You've reached our premium or archival content
To access this page, and more great content just like it, you need to become a paid subscriber.
If you already have an account, please login.
Otherwise, registration is quick and you'll have access instantly after payment.
There are a lot of issues the author addresses. I take the perspective of the narratives presented by the mainstream media, 'MSM' and declining audiences on the MSM.
First I will address the declining audiences on the MSM in radio and TV.
Over 40 years, the number of people listening to radio in the Sydney market has declined from 98.5% in the 1970s to 80.4% as recently as survey 5, 2023.
Similarly on TV, twenty years ago, over a million people would watch the 1800 Nine News bulletin with Brian Henderson (RIP) in Sydney. Despite a greater population, Nine News typically has an audience of 360 thousand.
In the US, Walter Cronkite (RIP) had and audience of 60 million in the 1960s and 1970s. Today the combined viewing habits on all three ABC, NBC and CBS is less than 60 million.
It is self-evident that either people are not consuming MSM media OR consuming other sources of media including podcasts and social media.
The latter may include youtube, rumble, X, and facebook. Some organisations may host web pages with podcasts available from the host's site.
So sources of the dissemination of content is diverse.
Is the content diverse? Yes, but it is not from a centralised provider as postulated by the author of the article.
For whatever reasons, people are consuming content whose disseminators may or may not back their story with evidence.
Take for example advocates on social media promoting the medication Ozempic for the treatment of diabetes. The social media promoters have been promoting the medication for its known side effect of weight loss.
This resulted in those with diabetes not being able to access the treatment. A higher price for Ozempic for non-diabetics was not a strong price signal to deter purchase: $7.30 concession price for diabetics versus $132 for non-diabetics.
The problem is that many of these social media presenters/influencers are NOT doctors and have no cudos.
How these influencers have an influence is beyond the scope of this topic.
When it comes to the topic of covid, many anti-covid story tellers range from ranters such as Russell Brand to those who present evidence backed by government data such as Dr John Campbell.
Russell Brand
https://m.youtube.com/user/russellbrand general topics
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf1sKCbOxL0 On why young people are dying
Dr John Campbell
https://m.youtube.com/user/Campbellteaching
Despite the controversy, they manage to remain on youtube and are not taken offline.
Then there is politics and economics. Evidence-based topics presented in a coherent and intelligent way proves that commentators are not the exclusive domain of the MSM.
The Duran is an example
https://m.youtube.com/@TheDuran/videos
Glenn Beck is a conservative speaker who is opininionated. Australian radio is lacking strong "kick ass" opinion maker such as Alan Jones, Jim Ball and Dean Mackin.
In this video, Mr Beck interviews jurist and Harvard academic Emeritus Professor Alan Dershowitz on how the cases against Donald Trump will fail.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_o8aV9iCS2A
Call it a conspiracy theory, but a concern is that the MSM does not present a case for Trump.
From an academic who will not vote for Donald Trump, Alan Dershovitz's concern is that if the cases against Trump succeed, then it sets a precedent against freedom of speech for future candidates seeking office to the POTUS.
The author of this article alludes to the media not presenting strong arguments for and against an issue.
The case for Donald Trump is an an example.
But then will there be enough time to allocate on an MSM channel to broadcast diverse views?
Take for example former 2UE presenter John Cadogan. His main topic is car reviews. In addition he talks about bolts, nuts and other netallurgical issues.
He also presents an argument against EVs not being as friendly to the environment as proferred by by the MSM.
At the same time, Mr Cadogan is NOT a climate denier. He argues that the solutions to addressing excess CO2 are not being met.
https://m.youtube.com/user/AutoExpertTV
He is a prolific content provider attracting an audience of at least 43000 within a few hours of the podcast release.
In sum, MSM audiences are falling, people are sourcing their content feom diverse sources whether that content is backed by evidence.
The content in non-MSM channels may present views which are an alternative to those presented on the MSM.
At the same time, the content may be pure rants or intelligent and coherent comments backed by evidence.
Thank you,
Anthony, Strathfield South, in the land of the Wangal and Darug Peoples of the Eora Nation