the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in the wake of President-elect Trump’s resounding win, traditional news media is finally confronting its lack of credibility and waning influence. For decades, legacy outlets like The New York Times and CNN have shaped political narratives, but the 2024 election cycle has underscored a massive shift. Influencer-led media, driven by platforms like Joe Rogan’s podcast and Elon Musk’s social network, X, has taken center stage, sidelining conventional outlets in favor of alternative voices.
According to Axios CEO Jim VandeHei, the legacy media’s prominence is no longer what it once was. “All of us have to come to grips with the fact that the legacy media is just not as important as it thinks it is,” VandeHei said on MSNBC. “It’s a relatively small group of people who rely on us for their information.”
Throughout the campaign, both Trump and Vice President Harris largely bypassed traditional news channels ie… “Fake News”, choosing instead to engage with influencers, podcasters, and streamers, who brought unprecedented access and impact. YouTubers like the Nelk Boys and comedians such as Theo Von were credited by UFC CEO Dana White for giving Trump’s message reach and resonance. Even journalism professor Michael Socolow noted, “That a president-elect could win so overwhelmingly…while ignoring The New York Times and CNN should be a moment of self-reflective reckoning for ‘mainstream’ media.”
While some newsrooms, like The Washington Post, faced internal dissent over waning trust and influence, there’s also a broader issue: the decline in public trust in news media overall. Post owner Jeff Bezos highlighted Gallup’s findings on record-low trust in traditional media and urged that the solution must come from within. “Complaining is not a strategy,” he said, pointing to credibility as something the media must actively rebuild.
The 2024 election also exposed a disconnect between media narratives and the public’s view of Trump and other political figures. “Vast swaths of the electorate just don’t believe what the mainstream media has been telling them,” explained DePauw University professor Jeffrey McCall. “The media has been engaging in activism to the point where a majority of regular Americans just don’t listen to it anymore.”
As political analyst Jen Psaki noted, the focus on “Never Trump” Republicans who exited the GOP may have skewed the media’s perspective. “There was an over-lifting up of people who left Trump,” Psaki said, adding that voices who left the Democratic Party may play a more significant role in the future.
Looking ahead, the rise of alternative media could lead Americans further into niche, affirming media “silos,” says George Washington University’s Steven Livingston. Comparing news consumption to religious practice, Livingston observed that many turn to specific outlets for affirmation, not just information. “We go to these places to have affirmation in our beliefs and identity,” he explained.
The legacy media’s influence may be shrinking, but its role in public life isn’t disappearing—only transforming as Americans increasingly turn to diverse, nontraditional voices for their news and perspectives.
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It reached critical mass. It got to the point where even a lot of Dems saw the disconnect between what was being reported vs what they could see in reality. Almost all of legacy media is not journalism but political operatives pushing an agenda.