I think it was at least partly true up through the 1950s (in areas with a strong separation of government and press). I fear it’s true BECAUSE history isn’t all that accurate either, and until recently, there has been a pretty strong shared storytelling between historians and journalists.
William Randolph Hearst not only owned a lot of newspapers was politically active to the point of being elected to congress and running for president.
I’m not aware of any newspaper owner currently being in elected office at the Federal level.
Wikipedia writes about his political actions:
He sensationalized Spanish atrocities in Cuba while calling for war in 1898 against Spain. Historians, however, reject his subsequent claims to have started the war with Spain as overly extravagant.
No newspaper owner today would take the credit for starting a war.
Robert Caro’s book The Power Broker is interesting in how it recounts Moses interaction with Newspapers like the New York Times and Moses had no problem getting the Times to print what he wanted.
The map is to the territory as the corporate media complex is to the Truth.
The media used to be history as it was being written, a level 1 simulacrum, a simple descriptor.
Then it was level 2, assumed to still be level 1 but from a reasonable perspective with obvious implications.
Then it was level 3, promoted as level 1 but known by insiders to be level 2 or 3.
Now it is level 4, known by most to be a tool, but still mistaken for level 1 or 2 by those not paying attention.
Why should I believe a level 4 simulacrum of the election results when all the superweapons are both at stake and in play?
When do you think that was?
I think it was at least partly true up through the 1950s (in areas with a strong separation of government and press). I fear it’s true BECAUSE history isn’t all that accurate either, and until recently, there has been a pretty strong shared storytelling between historians and journalists.
William Randolph Hearst not only owned a lot of newspapers was politically active to the point of being elected to congress and running for president.
I’m not aware of any newspaper owner currently being in elected office at the Federal level.
Wikipedia writes about his political actions:
No newspaper owner today would take the credit for starting a war.
Robert Caro’s book The Power Broker is interesting in how it recounts Moses interaction with Newspapers like the New York Times and Moses had no problem getting the Times to print what he wanted.
Level 1 = what you wish newspapers to be—but it probably never existed
Level 2 = mainstream journalism (they lie because they want you to do X)
Level 3 = political blogging (they describe whatever tribe X believes, as if it is reality)
Level 4 = fake news (they would gladly publish GPT-3 outputs if they believed it will increase ad views)