2016 Postmortem

it always has to chase ratings.

neither are true. The media is not a news coverage institution, it is a news generation institution. It decides what it wants to make into news. It is very effective at making into news whatever it wants to. Granted, stories have to get traction, but a lot of shit gets thrown onto a wall, and the story that both sticks AND matches an outlet's sensibilities(put nicely), or agenda(put cynically), is the one that gets beaten over our heads until our dizzy asses are repeating it to people who never watch or listen to news, as fact. Ultimately truthiness prevails.

It is really important that when we hone in on the media, which we absolutely should be doing, we don't miss the underlying mechanisms. Their coverage simply cannot be disassociated from the interests of the parent companies that own them. Whether that influence comes in the flavor of marching orders(ala fox, but to some extent other news outlets---3 republicans for every dem on a panel was an old CNN thing, not to mention hiring CIA operatives), or is catering to the tastes of owners and producers, which might influence whether or not reporting on big advertisers or anything under the parent company's umbrella is tacitly or explicitly off-limits. I imagine that goes for other media giants too since nobody wants an arms race. Media ownership also ensures that pundits and reporters that get hired are "on the right page" when it comes to what kind of reporting is important, or understanding "what the people want to hear." That doesn't mean they don't put up any opposing voices to the thrust of an institution's overall lean. Just that the lean is still dominant and that those minority voices only help to lend an illusion of non-partisanship to it.

We can't have a fourth estate that is actually owned by the interests that it needs to be free to report on, not to mention hamstrings its ability to report on anything else objectively. But that is what we have. Every other thing that we point at when it comes to our loss in this election and all previous ones, is pointing in the wrong direction. I wish we could put it to rest, just in this microcosm that is DU, but maybe people just don't want to be that damn cynical or feel that helpless, and refuse to truly examine this key factor in American politics, favoring scapegoating Clinton for being a weak candidate, or Sanders for Bob's or Comey(he's a dick and in my book a criminal, don't get me wrong), or Russia(also Putin is a dick and a Demagogue), or fake news or "stupid racists."