Lord have mercy, how mainstream media, the supposed bastion of “balanced reporting” and “objective journalism,” has fallen.
Once mainstream –i.e. Corporate – media was celebrated as a courageous watchdog willing to speak truth to power, come what may. Today, that body of “journalists” has become hitmen for Rupert Murdoch and those of his ilk. They’re like a 1960s police attack dog, protecting the racist mobs and the cops, sweat-drenched from beating the black off peaceful protesters with nightsticks, yet willingly and forcefully ripping out the flesh of those their masters target as troublemakers.
Plus, today’s corporate media is more “corporate” than “media,” ruled by that almighty dollar, and the person or entity signing off on their direct deposits.
And the question—Has mainstream media been bought off?—well, if you have to ask, you haven’t been paying attention… and the media’s counting on that.
Let’s just say the fix is in, and the receipts are digital, color-coded and stamped with the logos of billion-dollar conglomerates.
One script rule
Start with your friendly neighborhood newscaster—the one with the charming smile, plastic hair and vaguely robotic delivery. Chances are, they don’t work for your community. They work for Sinclair Broadcast Group, a mega-media monster that owns nearly 200 local TV stations across the United States. And guess what? Those “local” anchors often read the same exact script, from Washington to Wichita, parroting corporate-crafted soundbites disguised as hometown news. Welcome to America, where even your weather report has been corporately curated.
What kind of nonsense is that? It’s like going to a cookout expecting Big Mama’s potato salad and getting a pre-packaged side dish overflowing with GOP-approved raisins. You didn’t ask for it, but here it is—lukewarm and laced with bias.
C.R.E.A.M.
Then we have the so-called “cable news giants.” CNN, Fox, MSNBC—different seasoning, same dish. These networks are owned by right-leaning billionaires or massive corporations with tax shelters in places where the sun never sets on the wealthy. Their golden rule? Don’t bite the hand that funds the commercials.
Think about it: Do you really expect NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast), or ABC (owned by Disney), or Fox News (blessed by the ghost of Reaganomics) to challenge the economic status quo? Please. They all live by the credo the Wu Tang Clan put to a beat: “Cash rules everything around me. C.R.E.A.M., get the money. Dolla-Dolla bill y’all!”
And the result? Newsrooms are more interested in celebrity wardrobe malfunctions than in the mass murder of environmental activists—at least 1,733 murdered between 2012 and 2021. Or worse, they report “the news” without reporting THE news.
Ignored news
With marching orders from those who make their direct deposits, corporate media live by the adage, “If a critical event happens anywhere on the planet and we don’t report on it, it never happened.” There’s not enough time or space to run down all the newsworthy happenings that got swept under the rug. Don’t believe me? Just roll the tape on all the stories that somehow slipped past your 24-hour news cycle:
- The “Hands Off” Protest, where thousands of Black, Brown, and working-class folks flooded streets in opposition to war, police violence, and empire, was ignored.
- The presence of “forever chemicals” poisoning our water, air, and cereal is downplayed. It’s too messy for advertisers, and besides, Dow Chemical isn’t going to pay for a takedown of itself.
- Union victories led by people of color—ghosted. You’d think the media would cheer on workers… but corporate owners prefer obedient labor.
- Nearly half of unhoused individuals are employed, yet we’re supposed to believe homelessness is a personal failure and not a system-wide scam?
- A New York judge called for a recount of the 2024 Presidential Election in a New York county due to “gross irregularities,” and you didn’t hear about it? Funny how “breaking news” never breaks that way.
- The 50501 Movement protests—crickets. Apparently, massive demonstrations against political corruption don’t fit the ad-friendly narrative.
- Rising global opposition to Trump’s policies is downplayed as “extremism” or “divisiveness,” while white nationalism gets a PR makeover.
- The growing number of missing Black women and girls is treated like background noise. If they were blonde and missing in Aruba, we’d have a week-long miniseries.
- Global protests against authoritarian regimes? Meh. Doesn’t move the Nielsen ratings.
- African nations rejecting neocolonialism in favor of self-determination? Heaven forbid Americans start thinking Africa is more than a charity case or a war zone.
When Black folks in Burkina Faso say, “We’re done with puppet governments and IMF strangulation,” that’s global news. But instead, we get another 10-minute segment on Taylor Swift and her boo.
Maintaining illusion of journalism
Maybe “bought off” is the wrong terminology to use here. Rather, these ultra-conservative, hyper gazillionaires have had the media “bought in,” as in brought in to join their team as the Chief PR Entities. Big Money Media’s job then becomes shaping and sharing stories with an anti-worker, anti-living wage, anti- democracy bent. The result: a media ecosystem engineered to maintain the illusion of democracy while gatekeeping truth. What you see is not what you get. What you get is whatever doesn’t threaten a billionaire’s bottom line.
This is the media that gave you Trump’s every tweet on a silver platter while ignoring record-breaking wildfires across the Global South. The same media that gaslit you into thinking we’re broke, even as corporations rake in record profits while their workers sleep in cars.
It’s like we’re all living that Severance life. Oblivious and unaware.
Breaking News: We can fight back
You don’t have to be media-rich to be media literate. Here’s a list of ways to bypass the propaganda machine and actually get informed:
- Support the Black Press – Outlets like Word In Black, The Black Agenda Report, The AFRO and the Defender Network tell our stories, unfiltered.
- Subscribe to Independent Journalism – Publications like Democracy Now, The Intercept, Grist, Truthout, and ProPublica still believe facts matter.
- Follow Global South Media – Al Jazeera, Africanews and Telesur offer perspectives Western media buries.
- Use Social Media Critically – Follow organizers, whistleblowers, and citizen journalists. And always ask: “Who benefits from this narrative?”
- Host Community Media Circles – Watch, read, and break down the news together. Media literacy is power.
- Call Out Media Silence – Write letters. Flood comment sections. Let them know we see the bias, and we’re not buying it.
So yes, mainstream media has been bought off. But the resistance? It’s still free—unfiltered, underfunded, and more necessary than ever.
Pick up a mic. Pass the pen. Tune out the noise.
And whatever you do—don’t change the channel. Change the story.
