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The four years of former US President Trump’s administration was marred with scandal after scandal: Billy Bush Tape, Russia Collusion, Obstruction of Justice, Stormy Daniels, Ukraine phone call etc…
One camp saw him as Hitler, White Supremacist, Racist, Anti-Semite etc. The Left/Liberal screamed and cried in agony on his inauguration day, while many vowed to move out of US.Â
On the other side of the camp, Trump was seen as a fighter against the establishment (or Bureaucracy) or the biased media coverage that sidelined many average Americans. There was celebrations at this camp.
In the midst of all this, the Main Stream Media (MSM) was raking viewership every night with Breaking News. The MSM got views in bashing Trump that translated to monetary value, and Trump derived support from his base because of the biased coverage.
There was never a dull day in the news room. But it was an unhealthy symbiotic relationship that divided the country over the years.
Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, both independent journalists, lays out how Trump’s emergence to the political scene benefitted the News Media Industry.
Since the removal of Trump from all social media platform, the news coverage slowed down. This was reflected in their viewership that took a nose dive.
Post Trump, the headlines read, to list a few:Â
- US TV network ratings dive after prime years of Trump and trauma [Financial Times]
- Can Cable News Pass the Post-Trump Test? [Vanity Fair]
- Cable-News Viewership Falls After Trump’s Exit, Ratings Races Tighten [Wall Street Journal]
- News ratings, traffic plummet post-Trump [The Hill]
Among all networks, CNN suffered the biggest slump losing nearly 50% of its target audience during primetime hours. It seems the former CEO, Jeff Zucker, was rather divisive that Chris Licht, the new CNN Boss Seeks to Create a Less Divisive News Network.
Corporate greed that has put profit over objective journalism, lead to the corrosion of trust in MSM, especially in the US. It is no wonder, that independent journalist and podcast, without affiliation to any news network, are on the rise.
It is unfortunate when journalists present Opinionated news, instead of Objective news. Â