Tara McGowan: The “Enemies Within” the Media
By Tara McGowan
The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post have retreated from relevance.
They’ve flinched amid right-wing pressure and refused to make a presidential endorsement just days before one of the most crucial elections in American history, making a much louder, more concerning statement with their silence.
But rather than viewing this as a shocking departure from precedent, we should all view this development as the logical result of the decline of legacy media institutions.
We see the unraveling every day. Consumers are defecting from cable television in favor of streaming services. Print newspapers are becoming relics behind museum glass — or in my house at least, firestarter. Local news is on its last legs in many parts of the country, if it has survived at all.
Legacy media is now exclusively for the elites, and it lurks behind paywalls. Social media is for the masses, and it’s brimming with misinformation.
In a time when at least 4 in 10 young adults get their news regularly from TikTok, legacy media seem lost in the desert, short of water, and uncertain which way to crawl to reach an oasis — and that’s a generous assessment. In such circumstances, they’re especially vulnerable to political intimidation, such as Donald Trump’s frequent threats to punish his enemies. Add to that the fact that media owners like Jeff Bezos of the Washington Post have many other financial interests that are far more lucrative. Would Bezos sacrifice Amazon or Blue Origin to defend the Post? It certainly seems not, based on his veto of the Post editorial board’s plan to endorse Kamala Harris, which was announced on the very same day Blue Origin CEO David Limp met with Trump in Austin.
With legacy media losing relevance, integrity, and courage all at once, there has never been a more dire need for pro-democracy media in America.
Outlets that are fully funded and/or owned by freedom-loving foundations and individuals are emerging and thriving. They are producing podcasts, newsletters, TikTok posts. They’re into video, because their audience is, and they’re investing in creators who are at the leading edge of revolutionizing news and advertising. Rather than demanding that consumers log in to get past paywalls, they are often reaching audiences for free and asking their followers to support them if they wish, earning and deepening trust in the process. These independent, mission-first outlets are less vulnerable to commercial coercion or decisions made at a distance by parent corporations.
Even in situations where it seems that traditional media is still running the show, it isn’t. As Axios noted recently, “Big, traditional media still has its moments — presidential debates, town halls and sit-down interviews,” Axios wrote. “But even then, most of the narrative-shaping is done in quick-twitch video bites or reinterpretation on podcasts, social platforms or YouTube.”
These independent, smaller outlets are often proud to trumpet their values rather than performing in a fictional drama in which they pretend they’re objective viewers floating over the fray. This ridiculous posture compels many traditional news outlets to engage in bothsidesism and vagueism — and has eroded the trust of millions of Americans in the process. That’s why outlets such as the New York Times write headlines blaming “politics” when the news story itself states clearly that the culprits inflicting harm are Republicans.
So much of legacy media’s performative objectivity is dishonest and evasive at best. The recent, crass decisions made by billionaire media owners like Bezos are clear indications of their anticipatory obedience to a budding fascist regime. The buying up and super-spreading of politically motivated disinformation on massive social media platforms by Trump’s biggest billionaire backers are laying the foundation for a new, authoritarian state media ecosystem. The best pro-democracy news operations, while still newer and less well resourced, are having none of it. They’re calling out the fascist threats. They’re naming names. They’re walking the talk on informing the public by filling the shoes these once-revered publishers kicked off and left behind.
I’m proud to say that the news network I started over five years ago, COURIER, is one of those growing independent voices eager to adjust to the public’s fast-changing consumption habits and feed their desire for dependable, fact-based news and transparent commentary. Other news outfits making an impact in the defense of democracy include A More Perfect Union, Meidas Touch, The New Republic, NowThis and Crooked Media. These outlets aren’t retreating. They’re doubling down to hold Trump and his cronies accountable – and they’re not going to stop if he wins.
It is these outlets that are earning audiences and credibility at the expense of hidebound corporate media that are proving all too willing to abandon principles for profits.
It is these independent, adaptive outlets that put their mission to protect democracy and inform the American people about what’s happening in Washington, in their statehouses, and in their communities, that give breath to our gasping democracy.
If, god forbid, Trump wins the election in just a few short days, it will be these outlets that the public will turn to and trust – not the legacy news organizations that fold fast to fascists. Our democracy will depend upon it.
Tara McGowan is the founder and publisher of COURIER.
