Media's Monopoly Is Driving Loss Of Trust and Division And Must Change

IN 2022 shocking findings about the lack of political diversity in the media were published. These findings included the percent of Journalists identifying as Republican, Democrat, or Independent. The primary takeaway is of the transformation of the media from 1971 to 2022.

In 1971, the percent of journalists identifying as Democrat was only a few points above the 25% who identified Republican. The remainder identified as Independent. In contrast, by 2022 the percent of Republican journalists was all the way down to 3.4% while the number of Democrat journalists had skyrocketed to 36% (Source) . Many other studies have shown the same basic result and the numbers get worse every year. The overwhelming Progressive monopoly within the media has created the greatest group-think dynamic in history. Many Americans have come to recognize that this monopoly is destroying trust and become the greatest factor in the wide divisions plaguing America. It is time Americans demand the media practice what they preach incessantly in terms of diversity.

First, it’s important to recognize this effects the trust of all Americans and not just conservatives. Though polls show that most Democrats do trust the media while trust among conservative is now under 15% the American people as a whole are losing trust. According to the Christian Science Monitor “Overall trust in the media has been falling for decades….. Four in ten Americans today say they have “no confidence” in the media’s reporting, while only 32% have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence. Back in 2003, when Gallup asked the same question, only 1 in 10 expressed “no confidence” while more than half expressed confidence. (Source)

On so many critical issues in which the American public is equally divided, the media identifies with one side. Always the Liberal and Democratic side. For example, when it comes to abortion Americans are almost equally split on the issue. Yet with media, 90% of media leaders are pro-choice (Source). This helps answer the overwhelmingly biased coverage against the pro-life half of America everyone sees. After Kamala Harris announced and entered the Presidential race, media coverage was 84% positive for Harris and 89% negative coverage of Trump for almost a month. (Source)

Probably the most egregious example of the dynamic was the outrageously biased “moderators” of the ABC Presidential debate between Trump and Harris. From the beginning, Trump was having to debate the moderators who were fact checking his assertions while leaving Harris to dissemble without objection (Source)

Moderators argued with Trump when he disagreed with their fact checks which turned out wrong. They even offered personal opinions disagreeing with Trump’s claims of sarcasm in a prior comment. In contrast was kid-glove treatment of Harris. For example, Harris was asked to explain her change from of wanting to ban fracking and was allowed to tell a clear lie without objection. Harris claimed she had changed her position to allowing fracking in 2020. 

The truth: In 2020 Harris gave Joe Biden’s position on fracking in her VP debate with Pence. She did not disavow her own position of banning fracking. After the debate, the ABC moderator fact checks of Trump were fact checked and found wanting. For example, Trump was correct in that multiple states allow the babies born of botched abortions to die. Pro-abortion media bias is clear.

The media Liberal groupthink and corresponding arrogance has brought an open condescending attitude towards conservative Americans. During the COVID crisis, many media figures insulted conservatives for expressing their view COVID may have originated in the Wuhan lab and not the wet-market. That came despite a number of scientists and circumstantial evidence leading to the lab leak theory. Over time the conservative view has become the consensus position among scientists. In October 2020, conservatives were lampooned by many in the media for believing Hunter Biden’s laptop was a real scandal.

The media condescending comments and marginalization of conservatives was palpable. When conservatives began to believe big tech companies were suppressing or censoring conservative viewpoints staring during COVID, media condescension about the alleged “conspiracy theorists” was ubiquitous.

Like with the Lab Leak Theory, Hunter’s Laptop, and other such stories, in 2022 Elon Musk purchased Twitter and proved it was suppressing and censoring conservative views. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg apologized for giving in to pressure from the Biden administration to suppress and censor conservatives (Source)

This condescension has brought most conservatives to view the media as an incorrigible enemy. This isn’t a healthy situation for America and harms unity. The fault lies with the media allowing itself to give up any real personal connection to half of America.

When I attended the US Army War College as an Army Colonel, we were taught to recognize potential for bias because military officers were generally more conservative. We were not nearly as monolithically conservative as the media is liberal, but we understood the danger of a lack of political diversity and made efforts to compensate. The media makes no such acknowledgment or attempt to compensate for the monopoly. They just seem to get mad at conservatives for noticing.

The Liberal monopoly of the media has failed us. It has brought division and loss of trust. It’s time for Americans to demand a media that respects both sides. Reporting the news and telling the truth.