The Media Was the Other Big Loser in 2024

Will Bunch: “The American mainstream media, and its vital watchdog role that once made it a trusted, major institution in a flawed yet functioning democracy, imploded in 2024, and it happened in two ways — gradually and then suddenly.”

“The sudden part came in the days immediately after the Oct. 25 revelation that Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos — the third-richest person on Earth — had spiked his editorial board’s long-planned endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris over the GOP’s Donald Trump. The same story played out at the billionaire-owned Los Angeles Times, and USA Today and 200 other newspapers that share its owner, the publicly traded Gannett Corp., also joined them in declining to endorse in an election in which one candidate branded a free press “the enemies of the people.” At least 250,000 people, or 10% of the total, canceled their Post subscriptions, in a business that was already reeling.”

“But the gradual destruction of public trust in traditional media has been every bit as powerful.”