The mainstream media is crumbling — it’s about time

Bumbling CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’s announcement last week that the network would lay off 6 percent of its workforce and shutter its storied CBS News Radio division seemed par for the course in today’s brutal media landscape.  

Just a week earlier, one-time media juggernaut Buzzfeed announced it had “substantial doubt” about its financial future. Last month, the 158-year-old Atlanta Journal-Constitution slashed another 15 percent of its remaining staff after ending its print edition at the end of last year. CNN employees are also bracing for sweeping layoffs ahead of new owner David Ellison’s arrival.

It’s a different story at MeidasTouch, the left-of-center digital media company founded by brothers Ben, Brett and Jordan Meiselas in 2020. The network raised eyebrows this week after hiring former CBS News fixture Scott MacFarlane to head up their Washington bureau. The MeidasTouch Podcast now boasts more than 5 million subscribers, and the network’s made-for-sharing video clips blanket Twitter, Bluesky and Threads.  

MeidasTouch certainly isn’t a traditional news network. That’s turning out to be a good thing. And MacFarlane’s defection to the world of digital start-up media makes more sense when you consider how legacy outlets have come to resemble their upstart peers.  

Legacy media used to contrast itself from lefty digital outlets like MeidasTouch, More Perfect Union and the right-wing Daily Wire by promising objectivity. That was always an aspirational goal at best, but even that illusion has been shattered by multiple stories detailing how Weiss has routinely interfered in CBS News’s editorial independence. The new generation of digital networks wear their biases openly, and invite viewers to challenge that editorial point of view through direct engagement with anchors and programs.  

That’s an appealing approach for the legion of younger viewers who long ago abandoned cable news, whose median viewer is now nearly 60 years old. The Gen Z (and now Gen Alpha) viewers flocking to MeidasTouch have been trained by social media to be active participants in news conversations, not merely passive consumers of news copy. As a result, the most impactful programming often feels like a conversation between hosts and their audience, with viewers fact-checking hosts in real time and expecting a thoughtful response in return. 

The idea that news should be objective strikes younger viewers as both impossible and irresponsible in a political environment where Donald Trump’s extrajudicial exercises of power have become the norm. A reporter who shows no emotion at the illegal detention of a five-year-old migrant child is viewed as suspect. At the same time, they view the consolidation of media outlets under Trump allies like Ellison as a fundamental threat to democracy and truth itself.  

In today’s media, the more “objective” a news outlet tries to look, the less trustworthy they seem.

MacFarlane’s arrival at MeidasTouch caps off a year in which the network has expanded beyond its original social media territory and into broader digital journalism. Last year, the network launched Meidas Health, a series focused on public health issues, helmed by former MSNBC contributor Dr. Vin Gupta. That launch coincided with the expansion of Meidas News, a digital journalism firehose that publishes multimedia journalism from progressive influencers like Aaron Parnas and Harry Litman. MacFarlane’s arrival adds a layer of Old Guard legitimacy to the operation while bolstering the network’s newsgathering and investigative reporting chops.  

In her efforts to make CBS News as nimble as its digital competitors, Weiss has steered the network into yet another mess. She made headlines by hiring a raft of new CBS contributors, many pulled from the social media space. One prominent hire, longevity expert Peter Attia, stepped down in disgrace just weeks later, after emails emerged linking him to convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. As Weiss is learning, it is tougher than it appears to mimic MeidasTouch’s rapid growth model. 

MacFarlane won’t be the last heavy hitter to move away from the networks in favor of greater editorial independence in the digital world. As cable networks enter into thorny contract negotiations and float hefty pay cuts, the best journalists will quickly find their way into the growing ecosystem of competitive digital networks willing to invest in their success.  

One look at the legacy media’s dwindling subscription rates and viewer numbers suggests that audiences are already making their preferences known. The coming shift to interactive digital programming will represent a generational change in how consumers engage with the media. Our civic discourse will be better for it. 

Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

More Opinions - Technology News

Senate GOP-backed deal to end DHS shutdown draws extensive fire

Smith memo: Trump had classified docs shared with just 6 people, others tied to ...

Murphy on ‘$1.5 BILLION’ stock trade before Trump Iran ...

Trump says Iran gave the US ‘a very big present’ related to oil and gas

The SAVE America Act is bad news for Republicans

DHS reopening deal on shaky ground amid bipartisan backlash

Democrats flip Florida state House district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago 

Judge refuses to drop lawsuit over Musk role as Trump adviser

Senate Democrats reject GOP offer to reopen DHS, partially fund ICE

Iran dismisses US ceasefire proposal: Pakistan officials

Florida Democrats score upset in Tampa-based state Senate race

Roberts tasked with trying to tame Supreme Court

16 US cities rank among happiest in the world, 2026 index shows

AFGE president tells lawmakers ‘do not get on a plane’ for Easter recess ...

US issues ‘worldwide caution’ alert to travelers

NTSB chair: LaGuardia crash investigator was stuck in TSA line for hours

Live updates: DHS funding deal eludes lawmakers; Iran reportedly rejects ...

Delta suspends special congressional services amid shutdown

The Hill Podcasts – Morning Report

© The Hill