Mike Bloomberg
Before TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, the World Wide Web, the Internet, television, or radio, newspapers were 'the press' as literally referenced in the First Amendment to the Constitution. If the Supreme Court wants to split hairs, it could declare that only letterset or, maybe offset publications qualified to be 'the press' and censor electronic news. However, since reference to 'the press' follows 'freedom of speech,' such an interpretation might defy the English language as well.
We no longer call it 'the press'; 'The Media' is now the moniker. Another word slowly withdraing from common reference is journalism, referring to the profession of preparing the news. It too has been subsumed beneath The Media moniker. Money is the reason behind these changes.
In their heyday, newspapers were the second most dominant medium, behind the rumor mill. This medium created private enterprise empires more dominant than Fox News, Facebook, or Bloomberg. Two of the most (in)famous were Pulitzer and Hearst, and their businesses were often referred to as 'yellow journalism' by competing newspapers and by politicians on the other side of their editorials. Today, few think of these two barons as evil or out of control. Many revere them, and the Pulitzer Prize is the the most cherished award in The Media.
Even at their peak, newspapers were business first, and they made their money on advertising and selling papers. In spite of being the sole source of hard news for most people who read, the two biggest reasons that people bought the newspaper were for comics and sports. In other words, newspapers' primary financial value was driven by entertainment.
As other media such as radio began to take the new out of news, editorial changes began to create more entertainment appeal. Magazines, which were never as timely as daily papers, focused on touchy-feely, documentary-like articles or revelational news such as investigative journalism. Newspapers began to adopt these into their publications, adding magazine-like sections to Sunday editions, which allowed them to charge more money.
The point is that 'the press' and 'the news' have always been about formalized dissemination of free speech, but the businesses that ran the presses have always been about making money. The Founding Fathers hope was that the cacophony of these businesses would reveal The Truth to The People. Perhaps, over the long run this may be true. However, in the moment, The Media's news is a means to making money and, therefore, tailored to that end. In other words, it looks like fake news if it is not your news.
The People like entertaining fake news as evidenced by the ratings, advertising revenues, and the success of companies that provide it. The appeal of fake news is that each person can choose the news that most closely fits their comfort zone. When newspapers were journalistically architected, this appeal was achieved by splitting the content between 'objecting' reporting and 'editorial' opinion. The People believed that the articles in the reporting section were unbiased, and the Opinion Page was reflecting their own truth. It was a simple dichotomy that gave most readers a warm and fuzzy feeling that also drove sales. In reality, it was always a blurry line, and today's line looks more like a swirl.
The closest things we have today to Pulitzer and Hearst are Bloomberg and Bezos. Bloomberg made a Hearst-like fortune in a Hearst-like way, and Bezos bought his way into The Media by acquiring the Washington Post. Like Hearst, Bloomberg has political ambition, but unlike Hearst, Mike chose to cut out the middleman and not be the puppet master. If Mike Bloomberg succeeds, it will mark a fundamental change in American politics, which was fostered by Citizens United and the election of Donald Trump. Bloomberg is much richer than Trump and owns one of the most influential media outlets in the world. Trump claimed to be independent of rich donors and The Media. Bloomberg can actually be independent of puppet master donors because he is one, and he is The Media. Mike Bloomberg does not need Fox News or CNN because Bloomberg is a competitor.
The election of Trump began a change in the way we elect our President. As long as campaign money can come from anywhere without accountability, any candidate without the financial means to be self-funding can be suspected of being a shill. The presidential election now comes down to which billionaire, a choice that seems to closely reflect our current values.
This fundamental change may be a threat to Election Entertainment. Puppets are entertaining, while puppet masters are usually invisible. Mike is very rich but less entertaining than Ross Perot. The video, above, demonstrates that yawning threat.
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