Our Fourth Estate has Failed

It seems Trump is good for ratings. Viewers are drawn to him in the same way they are drawn to bad reality shows and freeway accidents. The major networks (cable and broadcast) have dropped the ball. They got caught up in the sick thrill of it all and assumed Trump would run his course and eventually disappear. What they didn’t stop to consider is their ad nauseam coverage of Trump to the exclusion of other more qualified candidates was contributing to his gain in popularity. The networks lavished Trump with coverage when he was still polling at three percent. Why? Because he was great for ratings. People like George Pataki and Lindsey Graham do not move the ratings needle.

The news media has sold out for ratings, and in so doing has given Trump more free air time than all the other candidates combined. (Illustration created using ChatGPT)

This complete failure to function as a true “fourth estate” is yet another example of the news media’s move toward infotainment. Of course, this move is mostly a reflection of the average viewer's reduced attention span and unquenchable thirst for sex, conflict and dirt. Trump — much like the reality show catfight or freeway pileup — appeals to our animal desires and motives. He is good for ratings and the financial bottom line, but not so good for America.

I have noticed of late Trump has not dominated the daily news cycle to quite the same extent as we’ve seen over the past five or six months. It’s as if the network execs finally woke up after he won South Carolina. Nevada merely provided the exclamation mark. Of course, it may be too little too late. I don’t think there’s much anyone can do to stop Trump from winning the Republican nomination at this point. It will be up to either Clinton or Sanders to beat him in a general election.

"The networks lavished Trump with coverage when he was still polling at three percent. Why? Because he was great for ratings. People like George Pataki and Lindsey Graham do not move the ratings needle."

I used to think news media outlets were pulling punches with Trump because they were trying to give the GOP enough rope, so to speak. Let the GOP carry on with selecting a nominee who is unelectable and then pounce. This is a risky tactic, for sure ... like playing with dynamite. Trump has already said and done so many things that should have delivered a death blow to his candidacy, and yet he continues to gain in popularity.

I think we have entered a kind of post-rational era in American politics. Up is down and day is night. So many white conservatives have been told for seven years now their very way of life is at risk. From FOX News, to conservative talk radio, to social media sites and beyond, the well of rational discourse has been poisoned. Rational thought flew the coop somewhere between Obamacare and Benghazi. These folks are angrier than ever.

In retrospect, the Charleston church shooting was a portentous sign of things to come. Interestingly, Trump won South Carolina by a landslide — a state where 30 percent of Trump supporters say they wish the South had won the Civil War, where 20 percent support banning homosexuals from the country, and where 25 percent of Trump supporters say they want to enact a national ban on Muslims.

The things these people hold dear are slipping away. From America’s perceived soft stance on immigration, to equal rights for homosexuals, to health care mandates, to the biggest slap in the face of all — a black president — many white conservatives are ticked. They feel marginalized and threatened. They hate that the president of their beloved USA would deign to make deals with "evil Iranians" or communist Cubans. There is no big-picture, long-term advantage to any of this. They want the instant gratification of carpet bombing and military bravado broadcast live for all the world to see. Lead from the front, for crying out loud!

In their minds, social justice is a farce and the president is a race-baiter for publicly siding with any unarmed black man who is killed at the hands of a white cop. Political correctness is not interpreted as “do unto others” or simply good manners, but overcompensation for imaginary inequities. Common sense gun safety regulation is seen as federal overreach. Notions of "taking back" their country, building a wall, and making America great again are all code for giving back control to the heterosexual white male, so he can restore the natural order of things and keep blacks, browns, gays and women in their place.

The rise of Donald Trump presents a frightening lesson in social psychology, for sure. A large chunk of the electorate no longer cares whether a candidate is a good statesperson or even whether that person is decent and kind or well-spoken or knowledgeable, and they are not discerning enough to recognize insincerity, opportunism, demagoguery or even danger when they see it. Many of his supporters are like children, in fact, who now appear to crave an authoritarian leader who seems to reflect their own base prejudices and suspicions. They are the childish bystanders who laugh and cheer when the schoolyard bully kicks and punches the weakling or the nerd or the poor kid with buck teeth. Their insecurities, fear and paranoia are obvious, profound and frightening.

Perhaps Trump's disturbing rise in popularity could have been quelled if the news media had done its job. Sadly, our fourth estate has failed. It is an entertainment enterprise designed to appeal to prurient interests and our lust for sleaze. The 2008 election year, when Sarah Palin was skewered for her obvious shortcomings, now feels like a golden media age when mainstream journalists still took their collective role as political watchdog seriously. I used to think the same treatment Sarah Palin received was forthcoming for Donald Trump, but now I just think the news media has sold out for ratings, and in so doing has given Trump more free air time than all the other candidates combined.

In the words of syndicated columnist Roland Martin, the GOP "invited evil in," and now with help from an indifferent, profit-driven mass media industry, that "evil is taking over." It will be interesting and telling to see whether the sane and rational citizens among us will do their civic and moral duty and show Mr. Trump the door. Trump’s rise, much like that of Benito Mussolini, will continue along its same insidious path unless the majority of us decide now to do something about it. If you ever wondered what a true fascist takeover might look like in contemporary America, look no further than the rise of Donald J. Trump. ☕︎

Note: Image added in 2025.