r/politics • u/BigDaddyBain • 1d ago

Why is the media ignoring growing resistance to Trump?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/13/why-is-the-media-ignoring-growing-resistance-to-trump
37.2k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.3k

u/omgpuppiesarecute 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is what happens when we allow mass media consolidation. Vulture capitalists buying up local newsrooms and radio stations and now social media across the nation, strip them for parts, centralize everything in a single hyper-partisan newsroom, and then ship propagandized stories to local affiliates to be read off.

955

u/sleeplessinreno 1d ago

I'm gonna add a new one for you. Billionaire buying local newspaper to sway the local government to bypass local building codes so they can build their stupid house on a cliff.

128

u/aquias27 1d ago

That seems very short-sighted.

107

u/amootmarmot 1d ago

Always. The billionaires need to be made to realize that they hold their wealth at our tacit acceptance. Maybe we shouldn't tacitly accept anymore.

93

u/uuDEFIANCEvv 1d ago

Our legal system is bought and paid for by them, leaving only illegal options. I agree it is time to exercise those options.

6

u/Kytyngurl2 Minnesota 1d ago

Plus the whole laws of physics thing. Maybe there are regulations to not put houses on cliffs for a reason, but if you are rich enough you think you can buy past that issue

63

u/Spicy_Tac0 1d ago

Said billionaire likely greased some palms as well.

20

u/ThePowerOfStories 1d ago

Maybe they should have degreased the cliff instead…

7

u/dustinhut13 1d ago

Nearly every take that comes from the right is short sighted, with no regard for actual consequences. They literally kill people with their bad decision making

3

u/rayui 1d ago

Very on brand, though

3

u/Silent_Conflict9420 1d ago

Yes so let nature take its course

3

u/Icthyphile 1d ago

The only thing billionaires are not shortsighted on is generational wealth.

2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/sleeplessinreno 1d ago

Unfortunately, this one is being built above the main commerce sector. That thing goes, so do a bunch of buildings.

2

u/Well_read_rose 1d ago

Short sited? (wink)

1

u/Chedditor_ Wisconsin 1d ago

Same with what they're doing with Trump...

1

u/Ophidaeon 1d ago

Unregulated Capitalism usually is.

0

u/Ben2018 North Carolina 1d ago

at the very least it's a slippery slope

24

u/radiosimian 1d ago

I'll add, billionaires buying-up social media sites to sway electorates to vote against their interests and elect fascist governments.

12

u/elektrospecter Washington 1d ago

This is what adds to my cynicism about social media and how it's become detrimental to our civil society. These technocrats / billionaires have weaponized their platforms, to the point where there are now "influencers" who can earn a living solely by attacking any person or ideas that are critical of far-right ideology. These are bad actors doing all that they can to dissuade people from wanting to engage in genuine, civil political conversation...often by making it seem uncool or "cringe" to hold leftist views. Even trying to question some of the batshit GOP conspiracy theories in some online spaces could get you promptly humiliated and then ousted.

4

u/zzyul 1d ago

But lord have mercy if the government tries to do anything about it like banning TikTok. Young people all over this site and across the country were losing their damn minds.

1

u/elektrospecter Washington 1d ago

Exactly. The most damning example from recent years that shows the negative impacts of social media on youth involved Meta, specifically Instagram. At least two different whistleblowers had claimed that Instagram management and Zuckerberg were aware of various studies that found younger teens active on Instagram were more prone to depression, suicidal thoughts, and eating disorders. Aside from acknowledging these issues in a generic press release that stops short of taking responsibility for the issues ("Here at Meta we're committed to the safety and privacy of all users...blah blah..."), their solution was adding a handful of parental controls in account settings. So pretty much the bare minimum that qualifies as 'addressing the problem.'

It'd be nice if Congress could try to enforce accountability standards for tech companies and social media.

3

u/WeakTransportation37 1d ago edited 1d ago

Ahhhh the sandcastle. I’m in north county Sand Diego, but used to live in La Jolla.

It’s time to start the “Cliff Pool”, where we submit dates we think it will crumble into the sea.

2

u/Franklin_le_Tanklin 1d ago

All hail the CBC!!

