Freefalling media face grim prospects as reach, influence wane

As 2025 dawns, legacy media is in freefall — their public trust in tatters, their viewership and readership cratering. The wounds are a result of two factors: First, the landscape the legacy media once controlled is no more.No longer do the liberal media ecosystems of New York and Washington, DC, set the terms of the national conversation.No longer do a handful of major corporate entities like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times and Washington Post regulate thought and debate. Instead, the most-listened to broadcast is the Joe Rogan podcast out of Austin, Tex., averaging 11 million viewers per episode.For context, CNN can’t attract more than 400,000 viewers to its primetime lineup these days, less than 4% of what Rogan generates. Online, Elon Musk’s X is the No.

1 source for news in the world.Meanwhile, to take one example, The Washington Post lost more than $70 million and 50% of its audience in 2023 and is reportedly on track to lose more than $75 million in 2024.Several prominent reporters have fled the paper for more liberal confines, such as The Atlantic. Second, and a major reason for the exodus, is the loss of respect that followed the legacy media’s gross breaches of integrity and ethics in recent years.Many in the media debased themselves by blatantly lying about the state of Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities (or lack thereof).They openly cheered on Kamala Harris’ campaign and tried to Etch-a-Sketch her radical positions (and those of her goofy running mate, Tim Walz) out of existence, laughably selling them as joyous, centrist candidates. And all the while, they trashed Donald Trump and his supporters as fascist and uninformed.But these efforts failed — and as Trump swept his way to a resounding victory, his triumph underscored both the waning influence of the mainstream media and the public’s disdain.Overall, according to Gallup, just 27% of independent voters trust the media, and only 12% of Republicans say the same. Wit...