Dan Froomkin: I blame the media [View all]

[Nevilledog]

https://presswatchers.org/2024/11/i-blame-the-media/


I am horrified and I am terrified and I am angry.

And I blame the media.

Yes, I am aware that some large number of people who voted for Trump did so fully aware that he will rule as a racist, a chaos agent, and a strongman. That’s what they want. Noted.

But a decisive subset apparently voted for him out of frustration with the economy, specifically inflation.

That they were insufficiently alarmed about the damage Trump will do – and that they actually thought he has some way to make the economy better and bring inflation down – was the result of a massive information system failure, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.

Although there is much talk about the brosphere and TikTok and podcasts and Fox News and all the other vectors for misinformation and disinformation in this current media environment, the traditional media is not off the hook, quite the contrary.

For one, elite media has tremendous influence on the national discourse, all the way down to TikTok and social media.

But more directly, the vast majority of voters still have some contact with the major traditional media outlets, including the broadcast networks, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

So what they hear and read there still matters.

*snip*