3 Quotes That Show Which Way Media Tide Is Going
Bubba
01 Nov
Billionaire Bill Ackman during a recent appearance on the “Triggernometry” podcast:
I don't want to sit here and just be an advertisement for 𝕏, but if someone writes a profile on me in some media form, within an hour of that article coming out, I can very specifically fact-check, rebut, address the issue. …
The most powerful moment for me was that I truly believed that Trump had said the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists were among the “very fine people” who were protesting [at the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia]. It takes about two minutes to actually watch what he said and realize that he said precisely the opposite. …
That's the moment when you realize, oh my god, I really have been misled by the media. You look at the “60 Minutes” excerpting that was done of Kamala, and you realize how much you can be manipulated, particularly by taped and excerpted media. If I'm trying to get to the truth, I want to hear the voice of the candidate, untaped, unscripted, without the teleprompter.
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos in a new op-ed explaining the Post’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate:
Lack of credibility isn’t unique to The Post. Our brethren newspapers have the same issue. And it’s a problem not only for media, but also for the nation. Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions. The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite. More and more, we talk to ourselves.
An anonymous TV exec quoted in New York Magazine this week:
If half the country has decided that Trump is qualified to be president, that means they’re not reading any of this media, and we’ve lost this audience completely. A Trump victory means mainstream media is dead in its current form. And the question is what does it look like after.
Related: Per new Edison Research data, the biggest podcasts on Spotify are almost exclusively independent operations, with The New York Times’ “The Daily” the sole mainstream media representative in the top 10.
Big picture: Over the past few decades, trust in mainstream media has cratered.
Bubba’s Two Cents
The new model — media driven by personalities on podcasts and social — is replacing the old model — credible legacy news brands — in large part because the public doesn’t trust the press to be fair and unbiased anymore. Will mainstream news companies get the message and change how they operate to regain the public’s confidence? I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Case in point: After deciding not to endorse a presidential candidate this year, the Post faced backlash from within, with several staff members resigning in protest. Simultaneously, the paper has doubled down on its anti-Trump stance, investing in ads to promote a stream of articles highly critical of the former president.