Liberal Bias in Media Isn’t Going Anywhere

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Axios founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen boldly proclaimed in 2024: “The big media era is over.” They were lamenting the rise of independent news and opinion outlets, many of which do not lean Left like Axios.

The Axios duo continued, “The mainstream media’s dominance in narrative and reality-shaping in presidential elections shattered in 2024. … How and where Americans get informed has broken into scores of pieces—from young men on Joe Rogan’s podcasts, to suburban women following Instagram influencers.”

It’s a bold statement. But is it true?

Yes, Joe Rogan and other influencers loosened the corporate stranglehold on mainstream media and helped Donald Trump get elected.

And yes, the U.S. District Court in Virginia recently ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by “monopolizing open-web digital advertising markets.”

A whopping 86% of Americans now get their news from smartphones, tablets, or computers some of the time, and 58% prefer to get their news on apps and websites over TV.

The landscape looks to have changed, but the map leads to the same place: somebody is still trying to control what you see online.

According to R Street contributor Brent Eastwood, “Almost any online activity involves interaction with proprietary algorithms.”

Giant corporations control these mysterious algorithms that are attempting to control you.

“Whether someone is shopping on Amazon, searching with Google, or watching videos on YouTube, they are confronted with automated programs that recommend taking various actions,” Eastwood continued.

“These algorithms have mystified even the most accomplished academic researchers who investigate human interaction online and this strain of research ‘is in its infancy.’”

In other words, a lot of the so-called free press news that pops up on your screen is chosen for you by machines. If that sounds like it's out of a futuristic dystopian novel, you haven’t been paying attention.

“Major internet companies keep these programs under close wraps mainly for trade secrets protection, making it difficult to evaluate how they work and when and why they change over time.”

The algorithm programmers are busy trying to program you. That sounds more like attempted slavery than freedom.

If you ever feel the mainstream free press isn't so free, you’re not alone, and you probably won't be surprised about who is doing most of the algorithm programming. Hint: it isn’t MAGA conservatives.

You’re Not The Only One

If you’re one of the millions who were deeply moved by Aaron Lewis’ song Am I The Only One, it’s safe to say you hold dear the conservative values most Americans used to take for granted.

Am I the only one sittin' here

Still holdin' on, holdin' back my tears

For the ones who paid with the lives they gave

God bless the U.S.A

I'm the only one, willin' to fight

For my love of the red and white

And the blue…

The song was released in 2021, two days before Independence Day. It struck a nerve in American patriots. It was only the ninth song to debut at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Why was it so popular so fast?

People like you often feel alone as they watch television or stare at their smartphones, frustrated at the way the country they love is going down the tubes.

That lonely feeling is devised by mainstream media to isolate conservatives—especially those who crave the honest assessments and opinions of writers who share their point of view.

Whether you’re Libertarian, Republican, Independent, or moderate Democrat—people like you are an increasingly rare breed. Even mainstream right-leaning media such as Fox News and Newsmax have to toe the corporate line because they’re selling a prepackaged narrative.

Independent writers, who are often as qualified as their corporate counterparts—live and die by being honest, doing the research, and delivering relevant information. Commercial vendors don’t like that and strive to minimize the exposure of independents.

Liberal Bias Isn’t Going Anywhere

Surveys from 1978 to 2004 indicate that journalists are far more likely to be liberal than conservative. They were also more liberal than the public at large. In the past 20 years, it’s only gotten worse.

Not one of the surveys suggested mainstream media is manned by independent thinkers who mix liberal and conservative positions. The majority of journalists give liberal answers to almost every question the pollsters come up with.

Maybe that’s why, “Only 32% of the population reports having ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’ of confidence that the [mainstream] media reports the news in a full, fair and accurate way.”

Put another way, “A record-high number of Americans (39%) say they don't trust the media at all. That number has steadily increased since 2018.”

A meager 11% of Republicans trusted the media in 2023, and the numbers are almost certainly even lower today. Independents came in at 29% trust; that means more than two-thirds don’t have much or any trust in the media.

Topping the list of those who do trust the mainstream media is the Democrats, of course, who come in at 58% on trust-o-meter. Misery loves company. So do delusional leftists.

For what it’s worth, almost 77% of the Chinese trust the media, though the trust level plummeted in 2020 with the reporting of the COVID-19 pandemic. If mass media is any indicator, America is emulating China.

If you like the direction mass media is going, you’re no patriot. You’re a communist.

If America keeps heading in the direction the progressives want it to, the Democrats will trust the media more and more, while conservatives despair alone in their basements wondering how it ever got so bad.

Bottom line: It’s difficult to imagine how a representative constitutional republic like the U.S. can continue to exist when the majority of its citizens don’t trust the free press.

The Last Bastion of Free Speech

We all want to do our part to save America from Marxists, Socialists, and Communists who have somehow crept in and seized control of large swaths of our government, our schools, and the mainstream media.

We do everything we should: write our congressmen, donate to conservative causes, and vote. Some of us even buy conservative bumper stickers and put them on our cars for everyone to see.

But nothing happens. It’s always the same old, same old. The progressives always gain ground while conservatives are either retreating or paralyzed. Congress looks more and more like an insider’s game played for money and power—never mind the people who voted for them.

There is still hope.

Independent journalists and commentators are doing the heavy lifting, trying to bring the truth to those Americans who still crave it. These writers help to keep the dream of the Founding Fathers alive. They often sacrifice better-paying goals for the sake of truth and honesty—for the sake of freedom.

But they can’t do it for free.

The Substack Difference

Substack isn't like Facebook, Instagram, or the other social media giants. It’s different because you’re in charge of what you see.

On Substack, readers are in full control of what they see.

According to the Substack website, “Today’s dominant social media platforms dictate to a large extent what you see, pushing content to people in news feeds. The content that appears in these feeds is filtered and ordered by algorithms that have been designed to maximize engagement.”

“But with Substack, readers choose what they see. A reader makes a conscious decision about which writers to invite into their inboxes, and which ones to support with money.”

On Substack, writers are paid directly by readers.

Most of the big social media companies make their money from advertising. For them, “no metric matters more than engagement, which is why the world now has autoplaying videos, trending tabs, and clickbait.”

It’s not about you, it’s about them making you click where they want you to. You instinctively know all of this, but what can you do?

At Substack, “We are all now part of an ecosystem that can usher in a new kind of order, where the power is distributed among the many instead of the few. We can take part in a discourse that unleashes expression rather than suppresses it, but that also demands substance—where success is built not on momentary clicks but on deeper connection.”

Put another way, we can control the press by making it open and free. But it takes commitment.

Act And Be Free

If it sometimes feels like nobody can hear you, like you’re all alone in front of your screens, become a paid subscriber of this Substack right now. If you do, you will be helping to keep the free press alive at the grassroots level.

If you’re tired of going it alone, join us. This is where you’ll find accurate information, moral support, and the camaraderie you need to carry on the good fight.

If you’re still willing to fight for the love of the red and white and the blue, you must remember the free press isn’t free. Your paid subscription keeps us afloat.

Please subscribe today. Act now, before it's too late.

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