The myth of "liberal" news

There is no such thing as the so-called liberal news media, says Julian Zelizer.

Zelizer: In a time of ascendant neofascism, that is a betrayal of the American people.

He says the media in the "news media" means business and profit, and that's true true of the few large corporations that dominate the market. Those corporations are inherently conservative. The media also values access to the powerful because they are members of the same social class above all else.

Julian Zelizer says the New York Times is not some agent of "liberal media bias" but serves status quo and elite opinion.

Zelizer: A real liberal news media would not create a false equivalence or balance between the Republican fascists and "conservatives" on one side and the Democratic Party and liberals and progressives on the other.

He says the Times has become addicted to getting attention on social media.

In all, instead of being the Fourth Estate that speaks truth to power and informs the public so that they can hold their leaders accountable, today's news media too often plays the American people and what has been described as "the attention economy" like it is some casino. In the end, the American news media is experiencing a legitimacy crisis because it has abandoned bold truth-telling and consistently speaking truth to power. Americans across the ideological divide feel and know this to be true..