The media - print, broadcast, and cable have always had a leftward bias and pushed that bias since almost a century. The industry began to gather like-minded people and coordinated with Democrats and attacked Republicans since roughly the Great Depression.
At first, they were more or less clever and concealed opinion in the slant of their editorials - but not seeing enough effect, they grew bolder in driving US policies and opinion and began to openly praise one side and vilify the other.
Do any of you really think that FDR was perfection on Earth and all of his opponents idiots? How about JFK and LBJ nearly triggering thermonuclear war at least twice and initiating a long-term, unsustainable war 10,000 miles away? They had a virtual "love-in" with the media until the left decided to support the enemy and turn on LBJ. Anyone think Nixon was really any different than preceding Presidents that he needed to be thrown out? Or that Carter, Clinton, and Obama were wonderfully scandal-free?
The only thing that's changed is the obviousness of the bias and the viciousness in the open for all to see.
Since many liberals get their news from the View.The baseline is pretty low.
I put it this way. The left is very good at lying to themselves.
We have been ruled by a Mediacracy for at least 50 years.
Alternate media got enough of a voice to result in the Republican revolution of 1994.
That got the Mediacracy's attention, and they became much more openly partisan. They also lost audience.
In effect, they were trading stored up credibility to win short-term victories.
But they had no way to replenish credibility, which, once lost cannot easily be regained.
President Trump's election is the result of using most of that credibility.
Now, they are reduced to shouting lies at the minority of people who only get their information from them.
waltrr cronkite (may he burn in hell) singlehandly lost the Vietnam war for the US and cost countless American lives in the process.
If you look at the numbers, cable news gets viewers in the seven digits at best -- sometimes only six. No more does 30% of the country watch a given network. So rather than trying to win a broad swathe -- which is impossible because most people don't watch news at all -- they try to maximize their niche.
FoxNews was so successful for so long because they were the only cable news channel that even arguably leaned conservative...where 40% or so of the country is. Meanwhile, the rest of broadcast and cable news was fighting over whatever percentage of the leftward part of the country watches the news. So guys like O'Donnell say fringey things because that's a market segement they can win.
The only saving grace now is that so many people don't watch the news at all as a regular habit.
Its even worse than that.
Somewhere, I think it was in 1980, the Media discovered they could manipulate elections by manipulating voters.
They tried to convince America that nominating Reagan was going to cause WW3.
They were determined to keep Reagan out to the point that Reagan felt he needed Bush on as VP to “unify” the GOP.
One of the few mistakes The Great One ever made.
It makes you wonder if it was the media (working with John Connally and Texas GOP) was how this “unify” story all started.