America’s legacy media institutions again disgraced themselves when CBS 60 Minutes edited Vice President Kamala Harris‘s jumbled answer to a question about the turbulence in the Middle East to make her seem more articulate. Instances like this, which expose Harris’s struggle to engage in meaningful policy discussions, are a big part of why her staff has shielded her from media interviews.
But there is an even bigger issue here. Namely, the collapse of legacy media as an institution. It’s no wonder that trust in the media is at historic lows. In fact, according to Gallup polling, about 7 in 10 Americans do not trust the media to report on politics “fully, accurately and fairly. Any American who has paid attention to politics over the last decade can see why this number is as low as it is. Although an exhaustive accounting of media lies, deceptions, and hoaxes over the last decade would be impossible to compile in one document, think back to just a few of them:
- The media and social media platforms censored the Hunter Biden laptop story.
- Then CNN commentator Donna Brazile provided Hillary Clinton with possible debate questions before a 2016 presidential debate.
- The media amplified hate hoaxes like those pertaining to Jussie Smollett, Bubba Wallace, “many fine people,” and Covington Catholic stories.
- The Washington Post referred to radical terrorist and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar” upon his death at the hands of U.S. military forces.
- The Biden White House pressured social media companies to censor certain posts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the now-mainstream theory that COVID originated in a lab leak.
- The media breathlessly reported on the Russian collusion hoax, based on the fraudulent Steele Dossier.
- The New York Times removed a piece by Sen. Tom Cotton calling on the military to restore public order after the paper’s staff reacted with hysteria.
Every single one of these deceptions slants against conservatives. If the media were truly a neutral and well-meaning institution that made occasional unfortunate errors, we would expect about half of these to be slanted against the left — but that is just not the case. But this list is also intentionally divisive, particularly along racial lines. Today, the demand for racial-motivated bias far exceeds the supply, so the media eagerly amplifies even the most obvious hate hoaxes in hopes of creating further divisions.
All of this demonstrates why independent journalism has become so important in the modern era. Luckily, the free market has allowed alternative media platforms like Substack and X (thanks to Elon Musk) to provide a platform for independent journalists to do the work that more mainstream journalists will not.
Along these same lines, there has been a small but misguided push to end anonymity on these public platforms, including by some on the conservative side. However, we live in the age of cancel culture, when something as benign as standing for traditional marriage, or believing that human beings are made male or female, is enough to get someone fired. But anonymity also serves another important function: it allows the best ideas to win out on their merit rather than who can build the largest megaphone. When a book, article, blog, or post is written anonymously, its reach is determined by the value of its content rather than who posts it. This allows ideas, rather than people, to rule in the marketplace of ideas.
America’s Founders recognized the importance of anonymous authorship, too. The Federalist Papers, written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, were published under the pen name “Publius,” and Ben Franklin rose to fame under the name “Silence Dogood.” Thomas Paine’s famed “Common Sense” was signed off with the byline of “an Englishman,” and the “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” were published under the title of “A Farmer,” although John Dickinson wrote them.
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Too much of our media is a captured institution, one beholden to radical left-wing interests. Luckily, the free market has provided solutions through the rise of alternative platforms.
Long may it last.
Dr. Ben Carson serves as Founder and Chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute.