Joe Battenfeld: Democrats losing media mouthpieces to carry their water
Published in Op Eds
Desperate Democrats are rapidly losing their media mouthpieces at a time when they need them more than ever to carry their water and disdain for President Donald Trump.
Their once formidable left wing media army – led by CNN, the Washington Post and 60 Minutes – is dwindling to just a ragtag few that have forfeited their power, influence, ratings and readership.
The left wing media mob that Democrats could always count on for a quick Trump hit job, social media meme or well timed joke once featured a powerful lineup including MSNBC, CBS, public radio and Stephen Colbert.
But they have all succumbed to a combination of financial pressures, demographic changes and political realities.
It’s panic time over at the DNC, which was counting on their mainstream media sycophants to beat the negative Trump drumbeat to victory in the midterms and 2028 election. But the reality is with all the changes to the mainstream media, that Trump negative drumbeat is getting fainter and fainter.
Just in the last few years, an earthquake has decimated the media landscape, and here are the latest examples:
– CNN is about to be taken over by Paramount, which also owns CBS, likely leading to big changes – though a group of Democratic attorneys general are trying to block the deal in court. If the sale goes through, staffers at CNN and Democratic politicians and other coat holders like Jane Fonda are worried about deep cuts and the direction of news becoming more Trump friendly.
“This is a direct attack on freedom of speech, freedom of expression,” Fonda claimed about Paramount’s takeover bid.
– Ratings challenged MSNBC has been rebranded as MSNOW, and the liberal cable network’s viewership has plummeted by 50% just since 2024.
– CBS’s “60 Minutes” – a once must watch on Sunday night that made conservative politicians quiver – is a shell of itself after an internal shakeup decimated the show’s impact.
– Comedian Colbert was finally broomed off the air, claiming he was silenced by his network bosses at CBS. But the reality is his show was losing tens of millions of dollars a year.
– The Washington Post, which took down Richard Nixon, has collapsed due to dwindling advertising revenues and financial losses, massive layoffs and partisan changes demanded by billionaire owner Jeff Bezos. Earlier this year, the Post laid off one third of its workforce, eliminated its sports department and cut back international and local coverage. Tens of thousands of readers canceled their subscriptions as a result.
– Public radio’s federal funding was slashed, resulting in layoffs and a sharp decline in impact.
– Liberal website Politico just suffered layoffs this year, and launched a paid subscription service targeting finance and investment professionals — an admission that it couldn’t sustain itself with the old model.
– The once powerful Associated Press has taken a turn away from traditional newspapers as its prime source of revenue, and has offered buyouts to employees and instituted some layoffs and other changes to its model.
All this has happened as the midterms approach and Democrats need their media partners more than ever to do their messaging.
All that’s left of the left wing media empire is a few struggling newspapers like the Boston Globe and New York Times. And their impact has been marginalized.
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