Nowhere to Turn: News Business is History After Election Coverage

Much of the commentary that follows will best be understood by people over 40 those who remember media preInternet when news was respectedamp160 With its coverage of the election the mainstream media lost all rights to be respected as a source of clarity and truthamp160 What reporting and analysis did they get rightamp160 Not much Their analysis was off and what they presented as facts were simply wrongamp160 We have long known that all of the punditry and the ramblings by talking heads on all cable news channels and most network news programs was filler opinions rather than newsamp160 The 2016 presidential election has confirmed that beyond all doubtWhen Bernie Sanders a 74 yearold grandfather from one of the smallest states in the country almost beat the mighty Clinton machine and the infrastructure of the Democratic Party it became clear that in a change year the change candidates were the stronger horses The legacy thinking that traditional ideas outofdate policy a long resume and a nonnatural campaigner would defeat change was both the approach taken for general reportage by the media and the flawed thinking of the Democratic PartyRemember when all news sources pegged Trump at 1 and said that he was simply a temporary brandoriented candidate amp160Then the reporting was he had a 10 ceilingamp160 Then it was a 15 ceiling then 20 and until he won the nomination the prognosticators said he was going to top out at 30amp160 Were they making this stuff upamp160 ClearlyWhile I watch media widely I will use NBC News as the example here They are my networks of choice for news I like the reporters Lester Holt Brian Williams Chris Matthews Chuck Todd and the rest Most of all I like MSNBCamp8217s Morning Joe they ended up being the amp8220true northamp8221 of all political showsamp160 Host Joe Scarborough said it was a 1 election and he was rightRemember the smirking talking heads talking about Trumpamp8217s statement that he amp8220loves the uneducatedamp8221amp160 After about the third time I heard this ridiculed by welleducated very well paid talking heads on MSNBC I looked up the statistic of how many adult Americans have a fouryear college degreeamp160 The answer 28amp160 So what can possibly be wrong with a candidate speaking to 72 of the electorateamp160 The talking heads all had college degrees Clueless in the studioamp160 Clueless in the bubbleWhen the fall election period started the general position by all talking heads on NBC and MSNBC was There were not enough white people for Trump to win that while he might do well with the popular vote there was amp8220no path to victory in the electoral collegeamp8221amp160 Then in late October the language changed to amp8220an incredibly narrow path in the electoral collegeamp8221 amp160The argument was that he couldnamp8217t win the swing statesamp160 He won them allWhen Truman held up the Chicago Tribune with the Dewey Defeats Truman headline in 1948 votes were mostly counted by hand and newspapers had deadlinesamp160 This year as late at 10 pm eastern Chris Matthews who likes to be the guy who hangs with the pols was stating that the Philly machine was delivering a huge plurality to Clinton and that it had always been a pipe dream of Republicans to even think about winning Pennsylvaniaamp160 What happened a few hours laterWhat really got me was what Lawrence Oamp8217Donnell a seemingly pretty smart guy somberly said around 1110 pm ETamp160 With a total of some 300400 demonstrators in three cities nationally and the Dow Futures down more than 600 points he said with all seeming seriousness amp8220Ladies and gentlemen take a close look as this is what the end of civilization looks likeamp8221Huh How can I possibly watch this guy ever againFor those over 40 a questionamp160 Could you have ever imagined Walter Cronkite David Brinkley Dan Rather Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings saying something like that on election nightamp160 Of course notamp160 So the amp8220newsamp8221 business is no longer It is done It is historyNow in the aftermath of the election what are the two stories getting a lot of push on the mainstream mediaamp160 Fake News sites and Presidentelect Trump going directly to the people with a YouTube video and TwitterHere is one of the dictionary definitions of amp8220fakeamp8221amp160 amp8220A spurious report or storyamp8221amp160 Does that mean something like amp8220Trump canamp8217t win the electoral collegeamp8221 or amp8220Hillary is ahead by 35 pointsamp8221Of course this is a mediadriven story to divert people from the reality that for 18 months the mainstream mediaamp8217s amp8220reportingamp8221 fit this description of amp8220fakeamp8221amp160 The mainstream media has lost the right to be respected at least relative to the news organizations that were fronted by the names mentioned aboveNow about the current media issue of Trump going straight to the people with Twitter and YouTubeamp160 Of course the media doesnamp8217t like this as it bypasses themamp160 Iamp8217d like to ask them After your lousy performance of the last 18 months please explain why you should be respected as a conduit of truth and accuracyYes due to the number of highquality scripted shows this is another golden age of television But thatamp8217s not true of the news Any lingering image of news divisions and cable networks as our collective source of truth was killed during the 16month campaignWhat does this mean for the futureamp160 It means that there is no longer a collective honest and accurate place for us to go As a country there is no collective place for truth In a world where everyone on social media serves up content mainstream news media is a legacy model that just crashed and burnedamp160 In the egalitarian world of connectivity kings are no longer wearing clothesTo paraphrase the current Nobel laureate for literature even well paid talking heads must sometimes have to stand nakedClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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Nowhere to Turn: News Business is History After Election Coverage

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David Houle

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

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Nowhere to Turn: News Business is History After Election Coverage

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David Houle

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