Media Culpa
The narrative must go on
In a significant policy move, President Trump signed an executive order last week to cease all federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and also Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The Order states that due to the “abundant, diverse, and innovative news” environment in today’s digital landscape, “government funding of news media…is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
American mainstream media has taken a beating to its credibility in recent years. Between their obvious bias in favor of progressive talking points and an unwillingness to admit to such, Americans are tuned out or looking to independent journalists to keep track of what’s going on. But it would seem journalists’ feelings don’t care about those facts.
This year’s White House Correspondents' Dinner was held last week with a much more somber mood than usual, no comedian and no A-list celebs. Upon receiving an award for excellent reporting, Axios’ Alex Thompson displayed some insight into the reason pubic disdain for media is so high. He acknowledged that he and his colleagues "missed a lot of this story" when it came to President Biden's cognitive decline. If that was honesty and not concession, it about all the press corp could muster. They’re not sorry and now that Trump has returned to the White House, they must get back to speaking truth to power.
Critics say that the White House has made journalism harder, filling its press rooms with sycophants who only want to ask versions of “why is Donald Trump so amazing?” I guess that makes for a change from the time he was out of power– most of the questions were a version of “why are Donald trump and his followers so terrible and dangerous?” For his part, the President seems to like nothing more than to remind the press of its incompetence. Making those who persist in referring to sketch illegal immigrant as a “Maryland Man” walk past yard signs featuring violent deportees to reach the conference room should butter them up real good!