Hartmann Report - We no longer live in the radio era or even the age of television. Paul Harvey and Ed Sullivan are dead. Radio advertising revenue is in the crapper, the victim of podcasts; TV networks are laying off staff as they watch their ratings crater; even major old-line newspapers like The Washington Post are desperately trying to reinvent themselves for the social media century.
In the 1930s, if it didn’t happen on radio it didn’t happen. In the 1960s it was television. Today it’s YouTube, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Bluesky.
Thomas Carlyle is credited with articulating the “Great Man Theory of History,” which suggests that many of history’s major hinge points were the result of individuals with uncommon charisma and talent for leadership.
Democrats, in the era of JFK, understood — and delighted in — the power of charisma. Republicans got the memo after Nixon went down in flames; they found a TV star of their own with Reagan. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were similar vessels of charm and animal magnetism.
More than half of America’s newspapers are dead, radio and TV are struggling, and about half of all Americans get all or most of their news from social media.
And yet, when you look across the media landscape right now pretty much all you see is Donald Trump.
In the face of a growing fascist threat from Trump and his captive GOP, America desperately needs Democratic politicians who can lead, inspire, and energize. Who will fight back, and stand up for American values. Who can win elections. More
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