An investigative look into how major US media outlets, including CBS and The Washington Post, are allegedly capitulating to Donald Trump and his billionaire allies, censoring interviews, and blurring the lines of truth, exacerbated by Elon Musk's Grokipedia and AI-generated misinformation.
The article critiques the current state of US media, highlighting instances where outlets appear to cater to Donald Trump and his powerful allies. It begins with the author's sarcastic desire for Trump's approval, then details how CBS News's 60 Minutes allegedly edited out crucial segments from an interview with Trump. These omitted parts included Trump praising the network's new owners (the Ellison father-and-son duo, who are his billionaire allies) and new editor-in-chief (Bari Weiss, picked for pro-Israel views), boasting about a $16m settlement from Paramount, and denying knowledge of a pardoned crypto tycoon. The author argues this 'Trump-friendly editing' is part of a broader trend, citing corporate donors (Amazon, Apple, Meta, Comcast) showing 'fealty' to Trump and The Washington Post defending his White House renovations while refusing to publish critical cartoons. The piece then expands to the more alarming trend of 'editing our relationship with reality,' exemplified by Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter to control online discourse and his launch of Grokipedia, an AI-powered Wikipedia prone to factual errors and blurring the line between opinion and fact. Finally, it discusses the dangers of AI-generated videos, such as the racist 'rage-bait' content falsely reported as real by Fox News, further illustrating how truth is being muddied and manipulated.