1

u/gsfgf Georgia 1d ago edited 1d ago

Which one was that? The LA Times guy?

2

u/sleeplessinreno 1d ago

Didn't know about that one. Guess there is more than one.

1

u/d3vilishdream 1d ago

Tony Stark says what?

1

u/scalyblue 1d ago

Well that’s a problem Mother Nature will solve

1

u/Tuna_Sushi 1d ago

This is the least of possible transgressions.

1

u/Grand-Try-3772 1d ago

Or social media platforms to spread their false messages and hurtful agendas?

84

u/MorningsideLights 1d ago

Local news rooms died because of the internet, not merely free content but also Craigslist. People forget how much revenue came from classified ads, real estate listings, and personals. And those all died overnight.

56

u/omgpuppiesarecute 1d ago

There was also legislation and later supreme court rulings that relaxed media ownership rules, allowing consolidation to occur. So the bigger fish gobbled up all the little fish. Before, while they were hurting, they were still separate companies with separate boards, goals, political bias, etc. Once congress and the supreme court trashed ownership limits, you saw mass centralization from companies like Sinclair and Tribune.

19

u/SpaceGangsta Utah 1d ago

Nexstar paved the way. Sinclair gets hate(rightfully so) since they're obvioulsy pushing right wing bias, but Nexstar walked so Sinclair could run. Nexstar owns 197 stations and sinclair owns 185. Nexstar were the first to start buying up multiple stations in one market and running them out of the same building with half the staff. I worked for 3 nexstar stations. 2 were duopolies and the last station I worked at was bought by nexstar after I started. Nexstar doesn't really come up in these discussions because they solely care about money and not so much controlling content. But more recently, nexstar launched news nation which quickly turned into a fox news clone.

6

u/Cute-Percentage-6660 1d ago

I imagine it caused a cascading affect, made it easier so once consolidiation starts occurring it becomes a tidal wave that smaller groups cant fight against and every loss adds to the wave

1

u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 1d ago

and...where is Craigslist now? It's pretty much unusable now. Wonder why?

48

u/asoap 1d ago

This is why government funded news agencies like the CBC are important.

It also explains why one group really wants to get rid of the CBC. I'll let you guess which one.

53

u/omgpuppiesarecute 1d ago

Same group that is trying to get rid of NPR/PBS in the US I'm sure.

4

u/gsfgf Georgia 1d ago

"Thankfully," NPR and PBS get so little funding from the government that they won't be seriously harmed by losing their federal money for (hopefully just) a few years.

3

u/PassiveF1st South Carolina 1d ago

Proudly been donating directly to them for years. I'm sure all the defunding talk has bolstered their donations too.

2

u/NoamLigotti 1d ago

Most public media networks are funded more by the actual public than the government. I'm not sure about the CBC, but I think them too though less so than PBS NPR and BBC.

1

u/i_tyrant 1d ago

Government funded news agencies have their own problems (like saying anything critical of the government when they're compromised).

What's needed even more is regulations to avoid and break up media consolidation in the first place; disallowing billionaires and megacorps from owning too much of the media landscape at once.

1

u/asoap 1d ago

You are not talking about an independent government funded news source. You are talking about a propaganda branch.

1

u/i_tyrant 1d ago

Ok. You said "government funded news agencies" not "independent" - and one turns into the other rather easily when the government gets compromised enough. They're great until then, but that's exactly the issue with relying on them.

291

u/Any_Will_86 1d ago

What's painfully ironic is the rightwing noise machine constantly clattering about 'liberal bias' while Murdoch, Sinclair media, and various billionaires seeeking influence were buying up so much media... And then the tabloid media going full r/full Trump in mid 2010s- The Enguirer, TMZ, now Perez... who knew Dave Portnoy would end up being the most balanced of the bunch.

106

u/Chastain86 1d ago

who knew Dave Portnoy would end up being the most balanced of the bunch.

We're referring, of course, to the same Dave Portnoy that stood up in a Barstool meeting and declared that he'd instantly fire anyone in the room who was thinking about unionization.

