Fake news has become a catchphrase for politicians. When politicians enter the political arena, the term is likely to be used. This phrase creates a diversion away from the actual issues facing the media and the way that Americans are actually consuming their news, and the dominant issue is in fact that the largest media companies are corporations with parent companies.

Many of the country’s major media organizations are owned by a parent company. CNN is owned by Time Warner and CBS is owned by National Amusements. Many other media organizations like FOX and NBC are corporations within themselves. This is a major issue for the media, as it contributes to the possibility of the media not being objective when reporting the issues.

This issue was highlighted in an email sent by NBC reporter William Arken to his colleagues just before his last day. The letter accused the media of failing to report on the issues objectively, highlighting the failure of the media in the specific area of war. The media has become a tool for their parent corporations to spread a mass message, and as many owners of these media corporations has interests in government policy it removes the ability of the media to be objective.

This is also shown by CNN’s attempt to hire former spokeswoman for attorney general Jeff Sessions Sarah Isger, a member of the republican party who was responsible for spreading doctored videos according to the independent media organization The Young Turks. CNN attempted to hire Isger for a position as an editor on the staff covering the 2020 election, completely ignoring the conflicts of interest and lack of journalism experience possessed by Isger. This can be linked to corporate interest, both of CNN and its parent company Time Warner, as they would have an interest in maintaining good faith with the republican party.

Overall, the true issue of the media is not that it is false, or spreading misinformation, but that it is no longer objective. The lack of objectivity in the media is something that would the media admit to would not be an issue, but as both CNN and other media companies attempt to pretend they do not have a perspective it is no longer a completely credible source of information. To admit to political goals would make the information more credible as the reader knows what angle it comes from, but to not is tantamount to malpractice.