Ever so slowly, the insidious folks in Hollywood are finding out that pandering to ideology, particularly to that of a political minority, isn’t bringing in the bucks, nor is it attracting viewers like moths to a flame.
In fact, the opposite seems to be happening; movie box office hauls have dropped significantly, television viewership is on a pretty steep decline, and liberal publications are losing advertising revenue and readers by the score.
The latest victim of this, and good riddance, I say, is Stephen Colbert, who’s late night “talk” show has been axed and will air for the last time in May 2026. While CBS claims the cancellation was based on economic factors, those factors came about because the audience has left.
Which brings us to the latest rescission bill passed by the U.S. Senate and House — HR 4, or the defunding of many unnecessary federal programs, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the parent company for National Public Radio.
CPB has long been under fire for its lopsided approach to politics and social mores, and NPR upped that ante by praising liberalism while disparaging conservative values.
It’s never a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you; since the federal government paid quite a bit of money to fund the stations, programming should have been more balanced. But, nope, we’re gonna run with the current zeitgeist, and still expect people to fund us through their tax dollars.
And therein lies the seeds that were sown for the network, and even the full entertainment machine, of destruction — substituting messages and preaching for actual storytelling and entertainment that captures a wider audience.
The masses have spoken to Hollywood et al, in the words of Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohaim: “There is a place … terrifying to us.”
I’ve loved movies ever since I was a preteen in Spain, where we had no television. It was our only form of entertainment on the base that wasn’t a book or some sort of sport, and videogames and cell phones were a distant future. Who doesn’t like to be amazed by the exploits of cowboys, or superheroes, or even larger than life men who charmed the ladies, and strong ladies who could charm men.
Moviegoers, readers, and even young television watchers all put themselves into the shoes of their favorite characters, and when you had a taste for current events, you got facts, not stories engineered to shape opinion against one group or another.
But not only does current fare try to shape opinion, it also tries to normalize behaviors, and to the people that don’t want that kind of fare forced on them, they turn away
As long as mass media focuses on pushing an agenda as opposed to telling stories, expect the downward spiral to continue. In the case of Mr. Colbert, he was the low-hanging fruit in this, but there will be more.
Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.
