Earlier this week in a business comment I upset some media colleagues by saying that we were witnessing not only a major decline in US democracy but also a death blow to the mainstream media as we know it.
Obviously that's a broad generalization, but I think it's valid.
As US politics has descended into a dangerous polarization in partisanship, the media's climbed right on board. By focusing more on Donald Trump's every misstep, misdeed, off-the-wall statement and groping while ignoring Clinton's relentless ethical string of misdeeds and outright lies while milking the system for personal financial gain, the media are sowing the seeds of their own demise. And believe me they don't get it.
They're turning millions of people off and in response those people are turning away from the mainstream media in favor of alternative sources of information and commentary. That approach enhances the deep polarization taking place in this campaign, and it comes with consequences. Just wait until he next set of polls on trust in the media which is going to show all time lows, as it will for every establishment institution.
In Canada the problem is the same with the notable exception of Rex Murphy, Terance Corcoran, and Lawrence Solomon who unlike their media colleagues seem to appreciate there are two candidates in this election and neither of them displays the character and integrity worthy of the Presidency.
Now I have stated this to a few people I know in the media and the response has been how dare I suggest such a thing. Well it's pretty easy when you have people like CNN host Chris Cuomo explaining "we could not help Hillary Clinton any more than we have. She's just got a free ride so far with the media." It's easy when leaked emails show that CNN pundit Donna Brazile gave the Clinton campaign advance notice of a CNN Town Hall question that she was worried Hillary might have trouble with. We've got emails that revealed that the Clinton campaign worked with the New York times reporter. We have emails that praise former Clinton insider ABC's George Stephanopoulos for hammering home the Clinton campaign talking points. We've got the same act when it came to trying to defeat Bernie Sanders. Facebook was found to have adjusted the algorithm to favor the Democrats and the outcry forced the dismissal of 20 employees.
Of course not every media commentator is involved, but what is very troubling is the fact that you've seen next to nothing about this media collusion in the media itself. I have not read or seen a single US election commentator in Canada who's bemoaned the lack of journalistic standards and the integrity of a large number of the media who have put their political preference before the public's interest.
It was outright embarrassing this week when the press gets all over Donald Trump's unacceptable, deplorable remarks regarding women yet have nothing to say about Bill Clinton's serial abuse of women including accusations of rape and the role Hillary Clinton played in attacking the accusers.
As someone who was brought up by a single mother, have a sister, wife, daughter, and granddaughter, I don't make a distinction based on political preference when it comes to the degradation or abuse of women. Certainly not rape, but obviously I'm not in the majority.
What's amazing to see is how few people even consider there may be consequences of a one-sided media or government institution like the IRS which is supposed to be impartial, but instead got hijacked by a political agenda.
What do you think Donald Trump supporters and those who already distrust government think about the revelation that members of the mainstream media colluded with the Clinton campaign to defeat both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump? Or what do they think of the emails that make clear that the Obama White House influenced the FBI investigation of the email server and the Justice Department's decision not to charge Hillary Clinton?
As the Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel said in a column last week about the most recent dump of leaked emails and quotes, "they proved pretty much everything she has been accused of."
The partisanship of the mainstream media, the corruption of the independence of the FBI, the Justice Department, the blatant political agenda the IRS and the tone of this election from lying Hillary to deplorables is going to further create and enhance the deep distrust of democratic institutions. That's the key going forward.
I see the Canadian commentariat naively pushing for Hillary seemingly without any inkling of the social unrest it's going to cause amongst the growing anti-establishment sentiments in the US.
They didn't see Trump coming. They missed it; they had no idea because they didn't understand the growing anti-establishment sentiment.
The small question has been Trump versus Clinton. The big question is when people no longer trust the democratic institutions what comes next?
Every conspiracy theorist has been given plenty of ammunition with what's been going on in the last couple of years in the US. Don't rule out violence that's been on tragic display in places like Baltimore, Ferguson, Missouri, and other parts of the states with the assassination of policemen.
What comes next is the question, and it's a very worrisome answer.
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