Thanks to Legacy Media, Fascism Creep is More Prevalent Than Ever

While fascism has built itself on opposing mainstream conservatism, legacy news media seems to be embracing it too

Photo by ThisisEngineering on Unsplash

Legacy, or old media represents news media before the so-called Information Age, including corporate media outlets like MSNBC and CNN. As trust in those platforms has eroded over the last several decades, independent media has become the go-to source for more accurate news. The reason for the distrust in legacy media transcends politics as it tries to redefine our understanding of some basic things like antisemitism while normalizing Western autocracy.

While pundits and high-ranking government officials still refer to the United States as a beacon of democracy and the world leader in everything under the sun, the reality is much darker and more dystopian than they would have you believe. From politicians declaring the U.S. should regulate speech on social media, attempting to redefine antisemitism, and embracing a more Latinophobic tone to now claiming speaking out against genocide is equal to neo-Nazism, there seems to be no line corporate media is unwilling to cross.

Even former Republican lawmaker and host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough openly declared that he and his wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski met with President-elect Donald Trump to “restart communications” with the divisive and fascist-leaning wanna-be dictator. What they fail to understand (considering they are pundits and not journalists) is that brown-nosing people is not how you hold truth to power.

It seems as though after Trump’s victory, many in the corporate news media ecosystem have taken a position of trying to normalize not just someone who Scarborough once said is “not a reach” to compare to Hitler but his Hitleresque policies. For its part, legacy media keeps taking the far-right bait which, in turn, formalizes the beliefs and proposed actions of such a person.

Corporate news outlets fell tight into the hype about nonsensical selections for Trump’s cabinet such as Matt Gaetz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Meanwhile, the reporting on proposed policies against women, immigrants, transgender people, and nonwhite communities is scant or nonexistent. Instead, they have run segments with pundits that have adopted far-right language like using “woke” in dubious undefined terms, “identity politics” (a dog whistle targeting social and racial justice initiatives), and trans rights to convince society to abandon the issues.

As legacy media struggles with public trust due to biased coverage of key issues like police brutality, race relations, and the plight of Palestinians who have lived under Israel’s Western-backed gun for 76 years, its strategy for the future cannot be focused on redefining things to fit its narratives. Rather, it should be focused on providing the full context to stories and telling the whole truth. Because equating everyone with being Nazis and only telling one side of any given story while ignoring what’s coming for marginalized groups isn’t a flex and will only ensure more people turn away. 

This is largely why people are not just turning to independent journalists like myself, Ken Klippenstein, and outlets like Drop Site News and Zeteo, it’s also what’s driving more people to get their news from news influencers on social media. For corporate news media, shifting the narrative to a more right-wing fascist tone and employing the use of far-right thought for clicks and ad dollars will only drive society away and create more demand for reporters like us.

For that, we thank you.

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I’m a freelance journalist. Find my work at Latino Rebels, Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or donate on Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp