A meme floating around Facebook actually prompted this story.
In an October 1903 article, the New York Times predicted it would take "one to ten million years" for man to develop a working "flying machine."
We all know how that turned out. Sixty-nine days later, on Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic first successful flight in the heavier-than-air Wright Flyer in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
The New York Times was wrong then, and they continue to be wrong about many important things. One of the most dangerous in recent years was the Russia collusion story, for which they were awarded a Pulitzer Prize. For months before the 2016 election, the Times shouted Russia, Russia, Russia! from the rooftops, even after it became clear that the story was a psyops pushed by Hillary Clinton's campaign. That was the real "election interference," not the nonsense the Times was pushing.
There were also the myriad conspiracy theories: Hunter's laptop was fake, Trump told people to inject bleach into their lungs and suggested they take horse pills, and conservatives (especially the scary Christian ones) are the biggest threat to democracy anyone has ever seen.
More recently, the Times, desperate to protect Joe Biden, claimed that videos showing him to be frail and confused are "cheap fakes."
On June 21, they wrote, "In the last two weeks, conservative news outlets, the Republican National Committee, and the Trump team have circulated videos of Mr. Biden that lacked important context and twisted mundane moments to paint him in an unflattering light."
It's the classic "Republicans pounce!" deflection.
Yet the Times hasn't paid a price for its many years of lies and disinformation. According to Wikipedia, "As of May 2024, The New York Times has 10.5 million subscribers, with 9.9 million online subscribers and 640,000 print subscribers, the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States behind The Wall Street Journal." That's 4% of the U.S. voting population.
It's easy to get excited about Fox News being the most-viewed cable news station, but that's just a drop in the bucket compared to network news. The average number of viewers (in millions) for each network tells the story:
That's 18.78 million eyeballs on mainstream/left-wing news stations compared to Fox News's 1.9 million (I left out ESPN, Ion, and HGTV... why are those even on that list?).
In 2016, millions of viewers tuned in night after night after night to hear the Russia collusion hoax parroted on these networks.
The same holds true for news websites. This chart shows the percentage of U.S. market share:
US online readership March 2024 in a good month for news. Almost everybody has growth for the month, the Fail at #11 5% growth reducing the decline for the year to -5%. The Sun is a notable exception -7% for the month and -37% for the year. Other UK tabloids not in the top 50. pic.twitter.com/6wYoXmuKBc
— Mediaguy (@Mediaguy19) April 15, 2024
And it's not just news outlets. The Left's influence is far-reaching—dominating everything from women's magazines to awards shows to sports talk radio.
One of my favorite books on cultural commentary is Allan Carlson's "The Family in America: Searching for Social Harmony in the Industrial Age." He argues that women's magazines were a huge driver of convincing women that homemaking was inherently oppressive, a view that eventually led to the "Civil Rights Act of 1964" prohibiting discrimination based on sex. That, in turn, led to the utter destruction of the family wage, which, in turn, drove women from their homes and into the workplace, whether they wanted it or not. That was arguably the beginning of the end of the traditional family in America.
It's no accident that fashion magazines snubbed Melania Trump, the most fashionable first lady since Jackie Kennedy.
If you need any further proof of the shameless bias of the liberal mainstream media, the most stunning First Lady in American history has never graced our nation’s major style magazine covers... @FLOTUS @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/qvL07hVdT9
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) February 8, 2020
And this month, drapery fashion icon Jill Biden graces the cover of "Vogue." A column at The Daily Beast this week dismissed Melania's snub and added a pretentious swipe at GOP voters:
This is, of course, extremely silly from a variety of angles. Vogue is an aspirational magazine aimed at sophisticated, city-dwelling women who care about high-end fashion and lifestyle but also choose to read longer-form articles about politics and culture–not exactly Trump’s voter base, and not exactly a cohort that admires or aspires to be like Melania.
Trump may be ahead in the polls right now, but we cannot ignore the fact that large swaths of the country are in thrall to left-wing media, left-wing entertainment, left-wing education, and even left-wing supermarket rags like Vogue.
In the years I've been in this business, conservative media has come a long way. Perhaps the most significant accomplishment has been planting the seeds of doubt in Americans' minds. There has never been so little faith in the mainstream media, and I'd like to think PJ Media has played a small part in creating this perception—in stripping the emperors who rule over us of their clothes.
We certainly aren't doing it to get rich. Our writers and editors are here because we want to pass a better, more moral America on to our kids and grandkids. It's our responsibility and our passion. If you'd like to help us in this pursuit, please become a PJ Media supporting member.
For around $2 a month, you can help us stay online—so more people can see the truth. Sign up here. Use the promo code SAVEAMERICA for 50% off your membership. If you're already a member, THANK YOU! We could not do this without you. Why not send a gift subscription to a friend or family member who needs this information? You can do that here.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member