Just When We Need Them, the Media’s Credibility Hits Bottom

The ability of the traditional media to influence events is attenuated to the point of near extinction.

 The best measure of this: Most of them spent a decade trying to defeat Donald Trump. Ten years on he is stronger than he has ever been.

What happened is that news organizations were transformed in character and purpose: 

They went from being quasi-legal institutions to quasi-religious ones. 

Their accountability function resided in their acting—or at least trying to act—as neutral arbiters of a sense of nonpartisan fairness. But their products no longer function like affidavits or witness testimony in the court of public opinion.

They are more like prayer books for a believing congregation. Their purpose is to strengthen believers’ faith by offering reassurance and imparting moral guidance.

No one cares anymore. I say this with absolutely no satisfaction. 

On the contrary, it is a disastrous state of affairs.

With public trust in America’s media organizations hitting new lows, we have lost a vital pillar of the informal institutional arrangements that protect our freedoms and help ensure good governance.

Gerard Baker Wall Street Journal  3 March 2025

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/just-when-we-need-them-the-medias-credibility-hits-bottom-79b11b8f

Tillbaka till Rolfs länktips 4 mars 2025

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2025/03/rolfs-lanktips-4-mars-2025.html