The Modern Media Landscape

Just about a month before the election, I remember talking to one of my instructors after class. I said something to the effect of “Well now that it’s clear that Hillary’s gonna win…” and then said something that was probably very ill informed. I cited the tape or something equivalently reprehensible, as well as the latest polling data. I was so sure she was going to win. Even though I had grown apathetic to Hillary, I was still convinced no one could lose to this man.

My instructor responded with something very insightful, particularly at that stage of the campaign. He told me not to be so confident, that Hillary was running a historically bad campaign, and it’s definitely not over. He also suggested Trump was just the beginning — imagine a Trump that actually had the political prowess to get things done.

Almost a year later, I can’t get that conversation out of my head. It started a stream of consciousness that has led me to this point. I’ve been focused intently over the past two to three months on what the modern media landscape really is, how information is delivered and how we make decisions about our political beliefs.

I have this theory, which I’m presenting outside my circle of friends and family for the first time, so be patient and kind :)

I think that the media landscape and information propagation system is heavily, heavily distorted — far more than most are willing to acknowledge or admit to themselves. I also happen to think the epicenter of this distortion is Fox News.

Don’t read this incorrectly. This isn’t a commentary on people that watch Fox News or the political perspective of a conservative. This is all about Fox News’ place in the modern media landscape, how they affect discourse, and what are the drivers that determine what is and is not aired on their network.

For whatever reason, Fox News is really the only player in conservative cable or network news. Both the center and the left have a healthy handful — MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS — which means they are all a natural check on each other. If Rachel Maddow runs a bull shit tax returns story, there will be a group of people that call her out for going too far.

But Fox News stands alone.

As a result, whatever Sean Hannity says at 10 o’clock becomes truth for a lot of people. How does this monopoly on conservative television affect modern discourse and information gathering? Just this week, a Stanford study was released suggesting that Fox has a far greater influence than other networks. (Here’s a condensed analysis)

There’s one other big consequence to this monopoly. I believe there is a generation of young people that were raised with conservative or republican ideals that don’t identify with the conventional Fox News views. They aren’t racist, misogynistic or xenophobic “deplorables” — they just see the world through a different set of glasses.

They watch Fox News because it’s on TV and it’s the only thing they can tolerate when their other choices are “liberal” media. They like Trump because he promised them a job, health care and education, but they aren’t particularly comfortable with how the administration is working right now. They’re confused why healthcare and infrastructure work are not happening, but the muslim ban, transgender ban and removal of DACA protections are.

The consequence is that Fox News takes a group of young, rational thinkers and overloads them with lies — both overt and by omission. I think it’s creating a generation of people that aren’t seeing an accurate picture of the world.

That’s the main focus of my thesis at the moment and what I hope to dig into over the course of the next nine months. Just how big of an influence is Fox News? How does it compare to the other major networks? How do recent additions like Vice and Vox factor in? What about so called “fringe” or “alt” media like Breitbart? How does video, in terms of efficacy, compare to print, radio or podcasting?

There are of course, other sources of misinformation (read: lies). They have been talked about at length. Breitbart, fake news, Russia, DJT himself. I happen to believe most of that is overblown — an easy answer to why things seem so distorted right now. In reality, I think “traditional” media still maintains the strongest influence.

If you’ve made it this far, then you might as well read my first idea that might solve some of the problems in this very, very complicated space.

I think Fox News needs a legitimate competitor. A modern media brand that is rooted in conservative or republican ideals, but doesn’t attempt to obfuscate or distort what is happening in the world. For example, if a special prosecutor starts an investigation into the Trump campaign, that is a big deal and should be reported as such. But it will lean right on issues like standardized education or immigration limitations. It should be well designed, easy to access on all platforms, and most importantly the content must be compelling and unique.

In essence, I want to make Vice News for the Right.

Okay, that was a lot — essentially a brain dump of everything I’ve been mulling over in my head for the past three months. We’ll see how this goes.