LaffyNov 10, 2024

"The other big loser Tuesday was the mainstream media, which has all but imploded in public trust and as a force in American democracy. Trump won with the most disinformed electorate ever

The battle to create a world for truth starts now."

If @willbunch wrote it, you should read it.© & I thread it 🧵 1/...
🎁https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trust-mainstream-media-2024-election-20241110.html?id=bpjtJ3uwA0BYL&utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral#loaded

2024’s other big loser? The mainstream media. Is there any path forward?

As an electorate besieged by disinformation turned to Trump, trust in traditional media has imploded. What comes next?

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024

2/ "The American mainstream media, and its vital watchdog role that once made it a trusted, major institution in a flawed yet functioning democracy, imploded in 2024, and it happened in two ways — gradually and then suddenly.

The sudden part came in the days immediately after the Oct. 25 revelation that Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos — the third-richest person on Earth — had spiked his editorial board’s long-planned endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris over the GOP’s Donald Trump."

Show threadLaffy
3/ "But the gradual destruction of public trust in traditional media has been every bit as powerful. You could watch its final days among the last, mostly liberal holdouts who still gathered on the once free-flowing social-media site called Twitter that Musk—richest person on Earth—bought & turned into disinfo cesspool. You saw steady drips of distrust—over “sanewashing” of Trump’s unhinged rants ..— after the headlines proclaiming that record-low unemployment was bad news for Biden"
Nov 10, 2024 at 7:22pmWeb
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
4/ "Now even more folks are checking out in disgust after Trump’s win..They’ve abandoned the elite mainstream media — newsrooms like the Post and New York Times, the traditional TV networks and the cable outlets like MSNBC and CNN — at a moment when pollsters had already found public trust at an all-time record low of 31%. In giving up, liberals and moderates were joining conservatives who’ve loathed the media..."
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024

5/ "...it’s also fair to ask whether this head-on crash between journalism & increasingly tribal ideologies even mattered that much in the end. The perfect-storm fluke of mid-20th-century media monopolies that David Halberstam famously described as The Powers That Be have been zapped by electrons of the internet, creating other ways for folks to speak to each other on soc media or read targeted websites that appealed to their niche interests & ideas or prejudices.

But esp their prejudices"

Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
6/ "Much of what raced to fill the vacuum of declining mainstream media has been misinformation and much of that is disinformation — deliberate falsehoods in pursuit of political gain."
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
7/ "The things that pundits have been talking about since Tuesday — an economy that hasn’t worked for the working class since the time of Ronald Reagan, anxieties among white voters about a potential end to white privilege and the patriarchy, and a Democratic Party that’s lost touch with the great American middle — all factored into this election. But nothing mattered more than this: Donald Trump was returned to power by the most badly informed electorate in modern American history."
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
8/ "The now-president-elect, according to that NBC survey, posted his biggest margin of 53-27% among voters who don’t follow any news. Trump’s win was a triumph of the ill-informed...They are getting their information from X, where its pro-Trump owner billionaire Musk made false or misleading claims that received an estimated 2 billion views."
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
9/ "The American Experiment will be comatose, at best, until we can start debating these issues from a place of reality. That means acknowledging the diminished role of traditional media as we know it — something both candidates themselves did in seeking out podcasts and influencers — and inventing a brand-new world of information..."
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024

10/ "A few quick points:

— Self-interested billionaires can’t be trusted to save the news...
— Local news matters, a lot...
— Yes, there needs to be a reality-based community of podcasters, influencers, etc. No, I have no idea what that looks like or how it happens...

Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
11/ "Last week, a lot of liberals argued about “How do we create our own Joe Rogan?” when history shows that self-conscious left-wing efforts to recreate what’s worked on the right — remember the Air America liberal talk-radio network of the 2000s — have a poor track record. That said, the millions in opposition to Trump and his MAGA movement are desperately seeking ways to connect. The current crisis may actually cause this to happen."
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024

12/ "The worst part is that this has to happen not in healthy environ but when America is led by an authoritarian & his billionaire allies who have an arsenal of tools— lawsuits, licensing fights, pub pressure, maybe even arrests—to stop this reinvention from happening. We will have to save free press in America...while getting whacked by a baseball bat. But we have to try, because history has shown there is only one place where democracy can survive. In a place called Reality"

Plz read it all

Show threadSteve_TigerNov 10, 2024
@GottaLaff
Trump rode to victory through misinformation and flat-out lies. The news media, still fleeing from the label "liberal bias," are partly to blame.
But so is America's refusal to address what freedom of speech does and doesn't mean. We still treat freedom of speech as license to lie, and lies are lethal to democracy. Democracy requires a reasonable level of information, critical thinking, and civic responsibility in the population.
Show threadNO NAMENov 10, 2024

@Steve_Tiger @GottaLaff

They (the GOP) took Civics and Economics out of junior high schools just after I entered actual high school. I had no idea what they were up to then, but now it is clear. Make the majority of the population dumb about how the government works, and this generates distrust, which leads to conspiracies, and then that leads to Trump.

