The Corporate Press Tells Us What We Want To Hear

I don't fully blame the media for not covering the Hunter Biden/laptop story. Let's look at the incentives for "news" organizations. Before we do that, look at this poll from the Pew Research Center:

We all know this to one degree or another, but ninety-five percent of MSNBC's audience leans Democratic and ninety-three percent of Fox's audience leans Republican. These companies know their audience well and will show them what they want to see. Namely, how "bad" the other party is.

When anyone deviates from this narrative, they get backlash. Recently on CNN, Van Jones said "I think it's really unfortunate because Donald Trump, and I get beat up by liberals every time I say it but I keep saying it, he has done good stuff for the black community."

If you can (even moderately) see things objectively, this is a very innocuous comment. So, what was the response? They were calling on him to get fired! It's hilarious.

But, as mild as this comment was, can you imagine if they would have covered the Hunter Biden laptop story?! Network viewership would drop like a rock. People would severely protest because they would perceive the company of attacking their candidate. (especially weeks before an election) As a result, these networks have every incentive to give their audience what they're looking for.

Companies that are supposed to deliver the "news" rarely do so honestly. If they don't flat-out lie (or report unverified rumors), they frequently lie by omission. They'll report certain facts, while leaving out those relevant that would help provide context. This happens all of the time.

The emergence of independent journalists/podcasters on the internet are our best hope to combat this craziness. As long as Americans put their faith in opinions on the evening news of their favored channel, this will never change. But, my hope is that at some point people will realize they've been deceived and will desire to get the truth - no matter how painful it is to hear.