The Corporate Media Is Failing Democracy

The Daily is an independent newsletter prioritizing American values like democracy and freedom. Please subscribe to support our work.In this special podcast that was recorded before the Trump rally shooting, Sarah Jones and Jason Easley discuss how and why the corporate media are failing to meet this moment in our democracy.Below are some quotes from our discussion:The Corporate Media Makes The Abnormal NormalPeople just get desensitized. I would always, always, always ask people, and I, I, you do this all the time. You have to stop and ask yourself, is this normal? When we tell you, it was Donald Trump and his criminal cases. And all, you were like, this is, no one else has ever run for president or been a president and then get charged with this many criminal cases, or any criminal cases.So ask yourself, is this normal? And if the answer is, this is not normal. Then look at how people are covering it and ask yourself, why are they treating something that is not normal as normal? And don't trust them after that. That's what I have to say for right now. It's not you. It's not you. Don't let people gaslight you.Why The Corporate Media Seems So Out Of TouchTell me why are media organizations treating Trump like he is the successful president that Joe Biden actually is. And Joe Biden, like he's the criminal that Trump actually is. Because this isn't about presidencies or accomplishments. It's about corporate profits, revenue. engagement, which they think Trump will bring. The concentration of corporate ownership and our large media companies has resulted in for profit owner with for profit news, which needs and sustains narratives and storylines. It needs to sustain its own narratives and storylines. What we saw happen with the debate was the media. The big corporate media has needed a storyline for this election.We, it's not a big surprise to anyone listening that engagement with content about this election is way down, right? It's a rematch. People are not, people know who their candidates are this time. There's not many persuadable voters because the country is so polarized. So engagement for election content this year has been very low.And usually presidential elections are a cash cow for media companies. When the debate rolled around and it was the two previous candidates again, they were the media was already looking for a narrative to create drama with this election. And since they had been pushing the Biden age narrative for roughly a year previously.The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Corporations Don’t Care About DemocracyThey are only interested in profit. So we use the example of the New York Times. The New York Times, the vast, vast majority of their page subscription base what was our number? Like 82 to 92 percent or something I saw? They're liberals. They're center left and they're liberals. The New York Times, though, being a corporation, thinks they already have that audience.They want that other audience. They want that Fox News audience. Because the corporation doesn't care about the politics. They don't care about democracy. They care about money, and profits, and revenue. How can they get all the readers? Not some of the readers. Not just readers that, that So fill a certain way, they assume that the people on the center and left are going to stay there so they can reach out and go to the right.And then when Joe Biden came along and gave them the gut punch of, and not just them, but basically every corporate media outlet, think about it. How many interviews is Joe Biden actually done on MSNBC during the presidency? It's not many. And that includes the morning Joe one of But, but they want everything.They're corporations. They have no feelings. They have no values. They just want profit. This goes to the, to a larger point about late stage capitalism, which is, we're now at the point, and we saw this with, with Zaslav's comment the other day, that, they, he's not going to tell you who he wants for president, but what we need is more deregulation so we can, consolidate more media as if that's not, that's already the problem.We've got so much consolidation that what you're talking about, the bottom line is the only thing that matters. And these people are never happy. Like we didn't get into this business to make a profit, but these people are never happy, even when they're making a profit, the New York Times is making a billion dollars a year.We hope you enjoy the podcast. Please give it a listen and share your thoughts in the comments below.And they're not happy with that. That's not enough. That's the problem with late stage capitalism is it becomes not just making a profit and there's no business ethics. It used to be that you had to you want to balance out being a good member of society as a business. That was a value that businesses used to at least pretend to have.And then. You want to make a nice profit and pay your employees. Now it is. The only thing that matters is that we increase our profit for the shareholders. They're the only people who matter. Nobody else matters. And it can't. It's not enough to make a billion dollars next year. You have to make a billion and a half dollars next year. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thedailypoliticususa.com/subscribe