“There’s something happening here and what it is ain’t exactly clear.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about those lyrics lately in the context of this moment. There has never been a time in my 30-year professional career where I have felt more disconnected from the current conventional wisdom in the American media, which is a reflection of the world view of America’s political, technology, and finance elites.
The invitation list of President Biden’s state dinner was a perfect example. Included on the guest list were the CEOs of NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, late night television hosts, morning show television hosts, and all of the spokes of a vast and interconnected ecosystem that sets the framework for deciding what gets seen and what remains unseen in America.
Here is the prevailing conventional wisdom in Washington, DC:
The 2022 midterm election was a great landslide victory for President Biden and Senator Schumer. The message was clear. Four more years for President Biden. There will be no opposition in a Democratic primary should Biden seek re-election at age 82 because President Biden is the only Democratic candidate who can beat Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the GOP frontrunner, though DeSantis could be a real threat and a serious challenger for the MAGA throne. In the end though, Trump will win. 2024 will be a 2020 rematch. The DNC will strip New Hampshire of its first in the nation primary status. Kevin McCarthy will be speaker of the House. The economy is strong. Inflation is loosening. Democracy was saved in 2022.
I think it’s delusional. Completely. Absolutely. Totally.
Narrative is the word used by the political, media and PR industrial complex to describe the accumulated wisdom around the best frame through which to contextualize and see the events of the day. Narrative is the filter through which meaning is distilled from the great happenings of the moment. It is the lubricant that connects disparate events together in the mind of the storyteller into a greater and more understandable whole for the consumer.
The fundamental crisis in the American media isn’t a collapse of ratings. It is a collapse of understanding around the lives of the American people, and specifically a narrative that places American culture downstream from American politics. The reality of American life is that American culture is the headwaters of American politics. If American politics were a polluted river — which it substantially is —then it is the Ohio, not the Monongahela. Politics flows from our culture, but watching CNN makes it seem like the only things of importance happening in America are the things that happen in Washington, DC, and the only connections that matter are the ones between Capitol Hill, Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood.