only have one place to go — the conservative side. And Trump is their leader.”
F Only 31%
rom major newspa- pers to network and cable TV news shows, the audience for legacy media has been in free fall for years. According to the Pew Re-
confident in media, lowest since 1972
search Center, weekday newspaper circulation was approximately 63.2 million in 1990; by 2022, it had dropped to just under 21 million. While official numbers for 2024 have yet to be released, industry experts believe the weekday circulation number has fallen below 18 million. Audiences for the
networks’ evening news, a longstanding staple of Americana
that attracted as many as 40 million viewers each night, have shrunk by more than half. Today’s average audi- ence for the Big Three — ABC, CBS, and NBC — is about 19 million. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox
News’ prime-time audiences have faced notable declines. Forbes indicated that CNN’s prime-time viewership fell by 34% year over year, reaching 568,000 viewers in 2023. A source who at MS-
works
NBC’s Morning Joe who didn’t want to be named admitted to Newsmax that since Trump’s election, many in the industry have felt demoralized. “There is this growing
sense that we just don’t matter as much anymore and that we are only talking to ourselves in a vacuum.”
LONG
NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION 1990 = 63.2 million 2022 = 21 million
DECLINE
Big Media’s decline began long before Trump ever thought about being president.
The reader- ship of print newspapers be- gan to weaken in the 1980s as tele- vision stations expanded their
local newscasts. And the Big Three networks
saw their audiences erode with the arrival of competition from dozens of new cable channels.
Voice of America Progressive Propaganda T
he government-funded Voice of America (VOA) has been shut down amid accusations that tax dollars were being used to support a leftist agenda. For decades, the VOA has
faced accusations of biased, left-wing reporting. Critics have highlighted the social media activity of its chief national correspondent Steve Herman, who was placed on paid leave earlier this year after his account exhibited bias against President Donald Trump.
Furthermore, the
network has been accused of attempting to influence recent elections, including downplaying the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation. Trump signed an
executive order mandating the dismantling of seven government ofices, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent company of VOA, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Kari Lake, who Trump
announced as his choice for the next chief of the VOA in December, stated that the network in its current iteration was “not salvageable.” “From top
to bottom, this agency is
58 NEWSMAX | MAY 2025
a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer — a national security risk for this nation — and irretrievably broken,” wrote Lake in the press release. “While there
are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule.” The network was
languages each week. In March, the network’s 900 full-time employees and 550 contractors were placed on indefinite leave. In an interview
LAKE
established in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and provide pro-American news abroad. By 2024, the expansive
network had a budget exceeding $270 million, serving 427 million listeners in 100 countries and 64
with Newsmax, Lake said that drastic changes were needed at the agency as part of a broader call to restore an impartial media. “The media
has gone so far to the left they have stopped being fair, neutral, and nonpartisan, and they’ve all gone partisan pushing an agenda,” said Lake. “The particular problem with this agency is that it is taxpayer-funded, and there is no oversight over the editorial side of what is broadcast.
VOA/AP IMAGES / LAKE/JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
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