Momentary virality is not the best way to construct and distribute news. Nor is fear-based button-pushing. But what can we do about it?
Our political system almost ran off the rails over the last few months, and the ultimate cause was the media, which on the right-wing side has shaped an alternate reality of breathtaking extremism and divergence from reality. Outlets like Rush Limbaugh, FOX news, NewsMax, and Sinclair Broadcasting have fundamentally reshaped our political discourse, from a place fifty years ago where facts and problems were generally agreed upon, and policy discussions founded on those facts conducted- if not in a civil manner, then in a functional manner in legislative bodies like the US Senate. Now Limbaugh is broaching secession.
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| Rush, in his lair. |
Even the Reagan era, conservative as it was, hewed to basic democratic principles and a centrist media environment. But then came Bill Clinton, and in response, Newt Gingrich, blazing a scorched-earth trail through the House of Representatives, followed soon by the establishment of FOX news as a relentless and shameless propaganda organ for the right. Now, even FOX is reviled by true believers as not extreme enough, as the end of the Trumpian epoch comes shudderingly into view. Which is worse- the internet melee of Russian disinformation and viral Q-conspiracies, or the regimented lying brought to us by corporate right-wing media? It is hard to tell sometimes, and both have been disastrous, but I think the latter has been substantially worse, forming a long-running environment of cultivated lies, normalized idiocy, and emotional trauma. Why anyone watches it or listens to it is beyond me personally, but clearly many people like to have their buttons pushed and participate in a crudely plausible vision of a black, white, and bloviatingly Christian (or un-Christian, depending on your theological ethics) world.
Government censorship is probably not going to happen in this case. Even if we changed our legal system to allow it, the right wing would manage to subborn those regulatory bodies, as they have the Supreme Court, Senate, and the White House. These media outlets don't breathe oxygen, however, they breathe money- money that comes from advertisers who appreciate their ability to reach a uniquely gullible demographic. But those advertisers are not political. They are fomenting our divisions and destroying our political system for purely transactional reasons. It is, we can note in passing, another classic and ironic breakdown of the free market.
The rational response, then, is to boycott the sponsors in systematic fashion, publicizing who advertises with which outlets, for how much. Several of these sites and petitions are already happening. But it is clear that they have not gained enough traction to have much effect. Only when the most egregious and appalling violations of decency occur does any attention rain on the channels and scare away sponsors. The tracking, petition, and boycotting system needs to have better centralization. Perhaps like the eco-friendly food labels, we need truth-friendly labeling of companies at the point of consumption, marking those (MyPillow! SmileDirect! Nutrisystem! Geico!) who are pouring money into these cesspools of psychological manipulation and political destruction.
Sure, this kind of accountability would heighten political divisions, causing a polarization of the business world, which has (supposedly) tried to keep itself out of the fray, and invite counter-boycotts of, say, NPR or MSNBC. But business has not been unbiassed at all, rather, through every organ, from chambers of commerce to K-street lobbies and Ayn Randian talk shops, they have pushed the right wing agenda in tandem with the propaganda organs that broadcast relentless pro-business and anti-public interest messages. It is high time to hold the whole ecosystem to account for the state of our country, directly and financially.