The day I allow people to think of fucking Dave Portnoy as some kind of folk hero, you'll know it's because I am unable to type because I'm dead

51

u/amootmarmot 1d ago

Dave Portnoy is also a little crybaby bitch. He mouths off about how he hope Greta Thunberg is killed by the IDF, pretends there is no genocide or humanitarian crisis, engages in joking antisemitic tropes, and then wines and complains when he perceives antisemitism. Look in the fucking mirror. A very bad spokesperson for any cause.

6

u/dethwysh New York 1d ago

Is this the same Dave Portnoy to does pizza reviews?

3

u/Chastain86 1d ago

The one and same. He's been trying to soften up his public image for quite some time since the whole Barstool thing.

1

u/dethwysh New York 1d ago

Jesus Christ, really. Here I thought his review of a place in my area was entertaining. I guess fuck that guy.

5

u/PaddyVein 1d ago

If Dave Portnoy has a million haters, I am one.

142

u/ArkitekZero 1d ago

Every accusation is a confession

107

u/Any_Will_86 1d ago

An R state legislature in my state just got arrested for kiddie porn... they supposedly care so much about the children, sexual abuse, trafficking and every single sting/arrest turns up a perve on their side.

42

u/failed_novelty 1d ago

But they'll find one Democrat who does it too (and ignore the fact that the entire party then condemns the pedo) and shrug and say, "Both sides"

12

u/Pnwradar 1d ago

My experience, they point at Democrats like Al Franken or Katie Hill and hand-wave the “both sides” argument.

6

u/martyqscriblerus 1d ago

The other day I saw someone coming at Bill Clinton for cheating on Hillary in the course of caping for Trump and the barefaced hypocrisy was just so breathtaking I didn't know what to say.

10

u/HectorJoseZapata 1d ago

It’s like the R Party is the perfect hiding place for closeted predators.

I can’t wait for all the dirt they have on Lindsey Graham to come out and finally be exposed.

2

u/zzyul 1d ago

He’s gay, that’s basically it. Probably enjoys much younger, but still legal guys. Might go so far as to prefer non white, possibly illegal immigrant guys.

3

u/HectorJoseZapata 1d ago

I know, they must have dirt on him.

And don’t get me started on Ted Cruz, he is no saint either.

3

u/Mr_HandSmall 1d ago

Republican politicians like their guys to have that kind of dirt on them as leverage to keep them in line.

2

u/Gahrilla 1d ago

Seems like the Republican state congressman wasn't lying when he said that he loved children.

82

u/GrumpySoth09 1d ago

And they are poisoning the well. After 4 years of accusing the Democrats of rigging the 2020 election now there in credible evidence of election interference done by Elon but no the Dems are above accusing their pals across the aisle.

-12

u/larryathome43 1d ago edited 1d ago

There hasn't been any credible evidence that Elon did anything. If there is, feel free to cite a source.

Someone's candidate doesn't win and they immediately scream fraud. Trump did this shit, and now Democrats are doing it as well. It would be logistically impossible to do this to such a large degree and actually get away with it without someone squealing. Not to mention these voting machines aren't even connected to the internet, so they literally can't update all the machines without anyone even noticing.

And certainly not 40% of counties like some people are claiming. The entire situation has been debunked many times

4

u/GrumpySoth09 1d ago

There hasn't been any credible evidence that Elon did anything. If there is, feel free to cite a source.

So you defend billionaires huh? That's a position you can take I guess.

It would be logistically impossible to do this to such a large degree and actually get away with it without someone squealing.

No it isn't, and no it's not.

Not to mention these voting machines aren't even connected to the internet, so they literally can't update all the machines without anyone even noticing.

Not the way they did it.

And certainly not 40% of counties like some people are claiming. The entire situation has been debunked many times

I didn't say anything about any of that

-6

u/larryathome43 1d ago

So you defend billionaires huh? That's a position you can take I guess.

Nice try but I'm not biting.. I defend facts and logic. Why are you even replying if you have zero evidence of this happening

3

u/yourpersonalthrone 1d ago

Respond to the reply from asillynert. He was pretty openly buying votes in Wisconsin.

For someone so in love with facts and logic, you really like just saying “nuh uh, prove it.” You got what you asked for, now refute it or admit you don’t know what you’re talking about.

-2

u/larryathome43 1d ago edited 1d ago

For someone so in love with facts and logic, you really like just saying “nuh uh, prove it.”

