Media Meltdown

If you have been paying attention the last week or so, you may have noticed that the media is having a hissy-fit the likes of which we have not seen in some time. It seems that every day we are treated to stories about the horrors of Sarah Palin while at the same time the numbers for McCain rise and Obama's plummet. The Obama campaign is clearly in trouble as they flail about trying to stop the bleeding from their own self-inflicted wounds. Hubris has its cost. And the media, which has been in the tank for Obama from the start, does not know what to do about it. They have gone into panic mode and it shows.

Aside from the fact that the McCain-Palin ticket is moving ahead in the polls, something that the elite media monoculture deeply fears, there is another factor that explains the ferocity of the media onslaught.

The media mavens must have noticed that despite all of their panicked, over the top flailing about, no one is taking them seriously. Despite all the smears and mud they have tried to throw at Palin and McCain, they have been unable to sway public opinion by so much as a single percentage point. No one is listening to them or taking them at face value. In fact, most people responding to polls indicate that they think the media is in the tank for Obama and is trying to undermine the McCain-Palin team. (which of course they are) The day of the media monopoly, and its ability to control the debate, has passed.

The explanation for this is that the truth is getting out through new media. People who are interested in knowing the facts have come to the conclusion that dinosaur media can no longer be trusted. And like a restaurant that regularly serves poor quality food, they are finding that no one goes there anymore.

This is already happening. All around the country, the institutional outlets of old media are dying. The LA Times and The New York Times have been forced to lay off staffers, like so many other newspapers that have been around for decades. The major TV networks are unable to attract new viewers and are seeing their ratings drop year by year. Ad revenues are falling. And people are going elsewhere for their news and information, mostly to new media, like the internet and talk radio, and taking their disposable dollars with them.

They could turn their fortunes around if they would just try to be fair and balanced like that other cable network that is getting all of the new viewers. But it would require old media to admit that they have been wrong all these years and that they have a product that they are no longer able to sell to an unwilling public that has other options.