Credit: Remko de Waal / ANP / AFP
Once again, the 2024 election provided us an opportunity to test whether the U.S. media system can withstand the pressures of an authoritarian threat. And once again, we observed a media system that far too often privileged profit over democratic concerns. This capitulation was, in some ways, more subtle than what we witnessed before, especially in 2016, when coverage of Trump’s campaign was marked by overt sensationalism. Yet, media’s role during the 2024 election season was no less troubling for what it bodes for U.S. democracy’s future.
Media malpractice
Media outlets should have been well prepared this time. Everyone knew exactly what to expect. There were no ambivalences or ambiguities about Trump’s incessant lying or his rabidly xenophobic, transphobic, racist, and misogynistic rhetoric. And yet, despite it all, our media institutions didn’t rise to […]
Besides a missing backbone, the media has another problem—-allowing lies, misinformation and disinformation to be permitted. Congress needs to pass a law that any media, whether print, or TV, or radio, or social sites claiming to be reporting the news, must be fined (a least a million dollars per incident) when lies, misinformation or disinformation is presented. That is what is screwing up this country because so many people follow Fox News, which commits these deliberate acts and its viewers never learn the real truth!!! This is what is truly harmful to democracy and our country. This, too, is more likely the reason that Trump was elected. The people really don’t know the truth about him because it’s glazed over on Fox. They don’t realize how dishonest he is, how uncaring about following the law is, how desperate he is to be a dictator and rule like a king as president. This is America’s real plight at this time and those who voted for him just don’t realize it.