Two recent events illustrate a troubling shift in US media under President Donald Trump and his tech billionaire allies. Melania Trump's glossy documentary, Melania, was acquired by Amazon for $75 million, with ticket sales suggesting it was not purely a commercial venture. Meanwhile, the Washington Post is cutting up to 200 jobs, including most foreign staff and a significant portion of its newsroom. Both are backed by Jeff Bezos, whose investments in state propaganda and divestment from the fourth estate reveal how capital and authoritarianism join forces to shape what audiences see and read.
At CBS News, tech billionaire and Trump ally Larry Ellison, along with his son David, took over Paramount in July 2024. They installed Bari Weiss, founder of the anti-woke blog the Free Press, as head of CBS News. Weiss has faced backlash for editorial decisions seen as slanted in favour of the Trump administration and is expected to cut newsroom staff. She has announced a focus on opinion writers and “scoops of ideas,” prioritising heat over light.
The Washington Post's opinion section is also under scrutiny. Bezos announced last year that it would “write every day in support and defence of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” leaving opposing viewpoints to be published elsewhere. This fetishisation of opinion writing is a bad sign, as news coverage should not be used for partisan ends or cannibalised for commentary.
This shift from news to opinion reflects a broader trend under rightwing-owned media, which no longer seeks to report on the world as it is but creates a world as it wishes it to be. Trump regime talking points are treated as matters of opinion, and reality itself becomes twisted and contestable. This aligns with what Walter Benjamin called the “aestheticisation of politics” under fascism.
Foreign coverage, long-form investigations, and features exploring people's lives elsewhere are being cut as the wider world is viewed as a place of enemies and freeloaders. The impact is a degradation of how humans communicate about each other, with knowledge and affinity excised under authoritarianism. Artistic expression is also under assault, as seen with Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian.
