Another one bites the dust
60 Minutes stopped being vital journalism years ago, once it decided that it needed to “both sides” its biggest political stories for fear of being seen as biased. But at least the show remained passably close to reality. Until now, that is. 60 Minutes’ parent company is in the process of caving to Donald Trump’s demands about the show, in the hope Trump will approve its proposed mega merger. It’s gotten ugly enough that the head of 60 Minutes has now resigned, saying he no longer had control of what got onto the air.
This is, sadly, just the latest instance of a major media outlet caving to Trump since he retook office. We’ve seen it with the Washington Post. We’ve seen it elsewhere. Major news outlets aren’t just news outlets. They’re also mega corporations, or owned by mega corporations, who care more about the bottom line than they do about journalism. And these days the bottom line means kissing Trump’s ass editorially in exchange for financial favoritism.
At this point I’m not sure if there’s anything we can do to stop this trend. We can, and will, keep hammering away at any major news outlet that tries going down this road. I’m just not sure anymore if it’ll work. All I do know is that this is why, now more than ever, Palmer Report has to exist. This is a difficult environment for an independent news publication to operate. But that’s not going to stop me. I could truly use your help, if you’re able to donate anything.
