Historical Perspective: The Mainstream (Mass Propaganda) Media Is a Relic of the Past

The mainstream (mass propaganda) media—both traditional networks and mainline newspapers and magazines—and cable news are losing influence in leaps and bounds to blogs and social media.

Dying is a natural process for the body to go through, but a collective inanimate object—mainstream media—may be propped up long after the ghost has departed. This, I believe, is what we are now witnessing.

This from survivethenews.com.

Some in the mass propaganda media world have been performing “mental gymnastics” trying to explain away the Tucker Carlson/Donald Trump interview. Undoubtedly, the interview was an internet phenomenon—and it set a new record as the most watched video ever on X. Yet, the Left cannot believe that so many people actually watched the interview—they are dismissing the 260 million plus number as nothing more than idle clicks.

NOTE: These are the people who still watch cable news and spend much of their day with CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg News on their screens.

Face it people: The television news business that reigned supreme in the 1980s and 1990s is dead.

In August 1968 more than 53 million Americans watched the nightly news on ABC, CBS and NBC. Walter Cronkite on CBS reigned supreme with 28 million viewers. In August 2016, all major networks and cable news shows combined had a total of roughly 28 million viewers.

Exactly: DEAD. And now, not only is truth in broadcasting available, life for those in the business has become easier.

What used to involve hours of preparation time for guest speakers—a limo ride to the station, a pre-interview, then the wait to go on air—no longer exists, due in large part to Covid.

All the networks, both in the United States and abroad, discovered Zoom, Skype, Streamyard, and Google as more efficient, cheaper, and quicker ways to snag an interview.

But that is not the revolutionary change that transformed the TV and Cable News empire into tabloid, propaganda outlets. Starting in 2008, with the arrival of Barack Hussein Obama, the networks and cable shows became more political.

Prior to 2008, legitimate debates on air between people who had opposite points of view were not only possible but occurred regularly. Each side insisted the other was wrong and explained why, but at least honest disagreement without rancor or screaming was possible.

After 2008 all of that changed. Fox became the anti-Obama channel and the rest of the media donned their Obama cheerleading outfits. The age of honest debate (if it ever existed) was over. [Any] criticism of Barack Obama and his ties to terrorists and other unsavory political characters made [anyone who spoke them] persona non grata with the rest of the media.

When Covid hit, the media world changed. No more in person interviews. Instead, the TV interviewers insisted on using a computer camera and audio. This was not great but it got the job done and it was a mere transition away to the era in which we are now “that the mainstream media, especially TV and Cable, are largely irrelevant.”

Yet the tradition of using those platforms is still firmly embedded in the establishment mentality. Politicians raise tons of money, or try to, just to buy time on conventional TV and Cable but there is a diminishing number of people watching. The action has shifted to podcasts, X and other social media platforms. That is what the vast majority of Americans are watching.

Afraid of change, most politicians fail to understand or comprehend the shift that has taken place.

There are exceptions. Barack Obama picked up on it early. Donald Trump is the king of social media. And Vivek Ramaswamy gets in. The rest are still welded to the legacy media and foolishly spend money on TV ads that people skip if they can.

The world of the internet and social media seem to have stymied the older generation of mass propaganda media types.

They no longer can wield total control over what messages get out. That is why the [Obiden Regime] was working so frantically to get social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube to quash any voice that failed to genuflect before acceptable government policy. These dummies fail to realize that the world of the internet is still relatively free and that alternative channels exist or are being created every day.

There was a time when all the cable news shows would permit a debate about contentious issues. Now? Complete shutdown of anyone who speaks out, for example, against U.S. policy in Ukraine. Col. Doug MacGregor is one of the rare exceptions. He appeared several times on Tucker’s show, and a few others. But now that Tucker’s off Fox, Col. MacGregor has begun doing internet podcasts. And this has proven to be a great medium!

Instead of trying to discuss the complexities of the Ukraine/Russia war in five minutes, [he] can spend 30 minutes to an hour and a half going in depth.

America—the world—will not be returning to information sources of old.

The combination of blogs and podcasts have created a new world that cuts across international borders and provides the means for creating a genuine international community of conversation.

Those who understand the new rules and know that there are no rules, and have mastered the art of this new and expanding world of social communication—like President Trump—are destined to win.

Meanwhile the one unanswered question remaining is ‘When will mainstream (mass propaganda) media finally realize it is dead?’