EXCLUSIVE: Michael Needham: The Media's Become 'Self-Indulgent'

Nick Kangadis | August 9, 2017
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MRCTV recently sat down with the CEO of Heritage Action for America Michael Needham, and he didn’t hold back his honest opinions about “fake news,” media bias, and how they affect conservatives.

“The days of the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” having a megaphone that really impacted the country in any meaningful way are over,” Needham told MRCTV, “and the media’s done it to themselves.”

Needham, a staunch defender of the conservative movement, feels the media “lives in a bubble,” but also says the American people are beginning to wake up to the fact that the media doesn’t always have the people’s best interests at heart.

I think the media tries to prevent conservatives from getting our ideas out to the American people in a fair way. Most reporters live in a bubble. It’s a cosmopolitan bubble of, kind of, the New York/Washington D.C. corridor... and their truth is defined almost religiously by what the conventional wisdom is in those elite circles. A lot of what conservatives are fighting for are things that don’t get talked about at Manhattan cocktail parties.

Point: Needham.

"They're not actually being fair because they really don't know how half this country lives, and its values, and how they're approaching questions," he added "The media's become so self-indulgent, not even trying to fairly report the news. And I think a lot of people are starting to get that. They're checking out."

People often wonder how the media get away with constantly pushing an agenda, instead of simply reporting the news. But Needham says this is because the media insulates themselves from the everyday viewers who make their jobs possible in the first place.

With all the media options people have today, there’s no reason that people seeking the truth can't find it. But, in the same vein, it's getting harder to know that what you're viewing or reading is reputable.

Needham elaborated on this point:

We’re too fragmented as a society right now, where it’s just not the same as 50 years ago when there’s three networks and people are forced to watch that. Now people can check out of the news, or watch cable news, or some people still watch the legacy networks. So, you’re already fragmented with people getting information in a more personalized way.

Needham didn’t shy away from saying something that many thought during the 2016 presidential cycle.

“Hillary [Clinton] was the one who said that half the country is deplorable,” Needham said, “and you know that most of the mainstream media agreed with her.”

That might sound harsh toward the media, but since when has the truth ever come with a sugary coating?

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