Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, a self-professed "free speech absolutist" essentially labeled "legacy ... [+]
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, a self-professed "free speech absolutist" essentially labeled "legacy news" as dead via a post on X on Tuesday.
"I almost never read legacy news anymore," Musk (@elonmusk) wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter, which he purchased last year for $44 billion. "What's the point of reading 1000 words about something that was already posted on X several days ago?"
The post has already been seen 15.5 million times and had more than a quarter of a million likes. The vast majority of the responses, which came from accounts with the "verified" blue checks, tended to agree with Musk's sentiment. It highlighted the general lack of trust that many users of X now have of legacy media.
No Respect For The Fourth Estate
Musk has long had a confrontational relationship with the mainstream media, and since taking control of Twitter last year, has increasingly touted it as an alternative source of news. Yet, even before then, a large number of Americans were already turning to the social media platforms for news and information—a fact that some experts have warned has only widened our political divide due to the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
"With this statement, Elon Musk is showing a shocking lack of understanding of how news is gathered and reported. It says quite a lot about him—his attention span, his depth of knowledge—that he believes a short comment on Xwitter is equal to a reporter news story in so-called legacy media," explained Susan Campbell, distinguished lecturer in the Department of Communication, Film and Media Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of New Haven.
"We must view Musk's comments in light of the rest of his public statements and business practices; namely, as an assault on democratic norms and institutions," added Dr. Aram Sinnreich, professor and chair of communications studies in the School of Communication at American University.
Musk's comments fail to understand that reporting is more than just saying that something happened. It requires fact-checking, confirmation with sources and most importantly that the truth is presented. All three can be missing on X and the other platforms.
The job of the free media is also to ensure that those with great power—whether it be the government or a billionaire—can't control the spread of news and information.
"A free and widely read press is the cornerstone of democracy, a principle that was enshrined in the First Amendment," noted Sinnreich. "The role of journalists, as the old saying goes, is to 'comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,' and nobody is more 'comfortable' than the richest man in the world. Musk consorts with white supremacists and does business with despots. His abusive use of his tremendous power is exactly the kind of behavior that journalism is intended to expose and hold to account. No wonder he talks smack about the press."
Legacy News Is Legacy For A Reason
Despite Musk's wishes, the mainstream media will live on, even in the social media era.
"Legacy news, or traditional media—radio, TV, newspapers—will continue to be integral for our society. While we are no longer limited to the big three networks or even local network radio news, there is still a place for it," said Jason Mollica, professorial lecturer in the School of Communication at American University.
Mollica cited Pew Research data that found the averages for local and network television news audiences have remained stable since 2022.
"News has evolved and will continue to do so," he added. "Social media has provided an outlet to get information expedited to the masses. It's not a shock this has hurt the newspaper industry. However, circulation numbers for weekday and Sunday has been dipping since the mid-1980s."
Even though it appeared that a large number of verified users supported Musk, there are still millions who don't use social media and likely never will.
"While Elon Musk's opinion may be echoed by others, to just throw legacy media to the proverbial curb is short-sighted. In fact, a Similarweb study released this week showed social media traffic to news sites has dipped tremendously," said Mollica. "The big reason is due to platforms like X and Facebook pulling back on elevating quality news content in favor of trending topics. Frankly, Musk's post proves he'd rather read something on a social platform, take it for a fact, without verifying the content. That in itself is the bigger issue legacy media face today."
Social Could Support Mainstream Media
Perhaps a better course of action from Musk might have been for him to note how social media, with its ability for anyone, anywhere in the world with Internet access to break a story. That has certainly been true in the war in Ukraine, where actions from the frontline are practically live-streamed on a daily basis.
However, X doesn't provide any critical details on what a viewer is seeing, and the context can be lost or misunderstood. This is where the 1,000 words have real value.
But the final issue is that X still isn't 100 percent independent from Musk's whims, which could include charging for access. That is why social media may never replace the legacy news.
"The premise that social media could ever take over this watchdog role," said Sinnreich, "Especially when it's owned and wholly controlled by people like Musk, is absurd on the face of it and doesn't deserve serious consideration."
