Excellent post. At the local level here in the UK we have news deserts galore. Those areas with a barely surviving 'local' newspaper (most stories are processed far away by journalists who never see the light of day let alone speak to people) are massively underserved compared with the days when I was first setting out as an apprentice journalist. We're removing a vital check on accountability, creating perfect conditions for corruption to thrive and maladministration to go unreported.
I couldn’t agree with you more on investigative journalism. It’s crazy no one even seems to be able to say with confidence when Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump first met, would love to see that one definitely answered.
Excellent! Thanks so much, Matt! I will definitely start a regular donation to ProPublica. If you have any other suggestions, I am all ears. Over the last year, I have unsubscribed from NY Times, WaPo, and most the L.A. Times, and I don't expect I will resubscribe. I feel like they had their chance, and they blew it.
I thought Harris ran a great campaign. I see the right wing megaphone and changing media landscape as major factors in her loss. You can run as many ads as you want on television, but many people don't watch broadcast or even cable television any more.
Most people seem to get their news from TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, their friends and colleagues, or their preferred cable news station or partisan website. I feel like Democrats have not done a great job of penetrating the new media landscape.
Michael Tomasky's "Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won?" (The New Republic, November 8, 2024) argues that right-wing media is the primary reason for Trump's 2024 victory. Outlets like Fox News, he claims, create a distorted information landscape that favors Trump. This ecosystem not only amplifies Trump's message but often originates it, shaping public perception and influencing the political agenda. Tomasky warns of the right-wing media's growing power and its pursuit of media domination, posing a significant threat to democracy.
More than that, they’ve been building up to this for three decades and, with their 24/7 firehouse of disinformation, have succeeded in creating the mindless cult that forms the MAGA base. These people are fully indoctrinated and have fully bought into the belief that anything from mainstream media is fake, so that it’s virtually impossible to reach them by traditional means. Trump has managed to expand the boundaries beyond what they were already doing, and now it seems that no fabrication is either too outlandish or out of bounds - they have a captive audience that mindlessly believes whatever they’re given; nothing is questioned.
Yes. The disinformation is endemic now (it’s a sort of collective psychosis; resistant to reality and to any kind of therapy).
I am not sure how we (big “WE”) come back from this
And I honestly don’t understand what drives Musk. He has enough money and power. He is moving to world which will be horrible for him too - he might be able to live in a guarded compound. There will be no Martian colony, so he will be in the same cesspool as the rest of us. I don’t get it
Matt, I just watched you on Alex Wagner. I have been saying this for years - the left needs to think about reaching people differently - through their own influencers, podcasters (ex:Joe Rogan)
I was recommended this post by Jamelle Bouie, one of the few slivers of decent journalism left at NYT. I could not agree more about social media platforms being responsible for a good chunk of the results of this election. As a Zoomer, I've seen far too many people of my generation, especially young men, practically get psychologically trapped by these platforms into believing conspiracy theories and falling down the pipeline of trusting zero institutions to inform them about the world. The TikTok lawsuit story was especially chilling to me - I was frankly incredibly disappointed at how little coverage it got, and even more disappointed that people just did not care. It's almost analogous to how Trump sees his supporters - these social media companies could not give less of a shit about their users, and yet their users are hooked onto them. It gives shades of being a modern day Big Tobacco, but more insidious for how widespread and less direct the negative effects are.
This is what a country gets when critical thinking is not only not taught in school, and at home (! - parents should never rely on outsourcing it to a third party -- and, tough luck, if you are not willing to teach this life-critical aspect to your children, then dont have kids!)), but not encouraged on all levels of life. A mature people - questioning, analyzing, and coming to an informed conclusion.
And: not teaching it at school is done on purpose! Full stop. Because it provides exactly the wanted outcome (as this election result has shown).
Plus, the adult pacifier established more than 6 decades ago, with its ever increasing numbing and dumbing tv stations (are we at 1,000 yet?) and shows (and yes, Oprah belongs in that category, too) is a big part of it. More and more seasons for bingewatching, turning the brain thinking process of.
And last, but not least: sports.
Basketball, Baseball, football, soccer, ice hockey - in no particular order. The more, the worse. This is what the majority of the people want. And they cannot get enough of it.
Bread & games. Ancient Rome. It fell. Never to recover. The end.
This is the core problem in the US—disinformation and propaganda on right wing outlets combined with what you describe so well: how we see what we see, dictated by platforms’ algorithms.
Yes. I think this is the core problem. Michael Tomasky's "Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won?" (The New Republic, November 8, 2024) argues that right-wing media is the primary reason for Trump's 2024 victory. Outlets like Fox News, Sinclair and Newsmaxx he claims, create a distorted information landscape that favors Trump. This ecosystem not only amplifies Trump's message but often originates it, shaping public perception and influencing the political agenda. Tomasky warns of the right-wing media's growing power and its pursuit of media domination, posing a significant threat to democracy.
