In the wake of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon’s respective departures from Fox and CNN, Americans continue to question the accuracy of legacy media and the motives behind their reporting and commentary.
A Gallup poll from February of this year found that half of all Americans believe mainstream news sources intentionally persuade or mislead the public. Research also showed that major news outlets are suffering financial hardships as a result.
In 2022, Gallup reported that over 60% of Republicans as an isolated group do not trust news organizations. Said Gallup:
For the third straight year, the majority of Republicans indicate that they have no trust at all in the media. This figure jumped 10 percentage points in 2020 and has been at or near 60% since then.
Only 16% of U.S. adults in 2022 said that they trusted mainstream news media for accurate news coverage. 70% of Democrats and 14% of Republicans said that they had a great deal or fair amount of confidence in news sources.
Many Americans are turning to alternative methods of finding news, from scanning Twitter or watching Instagram videos, to supporting smaller independent news organizations.
The Sentinel is now gaining over 1000 subscribers daily, a trend which shows few signs of slackening. Other independent organizations continue to see growth and success.
Carlson, for example, announced he is bringing a new version of his show to Twitter, which will likely result in even more viewers since he will no longer be limited to cable subscribers.
Ryan Fournier, founder of Students for Trump, tweeted:
Tucker Carlson stepping away from a major outlet to broadcast on Twitter is only the start.
Legacy media is dying fast.
Americans now assume that legacy media will present inaccurate information, or even intentionally mislead them.
According to many, the political and radical woke agenda is at fault.
Dr. Jordan Peterson posted a news article on Twitter last week with a headline that said “Toronto Beach school called out for posting ‘mega exclusionary’ Mother’s Day message.” The article included a picture of a school sign saying, “Life does not come with a manual, it comes with a mom.” According to the news article’s bias, the sign was offensive.
“Stories such as these indicate why the legacy media will soon vanish,” Peterson tweeted.
Mainstream – or, as critics call it, legacy – media has come under fire for its continual push of the “woke” agenda. A chart released on Twitter by David Rozado showed that the use of the term “racist” (and its derivatives) spiked rapidly in the last couple of years, as well as the terms “white privilege,” “white supremacy,” “transphobic,” and “homophobic.”
Many critics point out that mainstream media has moved from investigative journalism to tip-toeing around political agendas, focusing on narratives that push desired views, from COVID vaccine stories to suppressing Hunter Biden’s laptop story.
Joe Rogan said on a recent episode of his popular podcast:
The media has lost its hold over the narrative. Now, the media conveniently leaves out anything that it doesn’t want to be at the front and center — in terms of things that people concentrate on and talk about.
Rogan continued:
All [mainstream news] is like ‘January 6th. January 6th. Did you see what they did? — Trump is coming back, but January 6th looms large.
How about the fact that the guy who’s the president right now can’t form a f—g sentence. He makes up words and stumbles through things and no one says a g–d—n thing about it.
In February, Ohio experienced an environmental disaster through train derailments causing a toxic spill, but the mainstream news seemed to largely ignore it.
Cable network giants ABC, CBS, and NBC only spent a collective half hour on the story in the first several weeks. Even after news broke that residents were experiencing extreme health issues, and their animals were dropping dead, CBS spent a minute and four seconds of updated coverage, NBC added 38 seconds, and ABC provided zero coverage.
In the midst of the decline of traditional cable news and a turn away from major networks controlling the narrative, Americans are choosing to get their news from other places.
Many are relying on social media sites such as Twitter to get real time and unfiltered reporting, or turning to independently run news sources like The Sentinel.
