The Death Spiral of the Mainstream News

We have witnessed the devolution of the Mainstream News (MSN) from essential players in our republic, to useful idiots of the left.  The alphabet soup news organizations have always had biases, but they have gone from attempting to be honest, to embracing a mission to provide disinformation to the public – in service to their leftist masters. 

The Constitution guarantees a free press, because the founders recognized a need for open reporting of facts and free debate of opinions.  The press was supposed to hold government accountable.  But over time, the MSN has moved away from accurate reporting, and into outright propaganda dissemination.  It happened gradually, but it’s undeniable now.  The MSN has become a tool of the left, helping to destroy the very freedom that ensures their own existence – the very definition of useful idiots.

It started innocently enough, with reporters inserting their opinions as if they were facts.  One of the most notorious cases of this occurred on the day of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam war.  After reporting on the battle, Walter Cronkite declared on the evening news that the war was now unwinnable.  But that wasn’t true.  It was only his opinion.  In fact, the battle was a huge loss for our enemy.  But since Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America,” people believed him, and it contributed to our loss of resolve.

Once the MSN became aware of their power as the public’s gatekeeper of information, they began crafting narratives.  Reporters discovered that they could take true stories and weave them into whatever message they wished.  They had moved from reporting facts and events, to influencing the public.  In the 1980s Ronald Reagan had implemented sweeping welfare reforms, which the left was not happy about.  During a broadcast of the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather reported the story of a man who had committed suicide.  Rather solemnly read his suicide note in which the deceased stated he was taking his life because Reagan had taken away his benefits.  There was no mention of the countless millions who had benefited from the reforms – that wouldn’t have fit the narrative.  The report was not a lie.  But it was nowhere near the whole truth either.  Is it any wonder that years later, when caught reporting a false story, Dan Rather coined the term “fake but accurate” – the facts were wrong, but the message was correct.  That truth doesn’t matter – only the narrative matters.

In addition to reporting stories that support the narrative, the MSN has become adept at spiking stories as well.  Stories about Bill Clinton’s infidelities (and possibly even assaults) were hidden from the public – just as Ted Kennedy’s were before him.  Later, the MSN undertook a coordinated effort to kill any stories about the Biden influence peddling business – Joe’s only real competency.  Stories about Hunter Biden being under investigation were hidden.  Social media oligarchs were engaged to crush any online discussion of Biden corruption.  Old Joe was the guy who would usher in a new leftist utopia, and nothing that might jeopardize that could see the light of day.  The public could not be allowed to make a truly informed decision before marking their ballot.

For the last few decades, we’ve become aware that the MSN occasionally lies to us.  I’m not talking about mistakenly reporting something incorrect.  I’m talking about intentionally deceiving us.  The MSN used to be a bit more subtle about it than they are now.  Initially they only lied about facts which were hard for average Americans to verify.  For years they told us that Donald Trump had colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election – and the proof would be coming out soon.  They claimed their confidential sources had shown them the proof.  We didn’t have access to those sources, so many Americans believed them.  But when the Mueller report came out, we learned that there was no proof.  It had been a multi-year lie.  And yet the MSN has not shown one iota of contrition for that misdeed.  In fact, The New York Times and The Washington Post won Pulitzers for it.

During the Trump administration, the MSN got more brazen in their dishonesty.  They began lying about things that could be easily checked by the general public.  It made no sense to undermine their own credibility, but they did it anyway. I attribute it to Trump Derangement Syndrome.  They told us that Trump had disrespected our soldiers at their gravesite in Normandy.  Only there were numerous witnesses that said it never happened.  They quoted Trump as saying that there were good people among the white supremacists.  That didn’t happen either, and there is publicly available video to prove it.  But the MSN didn’t care.  If even a few people bought the lie, their credibility was a small price to pay – probably because their credibility wasn’t worth much anyway.

Now, the MSN has moved into the bizarre territory of lying to us while the truth is staring us right in the face.  Who can forget the CNN coverage of the Kenosha riots – referring to them as “mostly peaceful” while we could see buildings burning in the background?

They’re assuring us that Biden has returned competency to the White House, while we can see that he can’t even answer simple questions with any semblance of coherence.  They’re telling us he’s a snappy dresser, while we can see he’s naked.

But the coup de grace has to be Kelli Stavast, the NBC reporter at an auto race reporting that the crowd was chanting “Let’s go Brandon.”  But we could clearly hear on her own broadcast that they were saying “F*** Joe Biden.”  Never mind what your ears are hearing, believe us instead – because we are oh so credible.

But now that the propaganda is out in the open, there’s no need to even try to hide it anymore.  Last week, San Fran Nan called the MSN troops together for a press briefing.  She used the event to chide the reporters for not doing a better job of selling Joe’s “Build Back Better” program to the public.  It couldn’t be any clearer.  The MSN is working for the left and the Democrats that represent them in government.  They’ve become useful idiots, whose job it is to sell socialism to the American public.  But as useful idiots go, they haven’t been very useful recently.  So, Nancy decided that it was time for a little motivational talk with the underperforming troops.

Now the MSN has become a public mockery.  Their work as the left’s propaganda ministry is completely out in the open.  That’s why the “Let’s go Brandon” chant is so effective. It’s a twofer.  Every time a crowd shouts the chant, they’re actually saying two things.  First, that they’re a bit peeved at Slow Joe’s less than stellar job performance.  Second, that they know the MSN is a bunch of liars trying to gaslight them.

Our MSN has officially entered Pravda territory.  Once the Soviet Union’s citizens understood that their press was lying to them, their leadership lost the ability to effectively craft a message.  The narrative collapsed and the leadership began losing its grip on the union.  Propaganda is only effective when it is credible.  “Let’s go Brandon” proves that the MSN’s credibility is now a distant memory.

Nancy can complain to the troops all she wants.  It won’t change anything.  Without credibility, there’s nothing the propaganda ministry can do.  If they want that credibility back, they have to earn it – and they won’t even try.  That would require them to abandon their primary mission – information warfare to drag America into a socialist utopia – which is also a lie.

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