- Huge shift in (near-total abandonment of) antitrust enforcement starting in the late 70s, driven by Chicago school assholes. Centralized economic power.

- Fairness Doctrine killed in the 80s, resulting rise of partisan AM radio and, somewhat later, Fox News.

- Media ownership concentration rules neutered in early ‘00s (iirc). More centralization, again in the hands of big capital.

- None of those rules ever applied to the Web, so when its power as a propaganda and agitation tool skyrocketed with increased use by normal folks (rise of Facebook; usable smartphones with the iPhone) that immediately headed bad directions.

Now we have LLMs, which are at their most-useful by far when you don’t care about accuracy or reputation—so, scams and propaganda getting a big boost in productivity.

i remember when Obama took office Rush Limbaugh was worried that he would try to restore the fairness doctrine but it turned out Obama did nothing. Democrats never acted like they were in a battle while Republicans were executing on a media domination plan over decades to dismantle the propaganda safeguards put in place by post war politicians.

That's because despite the right wing propaganda that will tell you Obama is a staunch far-left communist, Barack Obama is a committed centrist, and a representative of the Corporate Party.

He did nothing because he had no interest in doing anything to limit corporate influence or power. They put him in power, after all.

I think you're confusing the issue. Cable TV wasn't coming into mainstream that was the problem. The issue was the 1996 Telecommunications Act that was the starting gun.

Turning attention away from each other and toward images of each other