A basic & unoriginal observation (read: reminder): underlying theme of both Brexit & 2016 US elxn is Western govts spent decades looking the other way on systematic corruption & money laundering in politics. Meanwhile, the (actual) news industry was decimated by corp downsizing.
Journalism, as a profession, became increasingly the purview of the already well-to-do, those who could afford to take unpaid internships and/or had connections within the industry. In other words, the domain of those used to patrimonialism & self-dealing as a way of life.
Those who did not fit that mold -- i.e. who came from disadvantaged or simply middle-class backgrounds -- were forced to leave the industry. Similar things occurred in academia, especially in the US. Simultaneously, news, as such, turned into cable "infotainment"; FOX, CNN etc.
So, surprise, when the biggest political scandal in decades occurred (Brexit/Trump/Russia) the rump news industry, fundamentally, did not know and, at times, chose not to report on it for what it was: an outgrowth of the rot that had taken hold in much of the democratic world.
After all, to truly flesh out the links, trends & dynamics that had allowed a regime like Putin's to so transparently sabotage two monumental elxns in two of the world's oldest democracies would require a degree of self-reflection the media aristocracy was simply not capable of.
Which is why some of the most cogent analysis & the biggest scoops of our current moment have not come from within the corp media environment but outside of it; from those either working on the media margins, or w exp in other kleptocratic regimes.
Potential for reform still exists but in decades to come it will require meaningful efforts at diversifying & making accessible both media & academia to those w the most "skin" in the game: women, LGBTQ, POCs, poor & working class ppl etc. Those who saw but could not speak. /x
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