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. 

Storm Warnings

The media is anointing Obama our next President. However, before people get too enraptured with unified government under the Democratic Party think about what might happen to two of our most sacred rights – secret ballots and free speech.

One of the foundations of the Democratic Party is unionized labor. Senator Barack Obama and his Democratic colleagues in Congress have made passage of the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act” a major priority. Secret ballots have been fundamental to our democracy since the 1850s. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 guaranteed secret ballots in union representation elections.

The Roosevelt Democrats demanded secret ballots because they wanted to protect union supporters from intimidation from company officials. Ironically, Kennedy-Obama Democrats want to reverse this 73-year-old protection to allow union organizers to intimidate pro-management employees.

Union representation has dropped to 7.5 percent in the private sector (membership public sector unions has actually grown to 35.9 percent). The drop in private sector unions has occurred because modern managers realize that collaborative management produces higher worker productivity and morale. Unions are marginalized in collaborative work environments. The drop in union membership reduces the amount of money unions use to support Democrats running for office. Therefore, the Democrats must find new tactics to increase union membership – even if this means reversing decades of federal labor law and destroying a fundamental component of our democracy.

The other target of the Democrats will be reinstating the misnamed “Fairness Doctrine”.

In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ended the “Fairness Doctrine”. This doctrine required equal time for all points of view on all television and radio broadcasts. FCC Chairman, Mark Fowler, and his colleagues foresaw the digital age and the rapid rise of cable television. They wisely decided that the marketplace for ideas should determine who is heard and how often. As more channel options arose, listeners and viewers would simply gravitate to those stations and shows that reflected their views or were naturally more balanced.

The ending of the “Fairness Doctrine” has stimulated the rise in political pundits and major news shows offering clear ideological perspectives. It has also allowed conservatives to virtually take over Talk Radio. This is where the Democrats want to change the rules. The liberals in Congress are not content to dominant the so-called “mainstream media”. They want eliminate the ideological marketplace and return to an era of limited choices. Liberals are certain that their left-skewed news shows will be able to masquerade as “objective” while conservative commentators will be relegated to highly controlled token appearances.

As Americans we should vigorously oppose changing rules that support our democracy. Neither Party should undermine free expression. The Democrats will be deservedly punished in 2010 and 2012 should they attempt such sordid power grabs.