Hopes and Delusions of the Liberal Press
Many citizens are frightened by the ascent of a populist tycoon, by the incessant whirlwind of fake news and ... the weakening of American democracy.
Published in Corriere della Sera (Italy) on 22 December 2016 by Massimo Gaggi [link to original]
Translated from Italian by Federica Vavala. Edited by Christina Virkus.
Posted on December 27, 2016.
Liberal America’s press has experienced Trump’s election as a political catastrophe and a professional failure, due to its inability to grasp the depth of the country’s distress. During this self-examination, a sudden discovery emerged. Newspaper companies have not lost credibility or support. Instead, the disturbing change in U.S. politics has resulted in their financial growth. Many citizens are frightened by the ascent of a populist tycoon, by the incessant whirlwind of fake news and, ultimately, by the weakening of American democracy. This fear has led them to once again support newspapers that had been neglected in the last few years in favor of citizen journalism in the new digital ecosystem. The Trump earthquake has resulted in a significant increase of readers for mainstream media. The New York Times, for example, recorded over 130,000 new paid subscriptions during the three weeks following the vote. There was then a boom in philanthropic support toward media outlets that depend on volunteer work, such as the cooperative organization for investigative journalism ProPublica, or Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.
http://watchingamerica.com/WA/2016/12/27/hopes-and-delusions-of-the-liberal-press/
