It’s a theory, but doing that is like telling someone their spouse is dating escorts or their kids are turning tricks to buy drug money – they already privately know, did the calculations, and decided to stay the course regardless because there is a real (if misused) power in denial. I do not understand when people point out things that others already know, believing this one brilliant insight will change people’s minds. No one likes to be told they are wrong anymore. People will play devil’s advocate just to tweak your nose. The press has to come to grips with a new reality and while they are preaching to the converted, they are just coming off as slimy little brats tattling on their big brother and the parents are just tuning him out.
The press has serious credibility problems of their own, like the boy who cried wolf one time too many. The scandals of Lara Logan, Sabrina Erdely, and Brian Williams, for instance, weren’t that long ago, and people who don’t want to hear it, they will cite all those real transgressions as reason why not to believe the press, and the worst thing is that they aren’t wrong in rejecting it, but believing someone else by default isn’t an answer, either.
I think people are looking for simple, easy, sassy, and Afterschool Special solutions, and that is not happening. The problems go much deeper than what the press is willing to admit. The press has no power anymore. They have to regroup before picking their battles carefully. People will believe the Kardashians before they will believe the Washington Post or 60 Minutes, and that reality is truly frightening.
