Finish Them! The Fake News Media Is Wounded Don't Stop Now!
Finish Them! The Fake News Media Is Wounded Don't Stop Now!
Veracity Media 15th April 2017
The fake news media is dying! Only a measly 32% of Americans express faith in the fake news media’s ability to portray news fairly and accurately according to a recent 2016 Gallup poll. The media’s futile attempts to dictate the narrative have been dealt a potentially fatal blow from the alternative media; podcasts, independent news outlets and content creators outpace the fake news media in viewership, key demographics and consumer interactions.
Want proof? Top YouTuber PewDiePie rakes in well over 10 million views a day meanwhile CNN trumpets their meager average daily viewership of 753,000 for 2016 as being noteworthy. This discrepancy in viewership undoubtedly is serving as a massive impetus for the recent changes to YouTube’s terms of service surrounding monetization and algorithm changes amongst other contributing factors.
It seems the alternative media has grown too big for its britches, it has out grown its leash, and the fake news media is collectively wetting themselves.
So the question then becomes, where do we go from here?
We, the alternative media, could simply continue being lone entities, continue producing podcasts, videos, articles and so on, separate from one another, retaining complete autonomy but lacking unity. As a libertarian/ conservative, the idea of complete independence remains tempting, however it would make it incredibly easy for the fake news media to regroup, and set about snuffing out the life of smaller sites, podcasts, content creators and independent journalists.
No, the best course of action in my mind’s eye is for likeminded content creators, journalists, YouTubers and everything in between to band together to form their own channels, networks and eventually their own solid media presences.
Hesitant at the idea of replacing the fake news media? I don’t blame you; undoubtedly the alternative media runs the risk of becoming the very thing they sought to destroy.
But answer me this, do you think the vacuum left by the fake news media will be there indefinitely? Either the existing fake news media will wise up to the changed circumstances and rebrand themselves in order to reclaim their place as the gatekeepers, through platform censorship or algorithm changes.
Or a new breed of media can emerge from the ashes of the former, one where difference of opinion is celebrated, instead of shunned, one where the consumer is treated as an autonomous human being, not merely as cattle and one where diversity is more than skin deep.
The fall of the fake news media is a double-edged sword, either the alternative media bands together and deals the fatal blow to the establishment media monolith. Or the alternative media allows the fake news media to regain its former strength and enables them to cleave the alternative media’s head from its’ shoulders, using both government and corporate censorship and suppression.
The culture war is not over, in fact it is my belief that it has only just begun in earnest, after all, an animal is at its most volatile when it has been wounded and has nothing left to lose. That is the current state of the fake news media; do not let it snuff the life from the alternative media just as it begins to learn to walk.
References:
Trust in the MSM:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx
PewDiePie viewership:
https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/pewdiepie/monthly
CNN viewership:
http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/2016-ratings-cnn-has-most-watched-year-ever/315014