re: Question: At what point did all forms of media drop any pretense of objectivity...

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The OP has the correct response to this specific question. Yes, there has always been bias in the media and it has gradually worsened but the media was always able to stitch together a pretense of objectivity until Trump came along.

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This is how I remember things. They at least pretended to be somewhat fair until the Trump win. Then it all collapsed.

2000-2010

1. end of clinton, beginning of Bush through Obama
2. slow death of newspapers begins - season five of the wire for example
3. explosion of 24 hr news channels available on TV and streaming creates more pundits than anchors, Fox, CNN, MSNBC etc
4. creation of twitter and internet media forces the “get it first at all costs” mentality into MSM
5. get it first creates “unnamed sources say” becoming mainstream
6. conglomerates start accumulating media assets, easy to control narratives
7. message boards explode - DU, Reddit, etc
8. facebook comes along and chain emails become memes on FB walls
9. fake news becomes more and more available and normalized with url links and story quotes being shared
10. special interest groups invest in alternative media like vice, breitbart, dailyKos, etc
11. lobbyists begin to take control of the bureaucracy, control msm
12. politicians follow clinton and everyone has a foundation with influence and info to sell for favorable coverage
13. enter G. Soros and emergence of China to bring financial considerations to mega MSM corps to an all time high

brings us to 2013 and this

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On January 2, 2013 Barack Obama signed and enacted into “law” HR 4310, also known as Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, which was part of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). A large majority of concerned Americans were focused on the indefinite detention of US Citizens without trial clause contained in the NDAA, and missed HR 4310 which received little to no attention.

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The NDAA Legalizes The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public The newest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on the American public, reports Michael Hastings of BuzzFeed.

The amendment — proposed by Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and passed in the House last Friday afternoon — would effectively nullify the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which explicitly forbids information and psychological operations aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion. Thornberry said that the current law “ties the hands of America’s diplomatic officials, military, and others by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible way,” according to Buzzfeed.

The vote came two days after a federal judged ruled that an indefinite detention provision in the annual defense bill was unconstitutional.

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, who released a highly critical report regarding the distortion of truth by senior military officials in Iraq and Afghanistan, dedicated a section of his report to Information Operations (IO) and states that after Desert Storm the military wanted to transform IO “into a core military competency on a par with air, ground, maritime and special operations.”

Davis defines IO as “the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer network operations (CNO), psychological operations (PSYOP), military deception (MILDEC), and operations security (OPSEC), in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to influence, disrupt, corrupt or usurp adversarial human and automated decision making while protecting our own.”

IO are primarily used to target foreign audiences, but Davis cites numerous senior leaders who want to (in the words of Colonel Richard B. Leap) “protect a key friendly center of gravity, to wit US national will” by repealing the Smith-Mundt Act to allow the direct deployment of these tactics on the American public.

Davis quotes Brigadier General Ralph O. Baker — the Pentagon officer responsible for the Department of Defense’s Joint Force Development (i.e. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines) — who defines IO as activities undertaken to “shape the essential narrative of a conflict or situation and thus affect the attitudes and behaviors of the targeted audience” and equates descriptions of combat operations with standard marketing strategies:

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We don't need a megaphone to take care of the corrupt media.

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Different confirmation biases used to drive circulation for papers and ratings for tv news. Newspapers used to be more conservative because newspaper readers tended to be more conservative.

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I was listening some old school print journalist the other day and they also talked about how most in the profession progressed after journalism school. Almost all started at a local desk,learned the profession and advanced up to bigger markets and newspapers.

Unfortunately not the case now.woke 20 something's are hired directly out of school by WAPO,NYT,Time,CNN,etc and are essentially clueless about how the profession works and any type of bias perception.

Oddly enough I think Fox News made things worse. Before Fox most outlets were center left. They leaned left but at least tried to keep conservatives watching/reading. After Fox grabbed the right market, other outlets lurched left to fight over the remaining market of leftists.

When Rupert Murdoch took control of Fox News. Every other outlet followed suit.

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At what point did all forms of media drop any pretense of objectivity...

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W. Joseph Campbell describes yellow press newspapers as having daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using bold layouts (with large illustrations and perhaps color), heavy reliance on unnamed sources, and unabashed self-promotion. The term was extensively used to describe certain major New York City newspapers around 1900 as they battled for circulation.[4] One aspect of yellow journalism was a surge in sensationalized crime reporting to boost sales and excite public opinion.[5]
Frank Luther Mott identifies yellow journalism based on five characteristics:[6]
scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news
lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings
use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts
emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips
dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.

It was hanging on the thread for years, but Trump broke their brains and now it truly doesn't exist.

Watergate started it.

Bill Clinton's election they quit hiding the bias.

Obama's election they went full on leftist propaganda machine.

They have now reached Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda level.