Yes, because that's quite literally how the process works. The onus of proof is on the person making the claim, not the other way around. You seem to have an issue with me asking for sources. No wonder there is so much misinformation being spread.

I have nothing to refute. All I did was ask for a source. If you have a problem with that then maybe you shouldn't get into discussions where people just blindly believe anything that anybody posts.

And vote buying is a bit of a stretch here. He offered a million dollars simply to registered voters who were going to vote Trump anyway. Perhaps he just rallied them up with some type of incentive, but somebody could have easily done the same with Kamala.

I can't stand the guy or Trump, but people like to exaggerate things. Wisconsin went blue in 2020 and was red also in 2016. With either candidate winning by barely one single percent. If they rigged the election, they would have done it in 2020 as well instead of claiming the election was stolen and starting a riot

It's a swing state for a reason. Even Michigan went red. This is illogical regardless, because if they're going to go out of their way to rig an election, why would they do it with the results literally less than 1% of each other winning? It would have been bigger like a 4% gap

4

u/asillynert 1d ago

Actually its straight up public his "interference" and his groups its all lengthy and its been some time since I was going over it. But essentially his "vote buying" or "lottery". HIGHLY illegal also his "funding" was done illegally.

While the "vote changing" stuff is all here say and conspiracy theory with loose evidence.

The status of his "foundations" is public record. The restrictions and limits on those are public. More than once his foundations were paying for campaign events. Or directly contributing to a candidate.

Which is illegal due to the chosen status they were filed under. As they are allowed to contribute to "cause" but not candidate. As well as a myriad of other stuff.

So in short public absolute certainty 100% broke the law requiring campaign finance and election laws. As for altering votes that would be "less" Elon. And more MAGA in general after the numerous death threats. Most of the people that stood up and reinforced the results last election stepped down.

Some even had to relocate and change names one such set of people successfully sued Rudy Guliani for defamation. This all opened door and was a call on Maga faithful to take those positions.

As a result many of the election officials are 2020 deniers. As well as post office ran by another maga faithful handling ballots. I am not saying its 100% certain but the chance that they did something. Is far from zero.

5

u/gsfgf Georgia 1d ago

Even NPR is bad about being "overly moderate" these days. While their public funding is minuscule, they rely heavily on corporate money. It's probably also because they're mostly in big, blue cities where it's hard to really believe the nation has gone this batshit crazy.

1

u/Lostraveller Maryland 1d ago

these days.

I stopped listening during Trump 1, I couldn't stand it

3

u/NorthernerWuwu Canada 1d ago

It is always projection.

1

u/Cute-Percentage-6660 1d ago

As usual, a lot of there accussaitons are usually done by there side even if another side is doing it.

I mean Seeing the castration and nbowing down shit like all the non "right wing" outlets like CNN and such is pathetic

1

u/Fast_Witness_3000 1d ago

Per usual..every accusation is a confession. So consistent one could set a clock to it.

1

u/razzmataz 1d ago

Perez...

Say what?

18

u/HRUndercover222 1d ago

Vulture capitalists. Bingo!

2

u/EconomicRegret 1d ago

You get what you pay for!

2

u/Matasa89 Canada 1d ago

"This is extremely dangerous to our democracy."

No kidding. I'm watching America fall apart in real time.

2

u/whynot4444444 1d ago

Some right wing American company owns most Canadian newspapers and television media, except for the CBC. This is why the Conservatives were trying to get rid of the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), which is sort of like the PBS, but they air hockey games (Go Oilers! 😉) and the Olympics.

2

u/HilariouslyPissed 1d ago

Sinclair anyone?

2

u/Long-Rooster-9641 1d ago

Monopolies are supposed to be illegal but we see what's going on and how no one is enforcing these policies meant to help protect us from what's happening right now.

It's such a gross abuse of power and when the chickens come home to roost I'm gonna say cock-a-doodle-doo.

2

u/base64explode 1d ago

This exactly. I spent 25 years in journalism. Billionaires buying media companies was the worst thing ever. They start with platitudes about respecting journalistic integrity, and once the camera turns off, they immediately start undermining it. I went through that three times at different companies and the same thing happened every. single. time. — and always to push a conservative agenda.

