on narratives that sell - like Biden's age, even as he wraps up round-the-world trips, unites our allies in a battle for freedom, and guides the economy to a previously unimaginable soft landing. They will report all jobs reports and inflation numbers not as signs of a recovering and even surging juggernaut but as dire indications of potential overheating and the looming return of inflation. They will suck every last drop from the teat of "Speaker Johnson is a different kind of Republican" before noting that he'd prefer to call his wife Ofmichael, and likely does in the horrorshade of their private dystopia.
Then, once they've got every one of us spun into a panic about the rising and unstoppable tide of authoritarianism, likely around September of election year, they'll trim their sails just enough to cut us back to safety and security at the wire - and they might blow it, as they've done before.
All of this is part of the reason that I tend to avoid digging into what I perceive as the bullshit, surface debate of the day. There is a whole section of the media today - right, left, and center - dedicated to convincing voters that Joe Biden is somehow mentally addled because he stumbles over his words sometimes. The media have ginned this up to the point where now they're covering a David Duchovny-looking knock-off fool, a backbencher Congressman who is running against him in a New Hampshire primary election that will deliver precisely zero delegates to the convention. It makes no sense at all, unless you see it for what it is. It's a fix, a hustle, a sting.
It's a racket.
I'm still bullish on the election. I still think the Dems are gonna take the next round in a landslide, based - if upon nothing else - upon the Dobbs decision last year. But they're gonna have to do it against the prevailing winds of the New York Times and the Washington Post (and the nightly network news channels, CNN, and Gannett) because all those outlets neeeeeeeed you to be frightened as hell, so you'll keep buying their product in this market of doom and danger. If you wanna read the article, here it is again. It's a good one and worth reading.
Anyway, if you want my advice, it's simple: Keep your eyes on the prize. Joe is fine, the economy is recovering, and Trump is a Nazi. That's all anyone needs to know to make an informed decision about the future of America.
Love and patience to you all.
