“Trump 2.0: A New Era of ‘Lifestyle Journalism’ in the Media Spotlight”

If the prevailing motto for mainstream journalism during the initial Trump presidency was The Washington Post’s self-serious and erratic declaration “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” the unifying phrase for media outlets in a prospective second Trump tenure seems to be “you deserve a break today.” Following the documentation of a multitude of unprecedented abuses of executive authority under the rule of a Roy Cohn disciple, who set policies based on a broad Mob-like doctrine of retaliation and tribal exclusion, media executives are evaluating the likelihood of a resurgent MAGA power grab with the indifferent nonchalance of seasoned brand managers. 

“One aspect we acknowledge is that there isn’t anyone who exclusively cares about politics and nothing else,” Katie Palmer, the executive editor of the liberal outlet HuffPost, informed the media marketing publication Digiday. “You may closely follow politics, yet still require guidance for your marriage. We strive to understand that individuals need a bit of everything.” Hence, HuffPost will tackle the existential threat to democracy posed by an unrestrained Trump administration by enhancing the site’s lifestyle reporting, Digiday notes, which will include a stronger emphasis on “the American family.”

Palmer’s complacent strategy focused on click-throughs is far from unique. Josh Awtry, an audience development executive at Newsweek, elaborated that his goal for the upcoming year is to increase “interactivity with our audiences.” This means diluting hard-hitting news and political coverage. “Frequently, most of our audience is derived from Google Discover,” stated Awtry, which “prefers increasingly softer, lifestyle- and consumer-centric” types of content. Indeed, while the ambitious agenda that Trump and his supporters are promising to implement during the initial days of his presidency will certainly generate traffic through a continuous flow of scandals and breaking news, the recent downturns faced by previously resistance-branded entities such as The Washington Post and MSNBC—where CEO Rashida Jones resigned just before the new Trump presidency—have shriveled media marketers’ enthusiasm for adopting a politics-first coverage model. “The overall sentiment in the market is that a news site that solely revolves around breaking news is unlikely to sustain long-term viable [direct] advertising partnerships,” asserts Blair Tapper, another engagement expert for the UK Independent, which has recently broadened its US operations and is—ironically—planning “to expand lifestyle coverage this year in the realms of travel, personal finance, and culture,” as reported by Digiday.

The pursuit of maximum “interactive” and instructional engagement within the digital-media realm is something I encountered at uncomfortably close quarters during my time as a news executive for Yahoo. The fundamental formula has seen little change since then: Digital creators initiate brand partnerships, video clips, and interactive features under a vague mission to provide bland and occasionally provocative content to distracted digital consumers. Subsequently, you aim to keep them engaged for more through e-mail newsletters, glorified product analyses, games, and other lifestyle distractions. While this approach might boost profit margins in terms of engagement, it diverges significantly from journalism as a form of civic social practice, which primarily functions by informing readers about what they don’t wish to hear—reports of corruption, self-serving behavior, insidious dishonesty, stark economic privilege, and other unfortunately persistent traits of our public existence.

One instance stands out among many during my time at Yahoo’s market-focused news division: Following the Obama administration’s public release of the president’s long-form birth certificate in response to Donald Trump’s unfounded claims about Obama’s citizenship, one of my superiors instructed me to “get the birther perspective” on this recent revelation. When I pointed out that there was, in fact, no logically coherent “birther perspective”—that this was merely a racially charged panic instigated by dubious ideological players, and that we would cover it accordingly—I realized my days of managing news in Silicon Valley were limited; the fluff-first model of digital engagement allowed barely any room for traditional news discernment, while providing ample opportunity for malevolent ideologues, deceivers, and average hustlers to cause chaos.