So we take our education underground, we have to teach Civics again, at every grade level, at a young age, before they can vote. Then continue that education until they can think critically on their own.

Show threadSteve_TigerFeb 10, 2025
@jeff @GottaLaff
Agree. I have repeatedly called for mandatory secular education emphasizing critical thinking, civic responsibility, and defense against demagogy.
Show threadStone1gloNov 11, 2024
@Steve_Tiger @GottaLaff it also requires a population with a modicum of critical thinking skills. Evidently, the US populace has minimal analytical skills!
Show threadSteve_TigerNov 11, 2024
@Stone1glo @GottaLaff
Absolutely. But critical thinking IS a skill, and skills must be learned. Some people learn quickly; for others, it takes more effort. Point is that we cannot just assume that people will have this skill; it must be a specific educational objective taught throughout schooling.
Show threadD2Nov 11, 2024

@Stone1glo @Steve_Tiger @GottaLaff again, are you saying America was founded with this? Or France’s revolution? Hardly.

Swift stereotypes dodge difficult problems.

Show threadD2Nov 11, 2024

@Steve_Tiger @GottaLaff I’m going to disagree *hard* on the premise ‘we still treat freedom of speech as license to lie, and lies are lethal to democracy.’ 1750-1800 was a golden age of independent presses, with antecedents to all we face now. Lies, pamphleteers, paper/idea wars between press owners, inordinate sensationalism, and fame & celebrity for some. And yet our founders preferred it to censorship.

Short of faster libel/slander suits, how would we keep free while restricting speech?

Show threadSteve_TigerDec 1, 2024
@cascheranno @GottaLaff
Not talking about censorship unless you think laws against false advertising represent interference with freedom of speech.
Show threadXDarwinAwardsX for Harris-WalzNov 10, 2024
@GottaLaff Laffy we have got to at least force Biden to get physical recounts in the swing states before we just give up. There’s a lot of suspicious things that went on (like bomb threats that could be used to block recounts) and Trump telling his voters he didn’t need their votes before the election several times! We have got to make it happen- if the GOP tries to block recounts we know they cheated.
Show threadNKUSANov 10, 2024

@GottaLaff

One "add":

In their scheme to reverse human rts, one exchange Alito set up in his SCOTUS rulings was to remove FEC donor caps for Media Oligarchs in 2014. After this, Media Moguls hugely "bought/donated" to politicians/PACs to encourage laws that benefited Media. As Moguls spiked their donations, their net worth also spiked (Bloomberg was one).

Soon after, MSM published towards far-rt. extremism, which became most of the news USA receives.

Quid Pro Quo?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katevinton/2016/06/01/these-15-billionaires-own-americas-news-media-companies/

These 15 Billionaires Own America's News Media Companies

While a billionaire secretly funding a lawsuit to take down a news outlet may be a new way of using money to influence the media business, billionaires have long exerted influence on the news simply by owning U.S. media outlets.

Forbes
Show threadNKUSANov 10, 2024

@GottaLaff

p.s. Many of these Media Oligarchs have are instrumental to the current extreme far-right GOP, Trump, Project 2025, and are Knights of Malta Members.

Show threadNicole ParsonsNov 11, 2024

@NKUSA @GottaLaff

Who is a major institutional investor for the New York Times parent company?

Fidelity...
https://fintel.io/so/us/nyt

Who helped Musk buy Twitter?

Fidelity...
https://fortune.com/2024/08/22/elon-musk-x-twitter-owner-list/

https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-investors-elon-musks-x-revealed-court-filing-1942970

Who funds hate speech groups via their DAF's?

Fidelity...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fidelity-401k-provider-criticized-for-funding-hate-groups/

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/rfk-jr-anti-vax-orgs-funding-major-charities-1234857214/

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/fidelity-charitable-donations-gaza-relief-unrwa-1235007400/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fidelity-schwab-vanguard-fund-hate-100000590.html

https://lacrosseeagle.com/news/2023/10/5/paypal-shielded-donors-who-gave-to-wisconsin-based-health-misinformation-outlet

The New York Times even does PR for Fidelity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/02/business/dealbook/ned-johnson-fidelity.html

Show threadCoach Sankhavaram ®Nov 11, 2024
@Npars01 @NKUSA @GottaLaff
Indeed, the brand association of #FidelityInvestments is “range”, so this tracks.
Show threadDarwin WoodkaNov 10, 2024

@GottaLaff

We're connected in small groups, we just need to coalesce into larger groups and build real media for progressive viewpoints. Especially in rural areas, and support rural Dems and LISTEN to what they tell us the rural areas need.

We needed a 50 state, campaign everywhere organization and for decades the DNC has fought that. Obama did it, Harris would have with time most likely but they didn't HAVE time.

Show threadGaladNov 10, 2024
@darwinwoodka @GottaLaff Rural Dems like myself have been warning about the cost of living and housing crises for years. The onus is on Urban Dems to fucking listen to us.
Show threadDarwin WoodkaNov 10, 2024

@galad @GottaLaff

I agree. Cost of living is too high for everyone and housing is a problem everywhere too.

