4 Charts That Explain the Latest Media Meltdown

The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate has journalists wringing their hands, while the general public is unfazed. The following charts highlight why the two groups are seeing this so differently. (NYT)

  1. Objectivity: Unlike the vast majority of Americans, most journalists don’t think all sides deserve equal coverage.

  1. Just the facts, please: A 2019 RAND Corporation report found U.S. journalism has “shifted away from objective news and offers more opinion-based content that appeals to emotion and relies heavily on argumentation and advocacy,” but nearly 60% of Americans say news outlets should present the facts without interpreting them.

  1. Trust: The media’s credibility has been tanking for years, yet the industry’s done little to nothing to fix the practices that fuel this distrust.

  1. Worldview: Taken as a whole, journalists are much more liberal than the American people.

Bubba’s Two Cents

The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post’s non-endorsements might signal a turning point where media execs realize audiences don’t care what news outlets think.

This reality check has partly been brought on by business concerns. In addition to declining credibility and audience share, many media outlets are running in the red (The Post reportedly lost $100 million last year).

Many mainstream news outlets desperately need to change up their strategy and perception. My sense is that audiences want a service that delivers facts and reporting, not blog post-style opinion essays from so-called “thought leaders.”

But there’s a big obstacle standing in the way. While the people who run these media businesses might be starting to get it, too many reporters still don’t. There’s no shortage of journalists who are more concerned with being advocates than reporting facts.

The “dissenting” journalists at the Post are outraged their transparently left-leaning paper is going to at least pretend at objectivity by not endorsing Kamala Harris. These reporters think they’re brave truth-tellers standing up against the creeping threat of authoritarianism. Since “democracy dies in darkness,” they see themselves as the last lights.

What do you see?