‘Truth Be Damned’ – Our Fourth Estate is Dead

The existence of independent news organizations, such as Muncie Voice, is a direct response to the appalling state of media in the United States. Our Fourth Estate, the crucial guardian of democratic accountability, along with its journalistic integrity, has all but vanished. It has been replaced by corporate-owned entities whose loyalty lies with the corporate line, not with the citizenry. When the media’s goal shifted from serving citizens’ interests to making money, independent journalism could not survive. Capitalism inflicted a fatal wound on the Fourth Estate, damning the truth in the process.

RussiaGate: The Ultimate Proof of Media Corruption

Never has the failure of the mainstream media been so blatantly proven as during the “RussiaGate” narrative—the persistent insistence on President Donald Trump’s “puppet” status with Moscow.

As Robert Kaplan writes in his latest analysis: “It appears…a conspiracy frenzy in which the Establishment exploited their enthusiasm over the ‘scandal’ in a clever maneuver to bludgeon an out-of-step new President back into line.”

The media led the drumbeat, with Neoconservatives and Establishment Democrats marching in lockstep. Democrats blamed Russia for interfering with the 2016 election, suggesting that hacked emails released on WikiLeaks swayed millions of voters to cast ballots for Trump. This seems an odd claim, given that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had already interfered in its own primary election between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, let’s not forget the billions of dollars in free, wall-to-wall publicity given to Trump by media outlets—a strategy ironically created by the DNC and Clintonites themselves.

How did the so-called Fourth Estate respond to the leaks? They told us to ignore WikiLeaks, dismissing the information as “tools for Russian propaganda.” The tangled web they wove was one of deception over diligence.

The President Caved to the “Liars”

Donald J. Trump spent the entirety of his campaign and his first year in office calling the mainstream media “Liars!” He and his administration correctly dismissed any media outlet other than Fox News and Breitbart—sources that have themselves been clearly defined as right-wing propaganda.

Yet, despite months of fighting the media and pointing out its corruption, Trump caved in less than four months as president. He stopped marching to the beat of the Alt-Right and began marching in step with the fraudulent, corporate-run media. Where was the outrage from his core supporters? He had abandoned key campaign promises and even began eliminating his most loyal confidantes from the alternative movement.

The path to his capitulation was clear: he quickly learned what the Establishment wanted and how to get the once “lying media” to sing his praises daily.

As Robert Kaplan further explains:

“Trump was made to look strong when he fired off missiles against a Syrian airbase and talked tough about Russian guilt. Neocon commentator Charles Krauthammer praised Trump’s shift as demonstrating that ‘America is back.’ Trump further enhanced his image for toughness when his military dropped the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the ‘mother of all bombs,’ on some caves in Afghanistan.”

When you’re a thin-skinned egomaniac, the daily media assaults take their toll. Trump couldn’t stand seeing himself depicted as a pawn of Vladimir Putin. He quickly learned the formula: act “presidential” by bombing a sovereign nation, and the media that once savaged him would be quick to applaud.

The True Winners of the RussiaGate Farce

The RussiaGate narrative was a successful deflection for all players involved in the political establishment.

It not only allowed the DNC to divert attention from their own internal corruption and flawed campaign strategies, but it also provided cover for the GOP, which tossed over a dozen candidates into the primary but still lost to a racist reality TV host. As I’ve pointed out countless times, both political aisles are frauds owned by corporate America. They only pretend to care about their constituents, mainly during election time.

Kaplan captures the ultimate farce well:

“RussiaGate also taught the American ‘left’ to learn to love McCarthyism since ‘proof’ of guilt pretty much amounted to having had contact with a Russian — and anyone who questioned the dubious factual basis of the ‘scandal’ was dismissed as a ‘Russian propagandist’ or a ‘Moscow stooge’ or a purveyor of ‘fake news.’ Another RussiaGate winner was the mainstream news media which got a lot of mileage – and loads of new subscription money – by pushing the convoluted conspiracy.”

The New York Times positioned itself as the great protector of “truth,” and The Washington Post adopted the melodramatic slogan: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Sadly, as long as Americans continue to buy the lies and subscribe to the fraud of the fourth estate, the Post and Times will continue peddling newspaper-selling propaganda—truth be damned. As a result, and even more importantly, Americans will continue making poor decisions and wonder why nothing ever changes.