The media are an industry, and their product is information. And along with many other American industries, the American media produce a product of very poor quality. Its information is not reliable, it has too much chrome and glitz, its doors rattle, it breaks down almost immediately, and it’s sold without warranty. It’s flashy but it’s basically junk. So people have begun to stop buying it. — Michael Crichton (1993)
It’s All Down From Here
I haven’t watched TV in years. Yes, we have it on, in the background, for maybe an hour a day nowadays, but we don’t watch it for information; to get facts. TV is literally, the last place I’d look for factual information! I’m not alone (from Statista):
How are the media still in business?
I wasn’t sure, after all, Crichton predicted they’d be gone by 2003.1 But somehow, they’re still clinging on in 2025! Google, what’s going on?
Despite the rise of digital media and readily available online information, traditional media outlets like newspapers, television, and radio remain in business by adapting to digital platforms, diversifying revenue streams through subscriptions, advertising, events, and by leveraging their established credibility and reach to attract audiences that still value trusted sources and broader impact, especially for major news stories and brand advertising campaigns. — Google AI Overview (2025)
“established credibility”, “value trusted sources”? Oh dear, AI thing, sounds like you got that from an unreliable, untrustworthy legacy media source. Ignoring that nonsense, the rest of it make sense.
However, it’s over. We know it, they know it. They had one job to do and they ****** it up. Whether that was to inform us, entertain us or persuade us — they did the opposite. The last bastions of legacy media consumption are the elderly and the leftists. I don’t need to state why the elderly cannot be the future for legacy media, but even the leftists are having enough of the gaslighting (from Press Gazette):
The market for leftist news is shrinking. Not surprising since we now have the most unpopular government in English history.
So, What’s Next?
If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more. — General Eric Shinseki
There are enormous opportunities for outsiders to continue to disrupt, and dominate the old, tired, lazy, untrustworthy establishment media. In fact, it’s already happening.
The New Media
This article was partly inspired by the recent Critical Gamer video titled We Are The Media Now – And They Fear Us. I highly recommend you spend six minutes of your time and watch it (after reading this of course).
People like Will Jordan aka, The Critical Drinker / Gamer, are building loyal audiences who know they’ll get an honest opinion and be entertained at the same time. Something legacy media forgot how to do years ago.
These days, if there’s a film I’m considering watching, I’ve found it very efficient to check to see if he’s done a review. He hasn’t let me down yet.
Damage Control / Spin Not Working
Another fantastic thing that’s driving media executives to despair, is that they can’t gaslight us as easily anymore. When a trailer for their latest blockbuster movie or game drops, bad news eventually reaches the normies as well. Everybody knows not to spend their hard earned cash on one of these steamers:
Concord – Reveal Cinematic Trailer:
What can Legacy Media Do?
Nothing. They’ve blown it. They’ve as much chance of regaining their market share as Harold Shipman has of being your next GP.
Individuals are the new media, the new sources of truth and value. It’s not their job. They don’t have a boss saying, “have you finished that piece yet? We’ve got to get it uploaded!!!” Nope. They can take their time. Do a proper job. Publish it when they are happy that it’s ready. Might be today, might be next month.
Footnotes
1 Full article is available on my site here
Depressing Update
As reported on Zerohedge today (2025-01-12), a Statista survey has found that roughly one in five people distrust the mainstream (legacy) media:
It’s depressing as that means that in the UK, 83% of respondents do trust legacy media!
I’m sure Mr. Crichton would be very disappointed were he still with us
