When White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced last week that the briefing room is now open to reporters for “new media,” including podcasters and websites, she was acknowledging the power and reach of these outlets, which was demonstrated in the last election when President Trump made himself available to outlets that were ignored by the Kamala Harris campaign.
The new media are surging. Part of this has to do with evaporating trust in what many regard as biased coverage by The New York Times and other major newspapers and networks that reflect biases.
Chuck Todd, who has been with NBC News for 18 years, is resigning. The former host of “Meet the Press” once said he would never have a guest on the program who didn’t believe in “climate change.” Liberal Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus has resigned from the paper’s editorial board to focus more on her column. The Post has laid off 100 employees and tens of thousands of subscribers have canceled their subscriptions, outraged that the paper declined to endorse Kamala Harris.
On “The View,” co-host Sunny Hostin blamed Trump and those who voted for him for last week’s collision between an American Airlines commercial jet and an Army helicopter. These and other outrageous and biased claims may feed the anger of many anti-Trumpers, but they do nothing to improve the credibility of the media, or increase their subscriptions, advertisers and ratings. As reported by the conservative Newsbusters.com, “The leftist media began (the week) by attacking President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and dumping on his (inauguration) moment. They then proceeded to libel Trump and Elon Musk as a bunch of fascist Nazis, while tossing final bouquets to Joe Biden.”
During other cultural transitions of the past, there were diehards who tried to keep the future from happening. There were those who resisted the transition from horses to motor cars. There were some who thought the telephone was a fad and that man was not made to fly. Some Hollywood moguls believed TV wouldn’t last. There were people who once opposed coffee and refrigeration. Now it’s driverless cars that are raising alarms.
The one constant among resisters to change is that they are left behind when change comes. Most big media seem incapable of self-reflection and have an ideological view that resembles “eat your vegetables because they are good for you.” Their attitude seems to be that consumers of news should swallow whatever they offer, whether they like it or not.
This doesn’t mean the media should avoid questioning the policies and pronouncements of President Trump or anyone in his administration. What it does mean is that their approach should not be one of “he can do no right.” (Yes, some conservative media think Trump can do no wrong, which is equally bad).
It also means when Trump and other Republicans succeed, that success should be acknowledged, instead of ignoring it and moving on to new rounds of cynical questioning.
It may be too late for big media to redeem itself given the leftist bent of many within that cocoon. If they go the way of previous outmoded and irrelevant things, they will have only themselves to blame.
A free press is essential to a strong America. The arrival of new media may be journalism’s savior.