Saturday, December 12, 2015

Donald Trump's Campaign Depends Upon The Fringe News Media

Democracy is dependent upon a well informed electorate.  Donald Trump's success is dependent upon a fringe media system that systematically misinforms its audience.  Moreover, the fringe news system has been successful in keeping its audience away from news media which provide a more critical source of news and information.  They refer to sources such as the New York Times and the news provided by ABC, CBS and NBC as mainstream media which have a progressive or liberal bias.  Progressiveness and Liberalism are regarded as radical doctrines which undermine the US Constitution.  Yellow journalism has become mainstream journalism for many of the Republican candidates including Donald Trump who has done of better job of using the fringe media. 

Rupert Murdoch, who is the king of yellow journalism in Anglo Saxon countries,  responded to criticism of his news media by arguing that the market can't be wrong.  He is giving consumers what they want.  The market success of Fox News is beyond criticism by appeals to more traditional journalism standards.  This article puts Fox News, talk radio and the use of social media into a system of misinformation which has isolated its audience from more objective sources of information.  It is also a major threat to democracy.  The rise of the far-right in the US is totally dependent upon a media system which maintains high levels of ignorance in a large segment of the Republican base which Donald Trump has exploited to his advantage.  


No comments:

Post a Comment