We probably are past the PNR. In approximately 150000 years Homo sapiens has been around, “democracy” has existed in very thin slivers of time. It is not natural to us. Despite many flaws, somehow managed to have it for 200 plus years. It is over now
The billionaires have now demonstrated that there is nothing in U.S. law to prevent them from buying U.S. elections, starting with Musk's estimated $275 million contributions to Trump and other GOP candidates.
Senate candidates are cheap, in comparison: Peter Thiel installed J.D. Vance in Ohio for a mere $15 million. At that rate, you could buy your 51 seat Senate majority for only $765 million, a sum that would barely dent Musk's wallet ($362 billion on December 5, 2024 on Bloomberg's Billionaires Index). So Musk would be out 0.21% of his current wealth. Seats in some states might cost more, but even if Musk had to quadruple his donations, he'd still be out less than 1% of his money (0.846%).
I am reminded of a 2004 book, The Emerging Democratic Majority by John Judis and Ruy Teixeira. They argued that demographic changes as the country became less white would create a lasting Democratic majority. Unfortunately, the wealth Republicans had long ago looked at such trends and started spending billions to defend their power against such demographic changes, beginning with then Chamber of Commerce Lewis Powell's famous 1971 memo.
I know there are some progressive billionaires around, but thus far there does not appear to be anything like the level of national coordination and infrastructure development (Heritage Institute, Federalist Society, Fox News) on the right-wing side.
Looking at these numbers, is there any reason to think that the billionaires will now stop buying whatever they think they need to buy to defense and expand their wealth and power? Rather than buying legislatures, it might very well turn out to be cheaper for the billionaires to buy all for-profit media in the country.
Case in point: Report for America. It’s a journalistic counterpart to Peace Corps, but the problems are in order for it to work at scale it needs to be nationalized, but that means it’s vulnerable to the whims of Congress and POTUS rather than a philanthropist
Excellent post. At the local level here in the UK we have news deserts galore. Those areas with a barely surviving 'local' newspaper (most stories are processed far away by journalists who never see the light of day let alone speak to people) are massively underserved compared with the days when I was first setting out as an apprentice journalist. We're removing a vital check on accountability, creating perfect conditions for corruption to thrive and maladministration to go unreported.
I couldn’t agree with you more on investigative journalism. It’s crazy no one even seems to be able to say with confidence when Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump first met, would love to see that one definitely answered.
Excellent! Thanks so much, Matt! I will definitely start a regular donation to ProPublica. If you have any other suggestions, I am all ears. Over the last year, I have unsubscribed from NY Times, WaPo, and most the L.A. Times, and I don't expect I will resubscribe. I feel like they had their chance, and they blew it.
I thought Harris ran a great campaign. I see the right wing megaphone and changing media landscape as major factors in her loss. You can run as many ads as you want on television, but many people don't watch broadcast or even cable television any more.
Most people seem to get their news from TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, their friends and colleagues, or their preferred cable news station or partisan website. I feel like Democrats have not done a great job of penetrating the new media landscape.
Agree
Michael Tomasky's "Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won?" (The New Republic, November 8, 2024) argues that right-wing media is the primary reason for Trump's 2024 victory. Outlets like Fox News, he claims, create a distorted information landscape that favors Trump. This ecosystem not only amplifies Trump's message but often originates it, shaping public perception and influencing the political agenda. Tomasky warns of the right-wing media's growing power and its pursuit of media domination, posing a significant threat to democracy.
More than that, they’ve been building up to this for three decades and, with their 24/7 firehouse of disinformation, have succeeded in creating the mindless cult that forms the MAGA base. These people are fully indoctrinated and have fully bought into the belief that anything from mainstream media is fake, so that it’s virtually impossible to reach them by traditional means. Trump has managed to expand the boundaries beyond what they were already doing, and now it seems that no fabrication is either too outlandish or out of bounds - they have a captive audience that mindlessly believes whatever they’re given; nothing is questioned.
Yes. The disinformation is endemic now (it’s a sort of collective psychosis; resistant to reality and to any kind of therapy).
I am not sure how we (big “WE”) come back from this
And I honestly don’t understand what drives Musk. He has enough money and power. He is moving to world which will be horrible for him too - he might be able to live in a guarded compound. There will be no Martian colony, so he will be in the same cesspool as the rest of us. I don’t get it
Matt, I was referred to your Substack from a subscriber on HCR 'Letters from an American' - this today was spot on - I'm glad I found you.
"This Is a Collapse of the Democratic Party": Ralph Nader | Democracy Now!
https://youtu.be/gh_tQWyBcdg?si=WSWmG2dEDVV3OZI2
Ralph Nader has a long list of how Harris didn't address what should of been spoken about...
'The Intercept' is a bad @ss gritty grass roots organization that isn't afraid to fight Trump...
