For years, the liberal media has been a dominant force in shaping public opinion; whether parroting the Democratic Party's talking points, attacking conservative figures, or downplaying major scandals that could harm their favored candidates, they had a virtual monopoly in the field of journalism. Things have changed. From the rise of conservative networks and independent journalists, people have more choices now, and it could spell the end of the liberal media.
It’s not just me saying it. Jim VandeHei, the co-founder of the USAID-funded Politico, also believes the heyday of left-wing media might finally be over.
And not just because they’re losing the slush fund money.
“The left right now, liberal media, has probably never been weaker in my lifetime than right now,” he said.
It's not hard to see why. Prominent outlets like CNN, NBC News, and even The Washington Post have hemorrhaged viewers and readers amid declining trust and massive shifts in how Americans consume information. Could this be the beginning of the end for the left's media empire?
It’s safe to say that the collapse of left-wing media is not just anecdotal; hard numbers back the trend. CNN, for example, recently slashed approximately 6% of its workforce, eliminating roughly 200 jobs in a desperate bid to adjust to what the network called “irreversible shifts” in audience habits. Translation: fewer people are tuning in to their liberal propaganda.
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The Washington Post fared even worse. The Bezos-owned publication suffered a jaw-dropping collapse in daily digital traffic during Joe Biden's term. At its peak in January 2021 — shortly after Biden was inaugurated — the Post boasted 22.5 million daily active users. But by mid-2024, that number had plummeted to a mere 2.5-3 million users. Some call this proof of a changing media landscape. Others call it well-deserved justice for covering up Biden's cognitive issues and burying legitimate news stories that conflicted with its agenda.
What happened? I think it’s fair to argue that the liberal media is suffering from the consequences of its own hubris. Instead of calling out Biden’s visible cognitive decline and policy failures, left-leaning outlets spent four years running interference. They squashed any meaningful criticism, ignored glaring scandals like Hunter Biden's laptop, and mocked conservatives who dared to bring up the corruption.
Telling the public that the economy was awesome when it wasn’t certainly didn’t help. Leftists like to be told what they want to hear, but sometimes, even they don’t like being told not to believe their lying eyes.
Despite the bleak outlook for liberal media, VandeHei expressed optimism that networks like MSNBC could rebound with smart leadership and engaging personalities. But he seems to think that includes Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough, and Mika Brzezinski.
VandeHei outlined a potential path forward for liberal media, emphasizing the need to adapt.
“There’s a lot to work with. You just got to change. You just got to stop worrying, thinking about how great it was, because it was great, and it never is going to be great again like that, right? But that doesn’t mean it can’t be good and that it can’t be successful. It just means you’re going to have to buckle up and be ready for extraordinary, high-velocity change,” he explained.
In his opinion, nostalgia for the glory days of traditional news empires will only weigh down the left’s attempts to compete with rising stars in the conservative and independent media spaces, particularly podcasters. Without quick and decisive innovation, he warned, the industry will crumble.
I think VandeHei fails to recognize that personalities like Maddow, Scarborough, and Brzezinski are responsible for the breakdown in trust between the network and its viewers. Scarborough, for example, claimed weeks after the release of the Special Counsel Robert Hur report last year that Biden was perfectly cogent and the best he’d been in fifty years.
"I've said it for years now: he's cogent," he claimed. "But I undersold him when I said he was cogent. He's far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he's better than he's ever been, intellectually, and analytically, because he's been around for 50 years. And, you know — I don't know if people know this or not — Biden used to be a hothead. Sometimes that Irishman would get in front of the reasoning. Sometimes he would say things he didn't want to say."
He was lying. Obviously. And he wound up with egg on his face after the Biden/Trump debate.
The harsh reality might be that left-wing media is not simply a victim of changing viewer habits; it’s a casualty of its own recklessness. By refusing to cover real stories, prioritizing activism over journalism, and endlessly shielding President Biden from scrutiny, liberal media may have effectively committed suicide. Americans have grown weary of the hypocrisy, the obvious one-sided reporting, and the constant attempts to manipulate the public with lies.
Millions of Americans are waking up to the reality that left-leaning outlets are not — and have never been — interested in actual journalism. And for that, if they fail, they deserve it.
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