THE COMPROMISED MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND ALTERNATIVES
After over a decade of covering Donald Trump, the mainstream media (MSM) still have not figured out how to report on him in a way that provides accurate, important information to the public. Meanwhile, Trump threatens the MSM when they don’t give him the favorable coverage he wants. Unfortunately, the MSM often capitulate to his threats, having lost their courage, moral compass, and integrity. They have become complicit in promoting Trump’s propaganda. Those of us who want to be informed citizens need to find and amplify media that provide essential information and challenge Trump and MAGA lies and policies. The good news is that there are many of them.
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After over a decade of covering Donald Trump, the mainstream media (MSM) still have not figured out how to report on him and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) allies in a way that provides accurate, important information to the public. Meanwhile, Trump threatens the MSM when they don’t give him the favorable coverage he wants, including when they fact check his statements. He has threatened to take away the broadcast licenses of TV and radio stations, he has sued MSM outlets for defamation, and lambasts them regularly. Unfortunately, the MSM often capitulate to his threats. For example, the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times blocked publication of editorial endorsements of Vice President Harris in the presidential election. The ABC TV network just paid $15 million to settle a very weak defamation case that no one thinks Trump would have won. Trump’s threats and, for example, his recent suit against the Des Moines Register are media terrorism. Their purpose is to scare the media into giving him flattering coverage and ignoring his lack of veracity. [1]
The result is that the MSM are and have been treating Trump differently than other candidates and politicians. For example, the MSM aren’t hounding Trump for details of his plans for tariffs or for health care reform. He’s been saying for nine years that he’d replace the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) with something better but he still only says he has “a concept” for how to do this. His tariff proposals vary from day-to-day and before the election I didn’t see the MSM asking about or reporting that his tariffs would raise the prices of consumer goods and cause inflation. Yet, the MSM hounded VP Harris for not providing more detail on her economic plans even though she provided far more detail than Trump ever has.
Furthermore, the MSM are and have been ignoring Trump’s threats and actions that undermine democracy. They treated him as a regular presidential candidate and are now treating him as a normal president-elect, despite his unwillingness to accept election results that didn’t go his way and his willingness to undermine free and fair elections. They are ignoring his threats and actions that destroy democratic institutions such as the rule of law and freedom of the press. [2]
As Heather Cox Richardson reported on 12/17/24, “Yesterday, Trump gave his first press conference since the election. It was exactly what Trump’s public performances always are: attention-grabbing threats alongside lies and very little apparent understanding of actual issues. His mix of outrageous and threatening is central to his politics, though: it keeps him central to the media … The uncertainty he creates is key to his power ... It keeps everyone off balance and focused on him in anticipation of trouble to come.” [3] A few days earlier she had written, “If there is one major continuity between Trump’s campaign and plans for his administration, it is that his focus on shock and performance, rather than the detailed work of governing, still plays well to the media.” [4]
Despite this consistent Trump modus operandi stretching back more than a decade, the MSM haven’t yet figured out how to report on Trump and his threats, lies, and ignorance in a meaningful way. The MSM seem only to be able to report the clickbait, i.e., his outrageous, obviously attention-grabbing antics. They generally fail to put them in any context or do any fact checking. If anyone else engaged in this kind of behavior, the MSM would skewer them.
The MSM are all huge corporations driven by profit maximization. Given the online world of media today, focusing on clickbait, as opposed to meaningfully reporting news, fits their profit motivation. The MSM have lost their courage, moral compass, and integrity. They have become complicit in promoting Trump’s propaganda. [5]
Those of us who want to be informed citizens need to find and amplify media that provide essential information and challenge Trump and MAGA lies and policies. The good news is that there are many of them. I recommend you pick one or a few for your source(s) of information. Most, if not all, of the media and organizations listed below are non-profits. They are supported by readers and philanthropy, and some by labor unions. Most don’t take corporate money or advertising. I urge you to support whichever one(s) you pick financially if you can. They have been and are crucial to our democracy, and will be especially so over the next four years. Some of them will be attacked and perhaps sued by Trump and his cronies. They will need our moral as well as financial support to stand up to the expected attacks. Their funding bases are miniscule compared to the conservative media that’s supported by rightwing billionaires. With Trump in the White House, progressive and independent media will be in danger. [6]
Here are some alternative media that I read regularly:
· Heather Cox Richardson publishes a daily online newsletter, Letters from an American, that covers current political events and provides analysis and context, particularly from an historical perspective.
· Robert Hubbell publishes a daily online newsletter, Today’s Edition Newsletter, that covers current political news, providing commentary, particularly from a legal and grassroots political perspective.
· Robert Reich publishes a daily online newsletter that provides analysis of current political events.
· Common Dreams distributes daily or weekly emails with summaries of and links to its relatively short articles covering current news that is often under-reported by the MSM.
· The American Prospect magazine and website is the best and most comprehensive source for progressive policy analysis and proposals, in my humble opinion.
· The Nation provides progressive journalism both online and in print.
· Mother Jones provides progressive reporting and investigative journalism available in print, online, and via videos and podcasts.
· ProPublica does investigative journalism with great depth and breadth; available online.
Other sources that I use on occasion include The Guardian, The Economic Policy Institute, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Brennan Center for Justice, Open Secrets (on money in elections), Slate, and The Atlantic. Inequality Media makes short videos that are informative, yet entertaining and easy to understand, on current news and explanations of how our economy and democracy works or should work.
[1] Hubbell, R. B., 12/18/24, “Standing on principle … even when it costs votes,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/standing-on-principle-even-when-it)
[2] Reich, R., 11/29/24, “Where to find the truth?” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/weaponized-lies)
[3] Cox Richardson, H., 12/17/24, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-17-2024)
[4] Cox Richardson, H., 12/13/24, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-13-2024)
[5] Hubbell, R. B., 12/16/24, “Look up at the night sky more often,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/look-up-at-the-night-sky-more-often)
[6] Hartmann, T., 11/24/24, “Will Trump’s return coincide with the death of progressive media?” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/progressive-media-trump)