Almost by definition, capitalism is in the business of distorting reality. It seeks to convince us we need goods and services any 4-year-old could quickly discern we don’t, and expends billions manipulating us and effectively stealing our free will. And while all this activity is light years from being benign, democracy’s worldwide decline cannot wholly be tagged to things like McDonald’s creating a feeding frenzy by limiting the availability of the McRib, an inexplicably popular rib-esque-shaped product drenched in a sauce only slightly more sugary than a bowl of Frosted Flakes. A good portion of the blame must go to those who distort information for profit.
Successful participatory democracies depend on relatively well-informed electorates, something absent in the US at present, thanks mostly to how the profit motive poisons journalism.
The sources from which most Americans get their information are increasingly manipulative and unprofessional, seeking to raise their ratings and balloon their bottom lines by feeding us “news” that either validates our already flawed perspectives or frightens us into continuing to watch so we’ll know exactly what to be most afraid of. MAGA-ites and other regressive conservatives can choose from Fox, OAN and Newsmax, while progressives have MSNBC and, many would argue, CNN. When Tucker Carlson, the smirking playground bully of cable news and potential 2024 vice-presidential pick, got canned a while back, Fox announced an “interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities” would replace him. Therein lies the problem: there should be no such thing as a “news personality”.
For-profit news organisations find their market niche then seek to expand it, often by means anathema to legitimate journalism. It doesn’t matter where on the political spectrum they are, the news is delivered as infotainment, with hype and hysteria similar to that employed by reality television. Feeding the 24-hour cable news beast with fact-based, adequately reported journalism would be prohibitively expensive, so viewers get undercooked analysis and half-baked speculation instead.
I have argued before that the essential/unavoidable elements of a well-functioning society – health care, education, environmental protection, public safety, workers’ rights, death – should be non-profit enterprises. I’d like to add journalism to the list. I realise this is a mountain of toothpaste that will never fully go back into its tube, but there are signs the news eyeball-gathering hegemony of cable TV and social media may be sporting a few cracks to go along with its many crackpots.
Cable news ratings are down as more Americans cut the cord, and so far the networks haven’t successfully made the transition to streaming. Social media news engagement has also cratered, thanks in part to Facebook’s de-emphasising its news content, while nonprofit news outlets are surging in popularity and prominence. Pro Publica, a nonprofit dedicated to investigative reporting, has won six Pulitzer Prizes since its 2007 inception. A coalition of 22 donors has announced Press Forward, a five-year, US$500 million national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news, a critical component of a healthy media ecosystem. And the Institute for Nonprofit News reported a 17% rise in the number of new nonprofit newsrooms in 2022.
The present political predicament is, in large part, thanks to the mess our media has made of informing the electorate. Donald Trump and his authoritarian impulses were normalised and nurtured by some outlets from the beginning, and others were too afraid of losing viewers to call out his lies. Profit is the primary polluter of this ecosystem. Anything we can do to minimise its poisonous effect will work to strengthen our fragile democracy.
