TRUMPING THE MEDIA

#TRUMPING

Published at http://www.newsmax.com/ScotFaulkner/facebook-media-social-twitter/2017/01/12/id/768303/

Trump’s first news conference since the November election vividly displayed how he has turned the media world upside down.  His unprecedented campaign and transition points to an Administration committed to solidifying a media revolution that began decades ago.

The media, especially the 95 percent liberals within the media, are in free fall in audience and credibility.  A recent Associated Press survey reported that 96 percent of Americans no longer trust the “mainstream media”.  The media elite are still in denial that their world of unaccountable privilege and bias has vanished. 

How the media elite respond will determine whether anyone listens to them ever again.  The latest Buzzfeed/CNN promotion of false Trump trash is further evidence that the elite are on a different planet from the real world.

American media was “middle of the road” and patriotic until the mid-1960s.  At that time the older generation of media moguls retired or died, ushering in activist liberals.  Media liberalism became radical with the Vietnam War and Watergate.

Accuracy in Media (AIM) was founded in 1969 by Reed Irvine to expose this new liberal media bias.  AIM’s documentation remained within conservative circles until Vice President Spiro Agnew used their research in boldly partisan speeches during the 1970 elections.

Americans were held captive by three broadcast networks and Public Broadcasting until CSPAN cable television entered the scene in 1979.  Conservative Members in the House of Representatives used CSPAN to conduct guerrilla theater.  Using large photos, graphs, and models of Soviet Airplanes, House conservatives began to directly educate the public about big government and the Soviet threat.  It was the first breech of the liberal media filters.

In April 1980, two senior news editors, Arnaud De Borchgrave and Robert Moss, published “The Spike” a novel exposing communist influence within the American media.  As importantly, they exposed how the liberal media perverts reality as much by what they don’t cover as what they do - “spiking” stories.

The media revolution really began in 1987 when the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) eliminated the “Fairness Doctrine”.  For the first time since 1949 radio stations could feature editorial content in their normal programming.  On August 1, 1988, Rush Limbaugh launched his radio show.  Now all Americans had access to non-liberal perspectives. 

The liberal media fought back.  Talk radio hosts and news reporters were denied press credentials to cover Congress until the Republicans took over the House in January 1995.  Even credentialed, talk radio was shunned.  The liberal media elite branded it unprofessional and trafficking in conspiracy theories.

Starting in May 1995 (Netscape), the Internet devastated the liberal media citadels.  Website news began to supplant broadcast and print media.  Social media, along with internet access on mobile devices in 2004, ignited an historic information revolution. 

Conservative voices were unleashed by these upheavals.  Liberal media elites could no longer “spike” stories or present their bias unchallenged.  Even their own audience favored getting their news from social media and shows on Comedy Central.  The media establishment sped its own demise by succumbing to fake news from its reporters like Jayson Blair, and trafficking in false news like “hands-up don’t shoot’ and “a video caused the Benghazi attack”.

All the elements of a liberal media cataclysm were in place.  Trump’s blunt talk and his supporters’ contempt for the media brought the status quo crashing down.

Trump understands, more than any other politician today, that he can render the media irrelevant.    Pew Research and other studies show that 62% of Americans get all or part of their news from social media.  Facebook posts 510,000 comments and 136,000 photos per minute. 2.4 million emails are sent every second.  Fifty percent of Millennials check out Facebook when they first wake-up.

Trump does not need to have his message filtered and interpreted by Democrat operatives posing as journalists.  Chris Matthews and George Stephanopoulos were Democrat flacks long before they took on the trapping of journalists.  Dozens of reporters and “on air talent” are married to Obama Administration officials.  Trump’s response is to go over and around them.

Trump currently has over 50 million Facebook and Twitter followers.  Millions of Trump supporters repost or retweet his quotes on countless social media pages.  128 million Americans posted or liked Trump content on Facebook during the campaign.  No one has ever been so pervasive in communicating and mobilizing.

Trump is the master of this new media reality.  He understands that 140 characters on Twitter or a pithy comment or compelling image on Facebook shapes the media cycle.  This is all before he becomes President, with all its additional resources and reach.

Liberal media in the Trump era is fast becoming as credible and relevant as horoscopes. 

Get a Life

On April 1, Pica Paperdoll, Glitteractica Cookie, and an array of other avatars, attended a virtual version of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The committee’s stated purpose was to delve into possible terrorist use of Second Life, and other virtual reality environments, for online recruiting. One could debate the novelty versus substance elements of the hearing, but I want to raise a different issue.

Early in 1995, I recommended that every hearing room in Congress be wired to allow for live video and audio transmission. Many of these meeting rooms already had an array of audio capabilities, some going back to the days of radio.

My plan was simple – install two small robotic cameras in each hearing room. One camera would face the Members, the other would face the witnesses. In the era of the early Internet, I recommended offering these feeds to CSPAN. “We could have CSPAN 2-50”, I quipped. Later, the technology would allow for direct feeds to the Internet via “webcasting”.

My idea was met with cries of horror from nearly all Members. “We don’t want the hearings to be that public!” was echoed by Members from both parties.

Public hearings should be public. Most Congressional hearing rooms hold between 50-200 people. A few can hold up to 400. That means that only a microscopic few out of 300 million citizens get to attend and witness one of the most the fundamental functions of Congress.

CSPAN does a wonderful job broadcasting hearings, but the numbers are against it. On an average day, when Congress is in session, there are approximately 45 House and Senate committee hearings and meetings. Some of these have witnesses, some are mark-ups and votes on legislation. CSPAN may broadcast two of these hearings a day. That means, at best, normal citizens are able to watch maybe 8 out of 180 meetings a week, or 4% of what is really happening.

The avatar hearing proves that Congress can webcast hearings. I live in tiny Jefferson County, West Virginia with a population of 48,000 people. Three years ago the county government spent $4,000 to wire two meeting rooms for webcasting. Now every meeting is online, both real time and through a permanent archive.

If Jefferson County can do it, why can’t the Congress?