The Sunday Six

What I read this week and why

LEGACY MEDIA: GOODBYE AND GOOD NIGHT?

There was a moment in Tuesday’s vice presidential debate that provided the latest round of evidence in the death spiral of legacy media.

J.D. Vance was giving an honest answer about immigration — after being fact-checked — when his microphone was cut off by ‘moderators’ Nora O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan.

“We have to move on senator,” O’Donnell and Brennan dismissively said before Vance could finish.

The embarrassing exchange leads to a larger question as we approach the November elections: are Americans moving on from the mainstream press?

A Gallup poll earlier this year ranked journalists just above lawyers, insurance and car salespeople, business executives, stockbrokers, advertisers and politicians as professionals they least trust. At least they got that going for them.

Watching the debates and relentless Trump bashing has reinforced the bias this election cycle. But will it matter? Will enough voters see through the propaganda or ignore it all entirely?

A Pew Research Center study that came out last month stated how 13% of Americans get their news from the networks. Print media accounts for only 26% of consumption and radio, that’s barely registering (6%).

Consumption trends are on YouTube, where a third of Americans regularly watch news. How Millennials and Generation Z’ers are watching news is through the YouTube app on their Smart TV’s or tablets. Young adults are opening up their TikTok app to catch up on what’s going on in the world.

I don’t put much stock in the long range prospects of TikTok. But YouTube isn’t going anywhere. Entrepreneurs are building media empires on the platform. Media personalities that left heritage brands are gaining more authority going solo and leveraging the reach of YouTube.

The decline of traditional media began decades ago. November’s results will say a lot about its remaining level of influence.

Here are the facts: Democrats nominated a candidate who didn’t receive a single primary vote after using the press to strong-arm the sitting president and the winner of every Democratic primary and caucus, into dropping out of the race.

Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee in July and has yet to receive a single question of importance from a legacy-brand journalist. She will almost certainly continue to avoid serious questions for the duration of the campaign.

Harris was one of the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate during her short stint in Congress, raised money to bail out rioters during the 2020 race riots, and was a total failure as “border czar.” The D.C. press corps and their comrades believe it is their duty to protect their nominee from having to explain any of this.

I think these facts matter. I find Harris to be an awful candidate, arguably the worst presidential nominee in my lifetime. I’ve come to that conclusion based on my own analysis, understanding that others can hold the same facts and come to a different conclusion. That’s fair. That’s the democratic process.

Regardless of ideology, the press bias is real. The influence of that bias, less clear.

In a month’s time, we’ll have a much better understanding.

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THE SIX

*Major news in the sports world this week with the death of Pete Rose. No professional athlete over the past 40 years has been discussed as Rose. That debate will continue after his passing as there is no more of a tragic hero character in American culture than Rose. I’ve read every book, watched every documentary (the most recent one on HBO) and while Rose is a complicated man who has done some unsavory things, he’s unquestionably a hall of fame baseball player. The man got 4,256 hits in his career. 4,256! Posthumously, it’s time to put him in.

*Another sports-related story I read this week involving a famous athlete. Brett Favre, the former Packers quarterback is accused of being part of a multi-million dollar welfare fraud scandal in Favre’s home state of Mississippi. The story is a few years old now and was broken by a reporter for a local publication, Mississippi Today. Now the reporter and publication are being sued by the former governor of Mississippi, accusing the publication of being in contempt of court. As ESPN reports, if the court rules in the governor’s favor, the reporter may have to go to prison.

*Continuing with The Six True Crime Series…we find this story via Boston Magazine. For 43 years, James Rodwell has been in prison, convicted of murdering a police captain’s son. For the same 43 years, Rodell has declared that he didn’t do it. Writer Casey Sherman unpacks the case in this compelling read.

*I’m fascinated by the selling of catalogs by heritage musicians. Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Queen and many others are “selling out” to the tune of hundreds of millions, to private equity companies that are buying the rights to the musician’s name, image, likeness and most profitably, the songs. The latest big name act is Pink Floyd, the prog rock British band of the 60s, 70s and 80s. What’s notable about this sale is how the political views of band member Roger Waters may have diminished the value of the catalog, according to reports.

*Former President Jimmy Carter turned 100 years old this week. A former speech writer pens this fond reflection. He was "an unlucky president, and a lucky man". Unlucky because he inherited from Gerald Ford "a nearly ungovernable America" and because his re-election bid was overshadowed by the Iran hostage crisis. But he was lucky in his health and longevity. His "post-presidential" career has spanned a stunning 44 years, ten times the length of his White House tenure.

*Fittingly, we end with a timeless rant from a character who, during the Carter Adminstration, lived on small Zenith television screens all over America. Do you, Archie Bunker.

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