Executive Summary

• Uniquely, the next president will not rely on the mainstream media to get his messages out
• Future candidates no longer need the mainstream platform to raise campaign funds
• The current "fake news" witchhunt is threadbare and already being debunked
• How to identify truth from fiction (in any media outlet) & stay well-informed

If you have not yet read Part 1: Breaking Free From The Captured Media available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we examined the transition from a corporate mainstream media serving a captive audience to the wide-open democracy of the Internet-enabled independent media.

How will this structural transition affect the political and social spheres going forward? How can you improve your ability to identify trustworthy information in the current landscape of controlled mass media & wildly fragmented alternative voices?

A President Who Is Not Beholden to the Mainstream Media

In a historically unprecedented show of homogeneity, the mainstream media unanimously endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign. In essence, the MSM covered Trump only when his success forced them to, and when his gaffes and provocative comments made good copy.

Regardless of your views of the two candidates, this media-wide bias in favor of one candidate was remarkable.

Despite this media-wide endorsement, Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College and the election. In my view, this is the first time in recent U.S. history where a unanimous endorsement of a candidate by the national media failed to persuade the overwhelming majority of voters. While many will blame the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for the defeat, or point to the Democratic candidate’s weaknesses, the reality remains that weak candidates with heavy media backing have won in the past.

In my view, the mainstream media’s failure to persuade the citizenry cannot be pinned solely on the losing party or candidate. It reflects a profound erosion of the MSM’s influence and trustworthiness.

Back when the mainstream media held a monopolistic lock on print, broadcast and radio content and distribution...

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