Ever since their preferred candidate went down in a ball of flames on November 8th, we’ve seen a lot of soul-searching from the press. They want to know how they can regain the trust of the public. They’ve agonized over how unfairly they treated Donald Trump and his supporters. They’ve promised to give the Trump administration a fair shake.
Oh, wait. None of that happened. Instead, the mainstream media has been busy harping on about fake news and comparing Donald Trump to Hitler. Oh, and their allies in the “progressive” press have taken it one step further and piled up the hate towards white people. Then, you have people like Margaret Sullivan, the former Public Editor (basically the ombudsman) of The New York Times.
I actually liked some of her work with The Times, but ever since she moved to the Washington Post, she’s upped the dumbassery in a big way. I mean she was always predisposed to SJW-style thinking (she works in the media, after all). But recently she’s been going on full-throttle anti-Trump jihad. She seems to realize that many people are tuning the MSM out, even people who hate Trump. Her recent article is basically a plea for people to keep reading her bullshit. This would be pathetic if it wasn’t so fucking hilarious. OK, it’s still pretty pathetic, but the comedy outweighs the sadness…unless you work for the mainstream media, I guess.
In the era of fake news causing real trouble, and of the news media under fire for sins both justified and exaggerated, the better advice is this: Tune in and stay that way.
Since the election of Donald Trump one month ago, and the rush of news that has followed, I’ve heard many people say they need to take a break from what’s happening day to day.
Call it news fatigue. They don’t want to hear the latest upsetting developments: for example, the president-elect has nominated for national security adviser a general who pushes conspiracy theories, and a climate change denier to head EPA. And separate from the news itself, many people don’t trust the media to be an impartial messenger.
As if more proof were necessary of the pollution in the media ecosystem, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg agreed, in a TV appearance Thursday, that fake news and willful propaganda are a serious issue, and that social media platforms need to take action. (She added that she does not believe it swayed the election results; a hard-to-prove matter of opinion.)…
In short, there’s plenty of blame to go around in this unsettled and unsettling moment. But the answer, surely, isn’t to play the ostrich card…
Keen awareness — and critical thinking — will matter more than ever in the days ahead. It might be tempting, but whatever you do, don’t drop out.
Please, please, please keep reading our bullshit! We can see our influence slipping away and we’re scared all is about to be lost!
Things are going to get even worse for you lot very soon, Margaret. This is only the beginning.
