X figurehead and daily media provocateur Elon Musk was busy as always with his X account this weekend, this time with a favorite topic for him: the traditional media. Mr. Musk asked a surprisingly naive question for such an intelligent and apparently well-read man.
Like many in this country, he wondered how the media had turned into haters of free speech when they seemed so pro-free speech in the past. Unfortunately, this concern points to a more important problem: why was our society this way? ever convinced that the traditional media cared about the truth?
Still, his posted reflection is worth diving into, especially given our deep-seated and misplaced faith in traditional journalism. So, Elon, let’s see what happened to old media.
How did most traditional media evolve from superheroes of freedom of speech to supervillains of suppression of speech?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2023
An old question
This weekend, Elon Musk posted on his X account:
“How did most traditional media go from superheroes of freedom of speech to supervillains of suppression of speech?”
The impetus for this post on Elon’s controversial social media site could be anything from his ongoing battle with the Anti-Defamation League, various lawsuits over how X manages speech on his site, or perhaps just the obvious bias and drive by legacy media to distort the national narrative by amplifying some stories and burying others. This is also not a new question from Elon.
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After releasing the famous Twitter files that showed rampant federal government and bluebird involvement and manipulation, Mr. Musk asked:
“Why does corporate journalism rush to defend the state instead of the people?”
This came shortly after many left-wing news outlets attempted to downplay the Twitter files and smear the journalists who reported on them. While Elon Musk may seem confused as to why the traditional media wouldn’t be enthusiastic about reporting facts, supporting freedom of speech regardless of whether they agree with it or not, or lifting the veil on corruption in government, he expected some setback from Big News when he took over Twitter, now called X.
For the same reason that Harvard is ranked zero on freedom of speech.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 17, 2023
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Not so friendly competition
When he took over Twitter, Mr. Musk wasn’t shy about his ultimate goal for the platform:
“We want it to… essentially be the place you go to learn what’s going on and hear the real story.”
He was referring to his support for what has been called “citizen journalism.” These enterprising individuals report what’s happening in their community and broadcast their thoughts on politics and issues without going through a traditional newsroom or newsroom – or dark hallways in Langley.
This was not met with welcome support from the mainstream news, let alone from former employees of Mr Musk. Kathy Yates, who worked with Musk on Zip2, one of his previous ventures set up to help newspapers like The New York Times transition into the digital space, warned that his embrace of free speech absolutism was ‘damaging’ could be.
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Mrs Yates warned:
“It’s very dangerous territory to allow anyone to say whatever he or she wants, and not have the ability to have a layer of verification and alternative points of view that are carefully curated and selected so that the reader really gets a much more balanced position. instead of just a bunch of voices yelling at them.
Dangerous, she says, dangerous to ‘allow’ people to say whatever they want? And who exactly gets to ‘curate’ and ‘select’ news that is suitable for public consumption?
The power-hungry media elites who fit comfortably into the pockets of government leaders, that’s who.
https://t.co/w58XhgEeSD touched
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2023
The long march
Growing up, I remember watching the same news that pretty much everyone in the neighborhood was watching, regardless of their political beliefs. I’m too young for the wrongly pedestalized Walter Cronkite, but I did grow up watching Peter Jennings on “ABC World News Tonight” and “60 Minutes.”
I watched intently as the Gulf War unfolded on CNN, following every word of Wolf Blitzer and Christiane Amanpour. I don’t remember my parents or the other adults they associated with feeling at the time that they couldn’t trust what they saw and heard on the news as anything other than fact.
Fast forward to the digital age, and now it’s similar, except everyone has their own camps. You’re either a die-hard Fox News loyalist or a frantic fanatical MSNBC fangirl or fanboy.
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To believe that one of the “journalists” or experts on your favorite network isn’t at least biased and on the unfortunate other end of the spectrum in someone else’s pocket is naive and neglects history. Doesn’t anyone in school learn about the famous back-and-forth between Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers in the late 1800s, which gave rise to the term “yellow journalism”?
If you’re completely clueless about what I’m writing, do yourself a favor and watch “Citizen Kane.” The corruption of mainstream journalism has come a long way over the centuries; it’s just more noticeable now.
An innocent man was murdered in cold blood while cycling. The killers joked about it on social media
But where is the outrage in the media?
Now you begin to understand the lie. https://t.co/Jr5BXJXs05
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2023
Stay skeptical
A Gallup poll released earlier this year found that half of Americans believe national news organizations are explicitly out to mislead the public. Moreover, 52% of Americans disagree that distributors of national news “care about the interests of their readers, viewers and listeners.”
This may seem bleak and depressing to some, but it is refreshing and fills me with hope. For too long, Americans have believed that those reporting the news are concerned about the country and the viewer’s problems.
That is not true. Legacy media and elite journalists believe it is their job to shape public opinion by educating who they believe are the ignorant masses – that’s you and me, for the record.
If you read and watch enough news, you’ll find some common themes, but there are two that are my personal favorite:
- They never do any harm to ‘unnamed’ government sources
- Academia is always willing to help
The federal government feeds the need for traditional media writers to feel powerful and relevant by, to use Ms. Yates’s words, providing carefully curated information to, you guessed it, shape public opinion. And stuffy progressive liberal professors are more than happy to give their ‘expert’ opinion on any panel… for the right price and book plug.
At the risk of stating the obvious: I don’t always know what’s going on with every part of this platform, but our policy worldwide is to fight for maximum freedom of expression under the law.
Anyone who works for X Corp and does not operate according to this principle will be… https://t.co/9gkIOnF8hu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2023
Stay the course, Elon
I don’t think Elon Musk does or says anything without an ultimate goal. I also don’t think he is so ignorant as to not know how or even why the traditional media gives two figs for freedom of speech.
I believe and hope he asked the question to make you all think about it. But there is hope, thanks to men like Elon.
His platform and progressive thinking have enabled open debate on previously unaddressed topics among those often left out of the conversation. And if the mainstream is attacking you, you’re probably onto something.
Huge difference no matter how you count it https://t.co/eczcGJsRMa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2023
A quick Google search for news about Elon Musk turns up headlines like these from major media outlets:
Elon previously said:
“As Twitter pursues the goal of elevating citizen journalism, the media elite will do everything in their power to prevent that.”
You’re not just a rocket scientist, Elon – you can see into the future.
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