Terry Moran: The Media and Our Autocratic Presidecy- "Don't look away, my friends."

[Amaryllis]

https://terrymoran.substack.com/p/the-media-and-our-autocratic-presidency?

More at link.

Fairness in journalism is simply the honest accounting of what you have seen and heard and understood. You tell the truth. And in this moment, if you are a political reporter, the truth—what you are seeing in the United States—is clear as day. Donald Trump is trying to change the nature of our political system. He wants to rule, not govern. And he is motivated by mad hatreds and boiling resentments that erupt in public and then become policy. There has never been a president anywhere near as dangerous to constitutional governance.

This is what is in front of our faces. These are the facts. The truth. But mainstream media cannot say it. That is a problem.

There are two reasons for this paralysis in the fourth estate. One is silly, the other is sad.

Silly: Mainstream news organizations are paranoid about being accused of bias by right-wingers. The Trumpist media and its allied politicos have developed an industry of outrage at what they constantly claim is bias in the mainstream media. There is, indeed, some to be found. As I said here recently, the lack of viewpoint diversity in the old media has led to missed stories, unheard voices. But the Trumpist bias police are laughably one-sided. Newsmax is a billion times more biased than anything mainstream media ever did. Fox News, too. And the ONAN network or whatever it is. The right-wing media critics aren’t serious. They don’t want unbiased news. They want news that flatters their biases. Period.

Sad: Telling the truth about Trump has been determined by corporate America to be bad for business. The enormous powers of the presidency and executive branch in the hands of Trump can wreak havoc on even the most powerful American corporations. This has led to abject corporate surrender. The lesson Americans have learned in the the last few months: the corporations will always knuckle under.

Our country has never faced a challenge like this. The only way out of it is the way of truth. Tell it. First to yourself. Then to others. Truth-telling can be contagious. Who knows, one day you might hear it on TV.

[erronis]

1. Silly, sad, and complicit.

I agree with Terry's analysis but feel that the "sad" one doesn't go far enough. I believe that much of M$M is actually supportive of the agenda and may have direct benefits from this lurch to authoritarianism. After all, the upper crust white male hegemony is the major player in both groups. Probably went to school together, etc.

[Amaryllis]

2. Agree. Sad is far too mild.

[Cha]

3. Mahalo for this, Amaryllis...

It's a plague. and Needs a Cure... it's gotten progressively Worse since I noticed in 1997... and look where we are now.

Thank Goodness for Patriot Journalists like Terry Moran.