December 18, 2025

When President Barack Obama wanted to inform the American people of his immigration reform plan during a prime-time address in 2014, the major networks refused to air it. Apparently, shows like “The Biggest Loser” brought in too many advertising dollars to allow us to hear from the president.

Five years earlier, Fox had refused to provide live, prime-time coverage of President Obama’s press conference commemorating his first 100 days in office. According to the New York Times, “Broadcast networks stand to lose millions in advertising revenue by shifting or rescheduling their normal programming.”

Many of the rules of politics have changed since Obama was president. For example, Donald Trump is not criticized for the color of his ill-fitting suits. But nothing has been more transformed than the legacy media’s obedience to the current White House.

Last night, all the major networks ceded their most valuable time to allow Donald Trump to rant and lie on live television. Despite addressing the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room the speech was spectacularly unpresidential — even by Trump standards.

To make matters worse, it was poorly delivered. While Trump angrily read the teleprompter, he did it with such speed that it sounded like one long run-on sentence. For a period, I wasn’t sure if he might be suffering some type of medical incident.

Unlike Obama’s addresses in 2009 and 2014, Trump made no news. His lies were designed to defend his administration’s failures on the economy and his falling personal poll numbers.

Most disturbingly, none of this was a surprise. The legacy media was well-aware that Trump was stepping up to the podium to spew lies and grandstand. They knew there wasn’t news to break. Trump wasn’t announcing a new piece of legislation or discussing a milestone in his presidency. The White House had clearly telegraphed Trump’s narcissistic agenda from the address in advance. 

So, the decision to air Trump’s grievance-filled rant was not based on the newsworthiness of the address. Rather, this was another instance of these media corporations capitulating to his demands.

To be clear, by standards of capitulation, this was a relatively minor offense. It did not involve paying millions of dollars in bogus settlements or making humiliating statements of support. But it was capitulation, nevertheless.

One can only imagine the discussion within the networks when the White House’s requests for prime time came in. Whatever the merits of the request, the executives who control these corporate media outlets simply did not want to pick a fight with Trump.

If they had denied him coverage, the White House would have complained. The FCC might have opened an investigation. Trump might have even found frivolous grounds to sue.

So, the corporate overlords did what they now do best. They bent the knee. It wasn’t a deep bend, but it was noticeable to those of us who care enough to look.

The problem is that when it comes to Trump, too few people expect these titans of industry to stand up straight. We expect them to be kneeling before Trump — if not completely supine. Our standards have all but disappeared. 

I have written on many occasions about the failures of legacy media and the damage it is doing to democracy. But if your response is to simply walk away angry at their failures, you are missing the most important half of my message.

There is an alternative model, and it is working. Over the last few years, we have seen the emergence of independent media outlets that are not incentivized to please Trump. They have no corporate investors or overlords. Instead, they rely on you for their support and influence.

In 2020, I took a risk and started one of those outlets. Since then, Democracy Docket has grown into a 22-person organization committed to bringing you news, information and analysis about what is happening to democracy, with a particular focus on the courts.

Like the others in this new group of media outlets, Democracy Docket has no reason to cater to Trump. It sees him for the autocrat he is and does not seek to please both sides.

As we enter the final weeks of the year, consider your own media diet and habits. Think about how your support might help an independent outlet like Democracy Docket, and how reading Democracy Docket might help you. In the weeks ahead, I will again publish a list of my favorite outlets — but don’t wait to pick your own and support them today.

A free press is essential to democracy. However, a free press is only important if it is willing to act independently of the regime in power.