Daniel Freer, April 24, 2020
One thing that has become clear in the years since Donald Trump has become president is the overwhelming bias of national media organizations. Fox News, often a scapegoat for all that is wrong with our country by those on the left, has continued to do what it does best: Unapologetically bash the democratic party while praising everything said by the other side. This behavior is partly driven by their viewers, who have tended to be more conservative for years. However, the other part of this is an attempt to drive their viewers toward the Republican party out of fear that the Democrats will create a godless country with no freedom. During the Obama years, this resulted in smear campaigns, such as the “tan suit” controversy, nods to birtherism theories, the end of Christmas, and many more attempts to label Democratic control as a gateway drug to communism. In the end, all of these turned out to be entirely false, or at the very least non-issues.
However, none of this is new.
What has changed since Trump’s election, or more accurately since Trump began to run for president, is the behavior of left-leaning media organizations such as CNN, MSNBC, and so on. They have also always had bias, but the left’s Trump-based fury has removed the veil of impartiality, to the point where TV personalities are now screaming and crying on air about how much they hate Trump, akin to Glenn Beck complaining about Obama. I don’t mind at all that journalists are expressing their opinions on air, or even that they are getting emotional about political events. People, real people, also get emotional about these things, and seeing somebody on air doing the same can provide a sense of comfort.
However, the issue comes when we don’t have another option to fall back upon. Now, if I go to Fox News’ website, the top story is: “Showdown in Lansing: Lawmakers plan meeting to strip some powers from Whitmer, as protestors gather outside her home”. On CNN, the top story is: “Trump peddles dangerous cures for coronavirus”. The Fox News headline is referring to protests in Michigan about the lockdown for Covid-19, against Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer. The CNN headline is discussing Trump’s attempt to calm people about the virus by claiming that some less-than-proven remedies for coronavirus will help to save us, including injecting disinfectant. In this case, the CNN title, and article, is actually more biased, despite actually being factually true. But the important thing to notice is that neither network is discussing good things about their own side: they are both talking about their “enemy”.
So, what is the solution to the horrible era of news media that we are currently experiencing? One possible solution: create a government-run national media organization. Now, I know that a lot of people have valid reservations about state-run media, and there would certainly be a lot of complications, but I’m really just hoping to create a conversation about how to fix our current media environment. So here is my list of things to consider about the potential for a state-run national media in the USA, which could be called the US National Media Organization (USNMO):
- State-run media is not beholden to ratings: As I alluded to above, one of the main reasons that our main national media outlets have become so polarized is because of one thing: money. The more viewers they get, the more advertisers they will get. The more advertisers they get, the more money they get, and the more they can expand and “improve”. However, the best way to increase viewership is to publish stories that draw the attention of a lot of people, which means flashy headlines about people with high name recognition doing ridiculous things. It means purposely jumping to conclusions that allow you to make false, or at least unproven, claims about things which people may already be thinking about, even if they haven’t said it out loud. It means making people angry at the opposition, or even angry at our side, if it will help the story to spread across the internet. These tactics have been around for a while, but have become more prevalent due to increased competition from media sources that are primarily online. Clickbait and trolls have proven that things don’t need to be true in order to make money, and people tend to search online for things that they already agree with, leading to more and more desire for extreme content that caters to their worst impulses or biggest fears. The truth and accuracy are often bland, but that doesn’t mean they are unimportant. In contrast, the government-funded USNMO would have reduced need to constantly produce head-turning, and therefore money-making, content. This would hopefully allow more time for “unbiased” facts from a single source that all people could trust, at least as much as they trust their government.
- Other news sources will still exist: The presence of the USNMO doesn’t take anything away from the media that currently exists, except perhaps some viewers. One fear that people may have about the USNMO is the possibility for censorship and bias toward the current administration. But censorship can be something completely separate from this. The USNMO could, of course, choose what content to show and what content to ignore, but all media organizations are already doing this, based on their own bias. The USNMO would likely have more rules about what could be said on air, but it wouldn’t have control over what other media organizations could say. If you don’t trust the government and don’t like what they are saying, you don’t have to listen, and still have plenty of other sources to get your information from. The USNMO will most likely be biased toward the current administration, but at least it will make the official government position clear on a larger host of topics. People may worry that having the USNMO will allow government officials to avoid talking to other independent media sources, only making their views known when it is shown in a favorable light. However, Trump’s presidency has also made it clear that this is also possible without state-run media. Even Obama refused interviews on Fox News at times, and now Trump has taken it a step further by barring unfavorable reporters from his press conferences and rallies. The same things may happen after creation of the USNMO, but at least the government wouldn’t have as much incentive to play favorites with private companies.
- We could hold the government more accountable: So what kind of content would be shown by the USNMO? In my mind, the main purpose of the USNMO would be to highlight the “good” things that the national government is doing. The President would appoint somebody to be in charge of the entire organization, which would need to be approved by Congress. This person would make the final call about which stories are told and which are not, but there would be several levels of abstraction before it reached that point. Government officials could submit story ideas, pitch bills that they have written and hope to pass in order to get public support or support from their colleagues. There could even be, for example, an hour controlled by Democratic party members, an hour controlled by Republican party members, and another hour for other independent parties to increase their exposure. Or there could be an hour devoted to other departments such as the Department of Education, the Department of Defense, and so on. Of course, these things would be difficult to regulate, for example if one party has control of both Congress and the Presidency. But if this is the case, then most of what the government is doing would probably align with that party’s ideology, so the programming for the USNMO would be heavily biased toward them regardless. Many of the specifics around this would need to be negotiated upon the creation of the USNMO, and could additionally be revisited by the three branches of government as problems arose. All of this is to say that the USNMO could essentially serve as a progress report, delivered from the government to us, the people. And based on what we see there, we could form our own opinion about how the government is doing, and ensure that our tax money is being spent in an efficient way, rather than just going to congressmen who take naps in their chambers.
After reading all of this, I hope that you will understand my point. Nobody that I’ve spoken to in the US has denied that our country is greatly divided along ideological lines. It is easy for Trump to complain about CNN or MSNBC, just as it was easy for Obama to complain about Fox, but they wouldn’t be able to have any complaints about a news organization that they have partial control over, which is intended to highlight the good things happening in their administration. The USNMO would be a great opportunity for our government to evoke a united message to the people, clearly articulating changes in policy, highlighting work they have done, and bringing about a new age of trustworthy American news.