The Downward Spiral of American Media
Kenan Kapetanovic, Investigative Journalist
March 6, 2020
In March of 2015, typically left-leaning media networks such as CNN and MSNBC received viewership ratings that cratered with audiences between the ages 25 and 54, almost three times less than those of Fox Networks. With a huge problem on their hands, something needed to change fast. The way that these institutions were functioning was under the assumption that half of their audience wasn't listening. Fox would cater to one ideological side of the country while MSNBC and CNN would cater to the other. Neither would allow for any overlap, and in the process, further the political divide. As many know, media networks were able to get a grip on their rating and then send them through the roof with the emergence of Donald Trump in the Republican National Convention. Let’s call it the ‘Trump Bump’, and with the Trump Bump, these networks struck gold. Scandal after scandal, flagrant campaign speeches, fights with political opponents, the campaign, and eventually, the presidency became a bottomless pit of content. This phenomenon was perfectly summarized by CBS Corporation CEO Leslie Moonves when he characterized the Trump candidacy as follows: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS”. On top of this, outgoing Washington Post Editor-in-Chief Marty Barron admitted that the newspaper would have “probably not” generated the same number of subscribers if Donald Trump hadn't been elected. Networks were able to keep ratings soaring by moving through each mania that arose without following through with the conclusion of each story. As soon as a story would show to be a dead end, it was dropped for the next best thing.
U.S. students are taught about Yellow Journalism in middle school. Yellow Journalism is the name given to the style of reporting that pushed the United States into war against Spain in 1898. The style of journalism emphasized sensationalism and baseless emotional exaggerations rather than facts. These types of stories, which are perfectly designed to achieve an emotional response from the reader, are dangerous to the credibility of the institution that is publishing them. This unfortunately does not stop countless media networks and newspapers from keeping up this tradition of picking and selecting what they feel should be conveyed to their target audience. Mind-boggling clickbait articles with titles such as ‘Dolphin Grows Human Arms’, or my favorite, ‘Severed Leg Hops to Hospital’ show how low reporters and tabloids are willing to go to sell a story to the reader. And it is not just clickbait articles that are guilty of Yellow Journalism techniques.
Mainstream outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post are just as guilty of pushing emotion-filled culture war stories that cater to what their audiences want to hear just as much the Daily Caller and Breitbart cater to their audience. In other words, what is being pushed to us, the readers, is hate and fear, and these emotions are channelled to the other side. You are supposed to hate the people who think differently from you and you must fear their intentions. This argument was echoed in the book Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chompsky and Edward Herman when they highlighted how the press creates unity by only exposing the public to a narrow portion of political ideas. The difference that we see in the present day is that the press promotes division and hate. Ben Smith, a media columnist at the New York Times, argues that the paper has become bound to the will of its subscribers. He writes “This intense attention, combined with a thriving digital subscription business that makes the company more beholden to the views of left-leaning subscribers, may yet push it into a narrower and more left-wing political lane as a kind of American version of The Guardian”. Political thought has become a tribal battle with media institutions dumping gasoline on the flames. The acceptance of a quasi form of groupthink on both the left and the right has engulfed all political discussions and debates. If you’re not with us, you’re against us.
In the Fall of 2019, the Pew Research Center published data from studies that were conducted on U.S. media polarization during the 2020 elections and how people in each party feel about specific news outlets. When asking participants for their main source of political news, 95% of the MSNBC audience characterized themselves as left or left-leaning while 5% identified on the right. On the other hand, 93% of Fox News viewers characterized themselves as right or right-leaning with 6% identifying on the left. This again shows how much the news networks maintain partisanship by presenting different facts to different consumers based on what will bring back the biggest engagement kick from the audience. The New York Times has 7.5 million subscribers but about 91% of them are left or lean left with less than 7% leaning right. One thing that is for certain that all of the news networks named financially benefited from the Trump Bump. After four years of towering ratings and viewership, it began to unravel after the election of Joe Biden with many primetime shows on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX losing up to half of their viewers. News networks have been operating under an unsustainable form of journalism and now they have a major task ahead of them to regain the trust of readers and their credibility. The media became fake news to many because they lost their credibility, not because anyone owed their trust to them. The media community requires a moment of self-reflection and needs to ask themselves if this is really what is right for the county. At the end of the day, these networks will always be businesses before they are news outlets. I hope that they can correct themself and find a way to earn back their reputations and credibility. Journalism is supposed to provide the public with general information so that they can make decisions for themself, not to force-feed opinions down the throats of the people and to select the facts that will respond better with your target audience. If that is the case, then ‘fake news’ is a title that is deserved.