There is no business like ... the news business?

Our local newspaper is practically dead.  When I first came to town, it was one of those old-style large sheets, with plenty of local, national, and international news.  It was an excellent family-owned newspaper, just like the one that I was used to in my previous hometown.

The death of this newspaper has been swift.  It is now an unrecognizable shrunk version of its former self, with overlords from far away.  I have decided to let the subscription expire when Movember ends.

But, the news business itself has been highly profitable for those who have tapped into the zeitgeist.  Like the New York Times, for instance.  trump has made the NYT great again! "More than three million paid digital-only subscribers."

Perhaps more important to shareholders, the company reported that it continued to be profitable. Net income reached $24.9 million ... Operating profits, the company’s preferred measure, rose 30 percent to $41.4 million in the period.

Including this sucker!

The more trump pisses off the media, the more profitable these big time media companies get.  The more the media piss off trump, the more popular he gets with his base.  It is a twisted relationship that they have.

What worries me is the wider question of how Trump and the media interact.
When you watch the US morning shows - and evening shows come to that - what you notice is how things have changed.
Even those who were not originally taking sides are now nailing their colours to the mast. Fox and MSNBC have always played to their own bases. But now CNN, too, has editorialised its evening slot with Chris Cuomo - who gives us an essay, a comment piece, on whatever is getting him fired up.
It's a good watch actually. And makes you engaged.
But make no mistake - it's the same game that Trump is playing. The one they pretend to despise. If DJT can rally his base - then - goes the logic - why shouldn't TV do it too.
It works for viewing figures in the same way it works for electoral success. It works, in other words, for those who like their chambers echoed - but it's an odd place for news to sit.

So, is the US media doing its job?

I leave it to the critic-extraordinaire, Noam Chomsky, to answer that question:

It depends on what we think their job is. They are businesses, so by accepted standards their job is profit. By other standards, they have a duty to the public to provide “all the news that’s fit to print,” under a concept of “fitness” that is as free as possible from submission to power interests or other distorting factors. About this there is a great deal to say – I’ve devoted many words to the topic elsewhere, as have many others. But in today’s strange climate of Trumpian “alternative facts” and “false reality,” it is useful to recognize that with all their flaws, which are many, the mainstream media remain an indispensable source of information about the world.