Matt, I just watched you on Alex Wagner. I have been saying this for years - the left needs to think about reaching people differently - through their own influencers, podcasters (ex:Joe Rogan)
I was recommended this post by Jamelle Bouie, one of the few slivers of decent journalism left at NYT. I could not agree more about social media platforms being responsible for a good chunk of the results of this election. As a Zoomer, I've seen far too many people of my generation, especially young men, practically get psychologically trapped by these platforms into believing conspiracy theories and falling down the pipeline of trusting zero institutions to inform them about the world. The TikTok lawsuit story was especially chilling to me - I was frankly incredibly disappointed at how little coverage it got, and even more disappointed that people just did not care. It's almost analogous to how Trump sees his supporters - these social media companies could not give less of a shit about their users, and yet their users are hooked onto them. It gives shades of being a modern day Big Tobacco, but more insidious for how widespread and less direct the negative effects are.
I highly recommend Mother Jones and Reveal/Center for Investigative Journalism
ProPublica too!
This is what a country gets when critical thinking is not only not taught in school, and at home (! - parents should never rely on outsourcing it to a third party -- and, tough luck, if you are not willing to teach this life-critical aspect to your children, then dont have kids!)), but not encouraged on all levels of life. A mature people - questioning, analyzing, and coming to an informed conclusion.
And: not teaching it at school is done on purpose! Full stop. Because it provides exactly the wanted outcome (as this election result has shown).
Plus, the adult pacifier established more than 6 decades ago, with its ever increasing numbing and dumbing tv stations (are we at 1,000 yet?) and shows (and yes, Oprah belongs in that category, too) is a big part of it. More and more seasons for bingewatching, turning the brain thinking process of.
And last, but not least: sports.
Basketball, Baseball, football, soccer, ice hockey - in no particular order. The more, the worse. This is what the majority of the people want. And they cannot get enough of it.
Bread & games. Ancient Rome. It fell. Never to recover. The end.
This is the core problem in the US—disinformation and propaganda on right wing outlets combined with what you describe so well: how we see what we see, dictated by platforms’ algorithms.
Yes. I think this is the core problem. Michael Tomasky's "Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won?" (The New Republic, November 8, 2024) argues that right-wing media is the primary reason for Trump's 2024 victory. Outlets like Fox News, Sinclair and Newsmaxx he claims, create a distorted information landscape that favors Trump. This ecosystem not only amplifies Trump's message but often originates it, shaping public perception and influencing the political agenda. Tomasky warns of the right-wing media's growing power and its pursuit of media domination, posing a significant threat to democracy.
These particular men are, and always have been, the ultimate source of our rapidly increasing decline:
www.nomoreinsanity.org
It’s too bad we are passed the PNR.
We probably are past the PNR. In approximately 150000 years Homo sapiens has been around, “democracy” has existed in very thin slivers of time. It is not natural to us. Despite many flaws, somehow managed to have it for 200 plus years. It is over now
The billionaires have now demonstrated that there is nothing in U.S. law to prevent them from buying U.S. elections, starting with Musk's estimated $275 million contributions to Trump and other GOP candidates.
Senate candidates are cheap, in comparison: Peter Thiel installed J.D. Vance in Ohio for a mere $15 million. At that rate, you could buy your 51 seat Senate majority for only $765 million, a sum that would barely dent Musk's wallet ($362 billion on December 5, 2024 on Bloomberg's Billionaires Index). So Musk would be out 0.21% of his current wealth. Seats in some states might cost more, but even if Musk had to quadruple his donations, he'd still be out less than 1% of his money (0.846%).
I am reminded of a 2004 book, The Emerging Democratic Majority by John Judis and Ruy Teixeira. They argued that demographic changes as the country became less white would create a lasting Democratic majority. Unfortunately, the wealth Republicans had long ago looked at such trends and started spending billions to defend their power against such demographic changes, beginning with then Chamber of Commerce Lewis Powell's famous 1971 memo.
(https://www.thenation.com/article/society/powell-memo-project-2025-plutocracy/)
I know there are some progressive billionaires around, but thus far there does not appear to be anything like the level of national coordination and infrastructure development (Heritage Institute, Federalist Society, Fox News) on the right-wing side.
Looking at these numbers, is there any reason to think that the billionaires will now stop buying whatever they think they need to buy to defense and expand their wealth and power? Rather than buying legislatures, it might very well turn out to be cheaper for the billionaires to buy all for-profit media in the country.
Case in point: Report for America. It’s a journalistic counterpart to Peace Corps, but the problems are in order for it to work at scale it needs to be nationalized, but that means it’s vulnerable to the whims of Congress and POTUS rather than a philanthropist
Perhaps the two largest states should fund independent media.
I highly recommend Mother Jones and Reveal/Center for Investigative Journalism.