With the presidential election now mercifully over, and with a decisive victory for Donald Trump, it’s a good time to mull the steep decline of our mainstream media — and consider how the industry could attempt to recover.
Step 1: Apologize.
A Gallup poll in October found that a meager 31% of Americans trust the mass media “to report the news ‘fully, accurately and fairly’” — an all-time low.
It’s surprising the number is even that high, after the media relentlessly characterized a candidate who is on the path to overwhelmingly win the presidency into some fringe figure — a racist and a tyrant.
Clearly Americans didn’t buy it.
Instead, they re-elected Trump in a rout.
He is owed an apology — as are his voters.