Americans Don’t Read, Rely Heavily On Social Media Disinformation: Columnist

The "idiotization" of America, writes Martin Tomasky for The New Republic on December 17, 2024, began in 1977 when Rupert Murdoch injected divisive rhetoric into the media landscape.

The gap between the informed and uninformed has widened, exacerbated by the rise of "anti-information" right-wing media outlets. I Photo: Idiocracy Facebook

This approach was soon imitated by other media moguls, eroding the possibility of common civic agreement on basic moral principles in public life.

The situation has worsened with the rise of social media, which has significantly reduced newspaper reading time to an average of just 10 minutes per day. Online engagement with newspaper websites averages only two minutes.

Meanwhile, social media platforms allow tech tycoons like Elon Musk to dominate the flow of information, spreading rumors and disinformation. Many of these platforms have been accused of pandering to Donald Trump and his administration.

The columnist argues that this disinformation epidemic leaves Americans largely uninformed.

Many are unaware of—or refuse to believe—the extent of the challenges posed by Trump's return to power.

Tomasky warns that Americans’ faith in the checks and balances taught in school blinds them to the calculated efforts by Trump and his team to undermine these systems.

The gap between the informed and uninformed has widened, exacerbated by the rise of right-wing media outlets, which Tomasky describes as promoting "anti-information." The liberal establishment, he concludes, must urgently address this problem before it further corrodes democracy.