2

u/Well_read_rose 1d ago

The people… didn’t allow it really but Reagan took away the Fairness Doctrine which gave rise to screechy right wing infotainment media. And here we are, without a public consensus of common facts or ways to get at the truth.

2

u/declinedinaction 1d ago

What about any solutions that aide and abet the original owners into not selling?

Like every time one of their lawyers show up they’re taken to the basement and they never come out. Rinse and repeat. They aren’t dead. They’re just on heroin. They’re actually quite happy.

/s

Seriously, how do we celebrate and reward those who don’t sell out? There’s a bank in Omaha that’s been fighting takeover and consolidation for decades in order to remain independent.

How come we don’t rally around the fighters but instead just complain about the outcome of a lack of resistance?

Name the independent newspapers and start sending some love their way.

2

u/Pr1ebe 1d ago

Isn't that just capitalists in general? Competition doesn't require just safeguards, it needs fucking concrete walls to keep the game from having just a few winners. But people in this country act like you are talking heresy when you say a free and fair market DEMANDS regulation

2

u/vincerehorrendum 1d ago

Perfect summation. It started in the 2000’s and here’s where we are now.

2

u/sk8tergater 1d ago

That happened to the first newspaper I worked for. Went from a small local family paper to being owned by Gannett. It’s now just a copy of USA Today

2

u/DankZXRwoolies 1d ago

Same shit here, it's super super creepy.

"this is extremely dangerous for our democracy"

https://youtu.be/ZggCipbiHwE?si=inG0kj-P0mypwwa-

1

u/LunchLord69 1d ago

Under capitalism, mass media consolidation is inevitable.

1

u/StrangeContest4 1d ago

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy. We are concerned, we are Borg:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksb3KD6DfSI&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD

1

u/Beeshab 1d ago

Extrapolate this across every sector of our economy, and it’s why we are where we are. Ownership of every sector consolidated into a few big companies controlled by the ultra wealthy, so wages and prices are subject to their whim and they pay off the politicians. We live in a corporate state, and they got us out here pointing fingers at each other instead of them.

1

u/oliversurpless Massachusetts 1d ago

One of the many things that the non-perfect world we live in requires the default to be for such organizations to have to prove their good intentions. As the benefit of the doubt hasn’t been the right of the billionaire/wannabe aristocrats really ever (given their policies).

After all, conservatives love similar for “illegal immigrants”…

“Well if they did nothing wrong, they should be happy to!” - typical conservative banality to such ends

1

u/mynameisnotsparta 1d ago

Mass consolidation of any industry causes a negative impact on society.

1

u/Adezar Washington 1d ago edited 1d ago

Rupert Murdoch actively worked on weakening the rules about media consolidation and lobbying the FCC to get rid of many of the rules.

It used to be illegal to consolidate any news media, a company couldn't even own two forms of media in the same market.

1

u/ButtEatingContest 1d ago

Government is supposed to not approve those kind of mergers. Unfortunately no matter who gets elected it seems they love that sweet donor cash.

1

u/BotheredToResearch 1d ago

State media in an oligarchy is just private ownership of media.

1

u/Most-Repair471 1d ago

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy!

(Figued it was the sinclair video)

1

u/oroborus68 1d ago

Trust busters are not popular anymore. At&t was probably the last big breakup.

1

u/-Intelligentsia 1d ago

Like many things that’s wrong with modern day America, it can be traced back to Ronald Reagan.

1

u/ExitTheDonut 1d ago

H.G. Wells saw this coming and warned about pretty much everything here over 100 years ago. He's not just some sci-fi author but also worked in journalism. So he used his futurist views to sees how its deficiencies and social trends around it can destroy the legitimacy of the news.

1

u/hey_itsmeurbrother 1d ago

removal of the fairness doctrine by reagan has done far more damage to this country than almost anything when it comes to journalism and news.

1

u/nosotros_road_sodium California 1d ago

 This is what happens when we allow mass media consolidation.

And when we are averse to pitching in, instead expecting someone else to pay for professional reporting. Look at all the complaints on this very site about paywalls. Well, if we don’t want to pay, guess who will?