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Shocking news which has left me shocked!


My friends: I am shocked. I am stunned. I am shooketh. The earth has opened up beneath me, and swallowed me whole. I am at a loss and unmoored. Nothing makes sense, the center cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem.

(Too much?)

Yesterday, one of the leading lights of the mainstream media confirmed what we've all suspected on this side of the aisle:
"Now, LL, the other side says the same thing. The media is fake and rigged."

Yes. They do say the same thing. And they're right. Except, as Mr. Krugman's confession makes clear, the media is rigged in their favor. We've been saying it for years, decades even. Republican administrations get a pass, while Democratic administrations are placed beneath an electron microscope for all the blemishes to be seen. Yes, even Donald Trump didn't get as much scrutiny as Joe Biden has, or Barack Obama before him. (And, of course, for the first six years of his administration, George W. Bush was hailed as a wartime leader on the level of FDR.)

There are two factors at work here.

The owners of these media conglomerates are oligarchs. Purely and simply, that's what they are. They wish to maintain and increase their power and influence. They want as little interference from elected officials as possible; no interference is their ideal. As such they are no different than the German oligarchs who ushered in the Nazi Party in 1933 and plunged the world into its most devastating war. Like them, they can't see beyond their noses, beyond their own desires. They will gladly see the liberal democratic world order collapse, because it no longer serves them. We have "freedom of the press", but freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one (New Yorker, May 14, 1960). These people would have no problem thriving in a fascist dystopia. One can say it's their preferred milieu, even though the history of the 20th century shows that it does them no good either.

The other factor is the people who write the stories.

The ink-stained wretches of old are gone. The likes of Jimmy Breslin are no more. They've been replaced by graduates of journalism schools which teach a false objectivity rather than a pursuit of the  truth. Part of this comes from the owners. But the journalists at places like the Times, the Washington Post, and the cable networks are hardly poor. Well-remunerated, they share many of the same concerns of their oligarch owners. But it's more than that. They think they know better than those whom voters elect. They see themselves as influencers, as people who shape reality. They want to drive the narrative. And the best way to do that is to keep their readers fearful and apprehensive. Then they feign shock when they achieve their desired result. This tweet encapsulates that perfectly:
I remember many of us defending the press when Trump was using it as a punching bag. We applauded when the Post put on its masthead "Democracy dies in darkness". I think it's safe to say we erred. The press only desultorily exposed Trump's scandals. And now it's doing everything it can to get Trump back into office. Press workers—I don't deign to call them "journalists"—are coddled and privileged, and see themselves as smarter than everyone else. They no longer provide information and analysis; they're no better than a Jerry Springer episode, dwelling on gossip and innuendo. And as most of their readers vote Democratic, the party is the target of their vituperation. It's like in sports: fans like it when their team wins; but they relish being able to heap abuse on their team when it's losing. Democrats aren't losing, but the press creates the idea that it is. And then they commission ludicrous polling which reifies their reporting. Polling has replaced actual newsgathering. Lord knows it's both easier and cheaper. The press workers don't have to struggle too much to concoct words to go along with the data.

A free press is essential in a democracy. Sadly, we don't have one. Its owners are in with the other oligarchs, and their employees are nihilistic children. As always, we will have to save this country our own damned selves. But, really, it was ever thus. Gird your loins, everyone. We have many battles ahead of us.

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