For decades – even as far back as Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather, the political left has had the mainstream news media in its back pocket.
NewsBusters reports on the many instances different news and information websites — CNN, Snopes, PolitiFact, etc. —purposefully misled the public during this last year. For example, PolitiFact labeled Trump “false” for calling New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, a communist despite the supporting evidence, but they do not label a liberal “false” if they were to call a Republicans a fascist.
Despite this, Curtis Houck of Media Research Center says some cracks started to appear in the wall this last year.
“This was the first year that I think some in the media started to maybe read the room in terms of where the public is,” states Houck.
Scott Jennings has been mic-dropping on CNN since 2017, but he has persisted and honed his craft at the right time as the crazy-left has given him a target-rich environment at that network. The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have conservative owners, and Bari Weiss is pushing all the right liberal buttons at CBS.
Houck mentions that there is a new class of independent journalists like Matt Taibi and Michael Schellenberger who may not be conservative, but report the news with minimal bias.
“This also was a year that further confirmed the rise in independent media, alternative forms of media, and streaming platforms that gave Americans the ability to consume news in as many different ways as possible,” says Houck.
Houck says that the majority of the mainstream media hasn't made the turn – yet.
“They, nonetheless, are still carrying water for Democrats in different groups at each and every turn,” states Houck.
Even so, according to him, 2025 is the year things started to turn in the journalistic world.
“It's going to require an entirely different calibration about how to make money, what does news look like, how do we spend resources while still being able to cover all the necessary stories,” concludes Houck.
