OPINION: The global news media should take the Trump election victory very seriously indeed because it will impact enormously on the way they do business.
In the US and many countries in the world today, the mass of the population have indicated quite clearly that they are sick and tired of a political order in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Where the vested interests of big business and personal enrichment take precedence over poverty relief and social development.
Democracy itself is under threat as is political correctness and feeling sorry for migrants.
All of this points toward far more conservative and militaristic world leaders bent on building walls and bombing the daylights out of dissidents.
And a casualty of this often arch-conservatism will be press freedom. Of the thousands of newspapers in the US, only a handful backed Donald Trump. And like other world leaders who have gained power by bending the truth and lying through their teeth, Trump is no friend of the media.
Whether he will try and repair relationships with the media is moot. Maybe he will give it a try but I am not sure he has the patience to persevere.
In this position most conservative leaders who treat the process of democracy with a certain amount of disdain tend to start leaning on the media by bringing in restrictions and muzzles.
The news media have a choice now. To go back to the fundamentals of good journalism, like presenting both sides of the story without opinion, or continuing to become more and more like contrived reality shows
Right now the news media the world over are pretty much sticking their chins out and openly inviting the new political orders to start throwing punches.
News media has become almost hysterically partisan and what used to be reportage involving both sides of the story has largely become one-sided and opinionated.
There are hardly any newspaper reporters left. Just opinionistas pushing their own agendas or those of their paymasters.
Social media has added to the carnage that is destroying news journalism as we know it. Ordinary citizens of the world have climbed on the bandwagon of spreading the gospel of hearsay, half-truths, lies and deception.
The old adage of not believing everything your read in newspapers has now spread to social media in particular and radio, television and newspapers in general.
The news media have a choice now. To go back to the fundamentals of good journalism, like presenting both sides of the story without opinion, or continuing to become more and more like contrived reality shows.
And of course, one has to wonder just how long it will take those millions of consumers who have decided to vote against the current political order, to vote against media excesses of celebrities who have achieved nothing but to become famous for being famous.
Will the media continue to be able to rely on the Kardashians to bolster their flagging revenue streams or will they have to start looking at something a lot less frivolous. ?
There is no doubt that the wave a public sentiment sweeping the world against the current political order will impact heavily on the news media.
Follow Chris Moerdyk on Twitter @chrismoerdyk
Donald Trump caricature / Wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
