From time immemorial, ‘legacy,’ ‘corporate,’ or ‘mainstream’ media have been revered for their expansive national and international coverage. Yet today, they find themselves in the midst of a self-inflicted crisis. Perhaps their downfall was initiated when they chose to diverge from their raison d’être – to report news impartially. Gradually, they started to shift their focus from echoing the majority’s opinion to shaping it. This deviation resulted in a significant loss of trust and credibility among the masses as the media pivoted towards a minority-held perspective.
Soon, mainstream media became notorious for promoting non-conventional beliefs that didn’t align with popular opinion, which further alienated their once-upon-a-time avid followers. As time wore on, it wasn’t just op-ed pieces showcasing bias – classic capsuled news broadcast too began to reflect unprejudiced opinions. No longer were they seen as the ‘neutral’ truth narrators they were expected to be by consumers seeking ‘straight reporting.’ The once trusted mainstream outlets such as CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, the Associated Press, New York Times, and Washington Post were now creating a chasm with their audience.
These traditional news sources always fronted themselves as objective, with the claims of centrism and political neutrality. Yet, their departure from impartial coverage was a strikingly visible shift. It was now evident that their claim of ‘neutrality’ was anything but the truth. Blatant bias had replaced veritable facts, rendering it more of a coordinated charade than a legitimate pursuit of truth in journalism.
The gravity of this grand media spectacle was unequivocally exposed during the 2024 Presidential Election. Vice President Kamala Harris, despite her stellar promises and rhetoric, brought nothing constructive to the table. Her ineffectual stance on urgent matters such as illegal immigration and inflation wreaked havoc on the financial stability of middle and lower-tier American households.
Given this landscape, the massive victory of Donald Trump came as a harsh indictment of the mainstream media’s reprehensibly colored political coverage. The once unshakeable trust consumers placed in left-biased media was undeniably waning post-election. The media were left red-faced yet again, having failed a second time to gauge the pulse of the public correctly.
With an increase in approval for Donald Trump and his newly-formed cabinet, and his continued work towards his campaign objectives, the trust deficit in mainstream media became a stark reality. Truthfully, the narrative had shifted. The legacy media had lost their monopoly over public opinion.
Sure, there might be a chance for traditional media to recover the trust of some disenchanted consumers. But when these media networks continuously oppose widely-popular policy goals, can they genuinely hope to attract new viewers? It seems unlikely.
The advent of new-age technology is another factor sounding the bell toll for traditional media. With high-speed internet, alternative media platforms, and easily accessible social media, these ‘legacy’ outlets are quickly seeing a decline in viewership. The balance with the truth seems to have returned to new media platforms that ensure an unbiased narrative.
Today, with the public disillusioned with obvious media deceptions, it begs the question whether traditional media can even navigate this challenge and adapt to the changing landscape, or de-evolve into spending the rest of their days catering to a niche audience. It almost seems like these once dominant media networks are lingering zombie-like in the journalistic world.