by Robert M. Traxler
OK, it is the Holy Grail of many on the left that corporations are not people; exactly who makes up a corporation if not people is anyone’s guess. A new talking point used to degrade President Donald Trump is that the media is composed of people, thus attacking the media is a personal attack on the people who make up the media. The real beauty of being a media type is never needing to practice what you preach; corporations are not people, except for the large wealthy media corporations — got it.
The media of today is struggling to keep their doors open; the advent of designer news has caused a dearth of objectivity as the media message is no longer set by a few outlets. I cannot quote the exact words, but years ago, only a few years ago, a pundit said that any editor worth his salt read the Washington Post and the New York Times every morning to see what is important and trending; or is it to receive marching orders?
The New York/Washington media cabal has gotten us into wars (WWI, WWII, The Spanish American War and others) and out of wars (Vietnam); the power they wielded was unmatched. The bygone era of unfettered power has angered the old media and cause them to be open to criticism. President Trump could never have taken on the traditional media 30 years ago and survived. President Ronald Reagan criticized the media, but was more restrained; he had to be to survive.
A hard and fast rule in politics was to never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel or videotape by the mile. Traditions like the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner, and the government being the travel agency for the media (the White House Travel office), and the White House Press Corps are a testament to the former naked power of the media.
Enter the Internet, which by the way was developed by the military as a secure communication device decades before civilians even knew it existed.
In the early days of computing history, in 1969 with the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), ARPA-funded researchers developed the Internet communications we find today. The ARPANET started the mighty medias to fall off their pedestal, falling off their self-righteous perch above the common American.
Various partisan outlets, Fox News on the right and MSNBC, CNBC, PBS, CNN and MSNBC among others on the left, give us what we want. The adage that people like people who like them is true; folks line up in the amen corner of media to verify their beliefs. When a newsworthy event happens, I tune into MSNBC first and then Fox News. Believe it or not, they agree most of the time, but then opinion pundits quickly surface, and they become partisan opposites giving us the unquestioned left or right spin we all are looking for.
Over the top rhetoric is used by online media to get “clicks” or “views;” most of online media is based in profit. Looking for the younger valuable demographic they are paid more for the 18 to 49 grouping, so they cater to the younger and more left-leaning groups. Never forget the driving force of ideology on both media poles is money.
A close relative from the New York side of the family once told me to look to “Mother Jones” to find nonpartisan news. Mother Jones is an uber-partisan publication, one that Leon Trotsky would have loved. Fairness is whatever we want it to be, balance is in the mind of the viewer, reader, listener.
Large politically correct news outlets rail against corporations, but are directed by large corporations such as Comcast and Time Warner. They rail against corporations of all sizes, even as George Soros, a billionaire socialist, (how the “billionaire socialist” thing works I will never understand), has 14 top media executives on his board and payroll. Fox News is partisan, no argument from me on that; ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNBC, PBS, are as well. Toss into the mix the national print media and we find a copious imbalance.
Media corporations are people, all other corporations are not — go figure.
