News Actors: How the Entertainment Industry Took Over Reporting (and Is Making Billions While Shaping America's Narrative)

When you start seeing news anchors as the paid actors they are, you will begin to understand that you are watching the movie they have written for your life.

But that's just the first step. When you understand that, you'll also see that all the basic elements are there - the flashy graphics and interesting storylines; the expensive sets and choreographed lighting; the camera movement and aesthetic tones. Even the funding from the companies who will be represented well on screen. It's all there.

The only difference is that movies have a different history. Movies were ALWAYS make-believe. They're set in far off galaxies, take place in past or future times, and their plots unfold through monsters in spectacular scenes.

The news, on the other hand, started out with a strong emphasis on balance and truth. But the big money that owns news agencies quickly saw that they could get more viewers, which would attract greater advertising revenue, if they made the news more like the movies. So, they focused on the most sensational stories - and even better if those stories showcased movie stars and other important figures.

And it worked! From the 90s to the early 2000s, we saw a sharp decline in longtime anchors (the Walter Croncites and Edward R. Murrows of the old school of broadcast news), and a sharp incline in younger faces with younger voices and more relatability among the "spending" classes of their viewership. With that shift came a spike in revenue. And with that came enormous, publicly traded companies (like the New York Times, News Corp, Gannett, Comcast Corp, Fox, Paramount Global, and others).

Pretty soon, the younger, more malleable "journalists" were not enough to keep each new quarter profitable for their demanding shareholders. So, they started pruning the fluff stories and focusing on longer viewership - the bloody crime scenes, the dirty politician scandals, the WARS, WARS WARS!

Before long, major news networks weren't even reporting the news, but rather what So-and-so said on his Twitter feed, and the elegant dresses worn by the rich and famous gala attendees - stories that wouldn't even be considered newsworthy a decade prior.

That lasted for a while - or at least a few profitable quarters. But the next big change would need to happen soon to remain competitive. This gave rise to the acquisition age of news companies. And the ownership of America's news organizations went from a team of folks with a mostly journalistic bent to becoming concentrated among a few large corporations, families, and individuals.

Here's a brief overview of some of the major media owners and the scope of their influence:

Rupert Murdoch: News Corp: Owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post. Murdoch's family has long held control of News Corp, which has significant influence in American and international media.

21st Century Fox: Previously owned by Murdoch, it was sold to Disney in 2019. The Murdoch family retained ownership of Fox News and other parts of the company through Fox Corporation.

The Walt Disney Company: Owns ABC News, ESPN, and various entertainment media outlets. Disney acquired most of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019, adding significant media properties to its portfolio.

Comcast Corporation: Owns NBCUniversal, which includes NBC News, MSNBC, and other cable channels like CNBC. Comcast is also a major provider of cable television and broadband services.

Paramount Global (formerly Viacom CBS): Owns CBS News, CBS Television Network, and MTV, as well as other entertainment media assets. They are also behind the streaming service Paramount+.

AT&T (through Time / Warner Bros. / Discovery): Previously owned CNN and HBO, but after a 2022 merger, Warner Bros. Discovery now oversees CNN, HLN, and other news networks. AT&T remains a major player in telecommunications and media distribution.

Jeff Bezos: Personally owns The Washington Post, one of the most influential newspapers in the U.S. Bezos purchased the paper in 2013 through his personal investment firm Nash Holdings LLC.

Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett): Owned a variety of local newspapers through BH Media Group, though in 2020, Berkshire Hathaway sold most of these papers to Lee Enterprises.

Gannett: The largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., Gannett owns USA Today and hundreds of local newspapers. It merged with Gate House Media in 2019, consolidating much of the local newspaper market.

Look at these owners. A telephone company (AT&T), an online merchant platform billionaire (Jeff Bezos), a production company with Hollywood studio lots (Paramount). More than half are not news organizations. They don't know anything about journalism. The four Warner Brothers (Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner), started off in the film industry by showing movies in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. Walt Disney Company started out making cartoons and feature films for kids. MTV and Paramount are literally studios designed only to make pop culture entertainment.

This is why we now have "news-like" shows called "The View," which showcases movie stars talking politics, "The Kelly Clarkson Show," "The Drew Barrymore Show," "Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith," "Live with Kelly and Mark"... The list is long and remarkably obvious to college-trained journalists and those who've watched news shows further and further resemble the movies.

This brings us back to what I said at the start of this: Your news anchors are not your friends, though they used to have your best interests at heart. They do not care about the stories they're airing, though they used to be so involved in their stories they would drive across America in an RV getting stories from REAL AMERICANS (imagine that).

Few Americans still remember that Charles Kuralt was made famous for his "On the Road" segments for CBS News, which began in 1967. He traveled across America in a motorhome, avoiding highways and seeking out stories about everyday people and places on the nation's back roads. This project became a beloved, long-running feature that lasted over 25 years, during which time he logged over a million miles.

Forget about years-long dedication to the craft. Gone are the days when news networks hire reporters who wouldn’t even read a story unless it was of the utmost importance, and which shaped America’s “understanding” of a topic rather than a “perception” of it.

These days, when on-air talent leaves for work in the morning, they likely don't even know the stories they'll be "so passionate about" on the TV screen later that afternoon. They come in each day, read a script, look pretty, and get paid handsomely for their four-hour workday. And there would normally be nothing wrong with that - if not for the fact that they are selling it to you - us, the general public - as crucially important, fact-based commentary that we should all believe, take sides over, and base our lives around.

As a result of all this media fuckery, we live in a reality that is not reality. We only talk about the subjects they tell us are important. We are divided over the conflict that they generated on two different broadcasts which are owned by the same friggin' companies!

We navigate our lives thinking we have the facts, when we really only have the opinions of the owners of the news companies (not even the anchors themselves, who are nothing more than the puppets of the whole show).

I have said this a thousand times: If you consider yourself informed after watching any mainstream news broadcast, you are a sheep being shepherded into your cozy, little pen. All the shepherds work for the same land owners, but divide you into divisive corners because it keeps your attention off what's really happening, and they're spending billions of dollars to play this little game.

Trust me: They're getting a return on that investment.

Image generated by Cyle O’Donnell using DALL-E.