Show threadMikalaiNov 10, 2024
@darwinwoodka @galad @GottaLaff
Ignored majority are the poor. But, they can vote.
Show threadMikalaiNov 10, 2024

@darwinwoodka @galad @GottaLaff
Those who talk about fascism, they should know that in the first act state ignores the poor, and sooner or later a populist will show up.
But, there was this act one in the play.

Constant screaming starts to sound like an ongoing con.

Show threadFinitumNov 11, 2024
@galad @darwinwoodka @GottaLaff at a point, do rural voters ever think to hold their own republican representatives accountable for their housing issues or for that matter anything outside the culture war? The party that tends to represent rural areas just seems to get dumber and worse at their job with every election. There's tea partiers quitting saying these freedom caucus people are nuts.
Show threadMikalaiNov 10, 2024

@darwinwoodka @GottaLaff
I have a question.
Senator Sanders used to be Republican when he voted against that Iraq war bill.
Senator Gabbard was Democrat running for president in Dems primeries on progressive platform in 2016.
DNC decided not to let progressive Sanders to run for president, although he was popular.

With this much progressive "political blood" on DNC's hands, what do you mean?
a) let's try hope 2.0 and betray 2.0? Or, is it 3.0 now?
b) let's remove big money from equation, and we'll be forced to do progressive things.

Show threadD2Nov 11, 2024
@mikalai @darwinwoodka @GottaLaff uh, you think Bernie Sanders was a Republican?! 🤪
Show threadMikalaiNov 12, 2024
@cascheranno @darwinwoodka @GottaLaff
https://youtu.be/_om-x323Em0?feature=shared
Or do you think C-SPAN is making it up?
Flashback: Rep. Bernie Sanders Opposes Iraq War

YouTube
Show threadDiligence JonesNov 10, 2024

@GottaLaff

So I was thinking about this today. Connection.

I think folks are looking for the single way to connect that will be the equivalent to fascists mobilizing. Force to answer force.

But I don't think that's the strength of 'our' side. I think a successful model of connection can be found in the model of the fediverse.

Like finding a welcome server, we need to find and connect with our 'tribe' whoever that is. Especially folks from marginalized communities. We can't trust Y'all anymore. But we can trust ourselves and the people we already trust and build from that.

I'm going to send a message to some women I know and trust and see if we can set up a semi occasional 'tailgate'. So we can connect, share information, resources, and see who/what needs support and help. I want us to make connections that way with other like-minded women, on so on.

Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
@DeliaChristina Whatever works, I'm all for it.
Show threadStacey KaserNov 10, 2024
@DeliaChristina @GottaLaff I feel the need to create an emotional bubble, like the pandemic social distancing ones but this time to avoid contact with toxic voters.
Show threadDiligence JonesNov 10, 2024

@writeorama

I feel that.

Show threadMikalaiNov 10, 2024
@writeorama @DeliaChristina @GottaLaff
Amazon already made it possible for you. All delivered to your door. No need to talk with those poor delivery people.
But, it feels drained of humanity.
But, that owner of Amazon, to who you give your money, just told his newspaper not to endorse your candidate choice.
Show threadSpeed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸Nov 10, 2024
This makes sense, I feel the need to start brain-storming, but you don't need more words. Certainly not from me. Just ❤️ , and 🔥
Show threadZalasur 🐸🇺🇦Nov 11, 2024
@DeliaChristina @GottaLaff My partner is doing something along those lines (she's on Facebook). I'm seeing the grassroots coalitions forming very quickly with my very own eyes. It's very encouraging. ♥️
Show threadLouis CyphreNov 10, 2024
@GottaLaff Local TV news is largely owned by a small group of conservative corporations and families
Show threadLaffyNov 10, 2024
@mrpinkly Will knows what he's talking about. He's very aware of those stations, Sinclair, etc.
Show threadDoubledadoNov 10, 2024
@GottaLaff Local news will do more good in the long term then any religious charity so keep you weekly donations and give it to the local press.
Show threadT.WllmsNov 11, 2024

@GottaLaff

local news does matter a lot.. except the part where Sinclair Broadcasting owns 40+% of the local market and push RW favoritism exclusively in their content.

Show threadThe Enemy is WithinNov 10, 2024
@GottaLaff 🧵⬆️ "a triumph of the ill-informed...They are getting their information from X, where its pro-Trump owner billionaire Musk made false or misleading claims that received an estimated 2 billion views." 🧵⬇️
Show threadCassandraVertNov 11, 2024
@GottaLaff
He loves the poorly educated
Show threadDoctor FateNov 10, 2024

@GottaLaff

There you have it:

"The Most Badly Informed Electorate"

Show threadGlenG🌻 - Support UkraineNov 12, 2024

@kentnelson @GottaLaff

......Ever.

Show threadcaseyjonesedNov 11, 2024
@GottaLaff the economy is KICKING ASS!
Show threadLaffyNov 11, 2024
@caseyjonesed Not to individuals, it isn’t