And now, over a dozen years later, the prevailing paradigm of digital information in our struggling republic has, against all expectations, deteriorated significantly. That’s the unmistakable message.behind Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg’s MAGA transformation just prior to Trump’s reinstatement at the White House: Meta, the ominous parent organization of Facebook, is halting content moderation evaluations for posts on Instagram and Facebook, as announced by Zuckerberg, and will instead depend on the user-generated framework of “community notes” that has turned Elon Musk’s X platform into a right-leaning paranoid spectacle.

As Siva Vaidyanathan points out, Zuckerberg’s ultra-conservative rebranding reflects the bro billionaire’s global domination delusions; in this regard, it mirrors the fundamental trajectory that led to Musk becoming a disciple of “dark gothic MAGA.” Moreover, Zuckerberg has journeyed through all the stages of the cross for a zealous billionaire MAGA candidate: a seven-figure contribution to Trump’s inauguration, the ceremonial elimination of Meta’s DEI initiative, a ring-kissing pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago, and a starring appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, where he criticized the “cultural elites” shaping media conversations and advocated for their “repopulation” by “a new class of creators”—i.e., endlessly pampered plutocratic individuals like Zuckerberg and Musk.

It doesn’t require much effort to discern the trajectory this approach follows. As the LA wildfires continue to rage, X, Facebook, and other moderation-resistant platforms are overwhelmed with deluded right-wing conspiracy theories regarding their ignition and the hindrances to their swift extinguishment. The scapegoats range from DEI initiatives, military aid to Ukraine, Chinese subversion, and—indeed—the Jews. President-elect Donald Trump has put forth mildly sanitized versions of these same themes, erroneously asserting that the Biden administration neglected to finance emergency disaster response efforts and fabricating a nonexistent water conservation initiative that, he whimsically claims, redirected water away from Angelenos in the fires’ trajectory. Dependable on-the-ground reports regarding the calamity largely stem from local and nonprofit journalists, as noted by LA-based journalist and union advocate Matt Pearce:

Our local news broadcasters have generated unparalleled visuals and newsworthy interviews concerning the latest updates. Our local news photographers have produced exceptional work showcasing the sorrow and valor of civilians and firefighters on the front lines; they’re not the ones endangering firefighting aircraft with unauthorized amateur drones in restricted disaster areas. When Patrick Soon-Shiong became a source of misinformation on Elon Musk’s X platform regarding the Los Angeles Fire Department’s finances, his own newsroom at the Los Angeles Times rectified the records on an immensely complex budget matter. The traditional press corps will continue playing a vital role in clarifying the intricate policy and political dilemmas arising from what went awry in these fires that policymakers will need to address.

This stark contrast creates a jarring split-screen experience for anyone in search of dependable information amidst the crisis, Pearce states: “While my colleagues in LA’s local news sector pause their lives and even risk their lives to report on the fires in Altadena and the Palisades, the profit-driven tech platforms where many obtain their information stood idle as conspiracy theories and hate-fueled narratives about our neighbors’ distress proliferated.”

It’s hardly an exaggeration to state that this glaring disparity in authentic journalism serves as a foreshadowing of forthcoming events. In fact, one revealing piece of local news initiative featured a firefighter’s viral edit from a livestream of the fires, where Musk scolded a Los Angeles Fire Department official over non-existent water shortages. As the official calmly clarified that the LA system was not out of water at all—that the immense scope of the fires overwhelmed an urban firefighting system that wasn’t constructed to handle wildfires—Musk suddenly cut off his livestream, appearing as the humbled simpleton he is. Meanwhile, our mainstream political media is already hosting discussions regarding Trump’s attempt to annex Greenland as if there exists a rational policy discourse buried within, The Washington Post presents a perfunctory scorecard endorsement of many of Trump’s mob-affiliated and inept cabinet appointees, and an emboldened incoming Trump administration is demanding loyalty oaths from civil servants engaged in national-security work. But fret not—each new week will introduce an influx of how-tos, listicles, peculiar tricks, and celebrity gossip, as the MAGA right continues to plunder, intimidate, and deceive.

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