The repercussions of last week’s presidential election is sending shockwaves through a number of legacy media outlets which are now being downsized, put up for sale or retreating from the public square after years of actively agitating against president-elect Donald Trump.
However, presidential politics alone aren’t the only reason for the sudden, pronounced decline in audience.
Corporate media outlets like CNN are laying off hundreds of staffers, including some of their top stars, following poor ratings on election night that saw the network trailing rivals MSNBC and Fox News.
But the blame is being laid at the feet of former viewers who no longer believe what the network is telling them.
As ratings crater, CNN is set to ‘axe top stars in layoffs that’ll see hundreds fired’ per Daily Mail.
Here, CNN’s Brian Stelter and Abby Phillip explain to viewers that tanking public trust in media isn’t the fault of the media —
— it’s the fault of Americans believing lies… pic.twitter.com/X3zVxTfjUm
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 12, 2024
Other corporate media platforms, like the Los Angeles Times whose owner just fired the entire editorial board and promised to create a new “fair & balanced” one, are distancing themselves from what has largely been a left-wing echo chamber.
MSNBC, whose hosts have been reliable daily sources of anti-Trump content for years, has seen its ratings tumble by 54% in prime time following Trump’s decisive election victory.
Now there’s talk that Comcast is considering putting MSNBC up for sale.
“Comcast is reportedly looking to sell MSNBC after viewership craters.”
The faces and audible gasps are priceless: pic.twitter.com/Wy3lM5pua5
— Douglas Ritz (@douglasritz) November 12, 2024
Even more remarkable is the decision of large mainstream outlets like the Guardian to withdraw from X (formerly Twitter) because their narrative can be challenged in real time via the platform’s Community Notes feature.
There’s a certain irony when when a legacy media outlet chooses to withdraw from one of the least censored social media platforms because it cannot peddle misinformation without being publicly corrected.
Left wing propaganda outlet The Guardian got sick of being ratiod and fact checked by @elonmusk‘s X so they quit. pic.twitter.com/ocA9TxjOKn
— TheQuartering (@TheQuartering) November 13, 2024
The takeaway from this trend of falling support for corporate media is that the public is no longer settling for being propagandized by legacy outlets when there is credible, timely information at their fingertips via emerging new media platforms that prioritize the free flow of ideas.
This is kind of what I have been hoping for, in the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind – that the karmic reward for years of insinuation, smears and outright lies would be the annihilation of traditional media outlets. TDS has broken them, ladies & gentlemen, and we all had front row seats to watch it happen. And I hope this puts all those Leftist professors teaching journalism courses at various campuses on notice that the point of journalism is not activism…
In the days of land line telephones, we thought people were stupid because they lacked information. Today, the internet proves we were wrong!