Ever since that lying, conniving, mendacious conman came down the escalator over five years ago to announce his run for, arguably, the highest most powerful office in the world, we witnessed the steady degradation of many institutions once considered as pillars of journalistic integrity.
We saw their slow degeneration and transmutation into becoming the conman’s stenographers, amplifying his lies, giving them much credibility while purposely writing misleading headlines on Hillary Clinton’s most rational progressive policies and fact-based solutions; they covered his hate rallies with such relish, centering his most aggrieved fanatics, that they became the most eagerly awaited and sold-out events. And with the help of the complicit mainstream media – who would rather cover an empty podium instead of a most qualified and competent presidential candidate’s speech on how her policies would advance and implement the necessary work to end Child Poverty – misinformation and outright disinformation took over what was once considered as reliable and credible journalism.
Despite few moments of clarity and sudden but short-lived bursts of consciousness at how their own misinformation was abetting the end of Democracy and the ongoing genocide of the American People in the midst of a pandemic at the hands of an Authoritarian conman (helped by zealots and sycophants lining their own pockets), the media continued its relentless vilanizing of any candidate representing Diversity while amplifying and legitimizing the rhetoric of the most heinous characters that helped push the conman’s Big Lie, to such degrees that today, any hint that the conman might run again for office is covered relentlessly and endlessly (no one is telling him to go knitt), while revelations of his hand in the January 6th Insurrection, or important developments regarding life-saving policies pushed by the current administration and Congress are relegated to third-tier article pages, hardly making a blip in breaking, let alone regular news.
This lack of unbiased even-handed coverage has further helped misinform the population on the going-ons of their own government, the policies in the work, and the hurdles a bill must clear before being signed into law. And if you’re not part of social-media circles that regularly share and debate policy, if sadly you strictly rely on the MSM, or worse, you rely on airtight bubbles that dabble in disinformation and propaganda, then lately, you have no idea what’s in the Build Back Better bill or what’s even Build Back Better!
There is a dangerous lack of diversity in U.S. journalism. When reporting is centered on protecting and amplifying White Privilege and Fragility instead of legislation and the policies meant to uplift the bottom 60% of the nation, it becomes disinformation. Its poor understanding of the changing population and political arena it is supposed to cover with unbiased reporting becomes an outright threat to Democracy. When you elevate inexperienced Privilege and Entitlement severely lacking in basic historical knowledge and understanding of the diverse fast-evolving world beyond the whitebread bubble they grew-up in, you’re doing your readers, your nation, and the future of your children a great disservice. Even more disconcerting, you’re helping the conman’s lies that are meant to delegitimize laws protecting your First Amendment Rights to accurately inform and hold the most powerful in this world accountable.
Journalism needs to do better, and in order to do so, it needs to open its doors to diversity that often cannot afford low-paying internships. It needs to make its ranks accessible so that it becomes a better reflection of the society it is supposed to inform.
Have a great Wednesday, Politicadoes!
