The mainstream media has shown plenty of bias and hypocrisy in the past when it comes to their treatment of conservatives, but their latest action has gone so far as to unite the left and right in universal condemnation. National media outlets in Canada and the U.S. recently exposed the hacked and leaked names of people who donated online to the Canadian trucker Freedom Convoy. Reporters then tracked down and harassed some of those people, including a woman who donated $50. That prompted a strong rebuke from left-wing Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), echoed by conservatives from Donald Trump Jr. to Tucker Carlson.
To garner simultaneous ire like this from across the political spectrum is a true "jump the shark" moment for the mainstream media. "I like to talk about the mainstream media now as the 'establishment media,' because they are no longer representing the interests of the citizenry," says Jeff McCall, professor of media studies at DePauw University.
McCall tells KTRH much of the establishment media is now more activist than journalist. "The media is totally on board with maintaining a rather dogmatic way of thinking, so anybody who gets in the way of that, including truckers, is then going to be shamed or bashed," he says.
That shaming and bashing of average citizens goes against the core mission of the news media---to inform the public and hold the powerful accountable. "I'm not sure what the news value is of some random person who donates 50 bucks to Canadian truckers," says McCall. "I think that's where we need to be concerned...they are redefining what is news, only in the terms of what ideological prism they want to force the news through."
"There's an old saying that the purpose of journalism is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted," he continues. "And I think we're seeing that turned on its head now."