Ep. 309: How Did the Media Become Such a Biased, Stress-Inducing Circus?

Forget good news. How about just honest news? How did we get here? Guest Ken LaCorte unpacks the history of news production, behind the scenes of how it’s made, information vs entertainment & how human psychology ironically drives the train we’re all so desperate to get off. Ken LaCorte left main stream media in 2016 after nearly 20 years of serving in senior management at Fox News. Today he writes about censorship & media misconduct, but you might recognize from his YouTube channel called Elephants in Rooms, where he explores Uncomfortable truths & Awkward questions without sensationalism. If you like this episode, you’ll also like episode 235: EPISTOCRACY: SHOULD WE BE PROTECTED FROM UNINFORMED VOTERS? Guest: https://www.youtube.com/@ElephantsInRoomshttps://substack.com/@kenlacorte https://x.com/KenLaCortehttps://x.com/Elephants_Rooms Host:  https://www.meredithforreal.com/  https://www.instagram.com/meredithforreal/ [email protected]://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal  https://www.facebook.com/meredithforrealthecuriousintrovert  Sponsors: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/starterpacks/ https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/  00:00 – Why the news feels like a Jerry Springer rerun01:15 – Ken’s shift from Fox News to YouTube truth-telling02:20 – The lost art of nuance in media03:10 – Was news ever really better “back then”?05:00 – Media bias from the 1700s to now07:15 – Internet clicks, candy headlines, and our appetite for outrage09:20 – Idiocracy and “we get what we deserve”10:30 – Are we living in the ugliest but most informed media age?12:00 – If it bleeds, it leads: truth or myth?14:00 – Long-form content as an antidote to manipulation16:00 – Why short clips often equal fake news19:20 – Lies told through technically true facts22:40 – Ken’s personal run-in with The New York Times24:30 – Is more information always the best cure?25:00 – Fairness Doctrine: would bringing it back fix anything?29:00 – How cable news killed equal-time rules31:00 – The rise of censorship—and why it made things worse33:00 – Teaching kids to spot spin (and why old folks may struggle more)35:20 – Why Ken trusts Joe Rogan over CNN37:00 – Media bias, advertisers, and following the money40:00 – The unspoken pressures inside big media companies42:00 – Why a thousand media voices beat just four43:00 – Ken’s go-to news sources worth checking out44:00 – Ground News, curiosity, and the hunt for nuanceRequest to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/Follow me in all the places:https://www.meredithforreal.com/  https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ [email protected]://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert