When most news outlets operate hand in glove with one political party or another and the civil bureaucracy also works hand in glove with the same political party, do we have an independent press?
When most news outlets operate hand in glove with one political party or another and the civil bureaucracy also works hand in glove with the same political party, do we have an independent press?
For national news, the press is completely independent over a large period of time. It’s not like the Times or the Post are intentionally missing a large story in America–like about housing, opiates, police violence, or immigration. Internationally it’s not really the case. And for New York news, the Times is non-partisan–they have no problems taking on the MTA and its union, for example.
The problem is that there’s really nothing in America for daily news outside of the Times and the Post and a few others. It’s just the top of the pyramid, with everything else removed. So it’s basically just news that’s connected to power; filled with leaks and unnamed sources, a respect for government and power; which is all read by people with millions of axes to grind. With politics, the Times basically operates on the principle that if both sides complain it’s fine. Thus in the last election Clinton loyalists complained and Trump loyalists complained so they must be doing a good job.
What’s noteworthy is that the insane hostility to the media has produced very little in the way of better reporting or more outlets. Like when Gothamist/DCist/SFist were shut down after they unionized, there was basically nothing. And they were all good outlets for local news.