A world of hype

Back in the old days when I landed in Ronald Reagan’s first campaign there were three TV networks and a newspaper in each city – and I saw them as biased. Against conservatives like Reagan.

So when cable TV came along I saw that as a sign of hope. But it didn’t work out the way I expected.

Today we’ve got a plethora of cable news channels, scores of internet news websites, legions of people reading news on social media.

But, from Fox to MSNow, to get ratings cable news channels tell their audience what it wants to hear. It’s not the news that matters – it’s hype. And entertainment. News stars today have turned into showmen.

One day a politician on a roll says socialists winning Democratic primaries proves Democrats are now socialists. Hype erupts. And Trump seeing an opportunity pours gas on the fire by saying Democrats aren’t really socialists – they’re communists.

Now hardly a soul likes communists. So Trump probably figured saying that was clever.

But only four socialists won Democratic primaries – and three beat incumbent Washington politicians. So have Democratic voters morphed into socialists? Or are they fed up with Washington politicians?

Walter Cronkite was far from perfect but he did ask questions like that. Reporters don’t these days.

Hype strikes one chord: Emotion. It gets cheers. Or boos. But you seldom hear anyone ask, Is that politician telling the truth – or spinning a tale? Or ask, Why is he spinning that tale?

The old media world’s gone – but the new world’s landed us in another mess. Full of showmen. And hype.

Subscribe to Carter's substack posts here