If there’s one thing 2021 showed, it’s that many people chose to detox from the mainstream media. Especially after the incendiary year that was 2020, from the pandemic to the election. Weekday consumption of network news is down across the board with almost all broadcast news program viewership down 10 – 15%. The New York Times website reported its number of unique visitors is down some 34%. The Washington Post reported a drop of 44% – almost HALF.

14 million political articles in 2020 reported an average of 924 engagements on social media. About that same amount of articles in 2021 found roughly only 321 engagements. That’s a big difference. Clearly if nothing else, the media landscape is changing.

Even The Weather Channel, which one would think might remain ubiquitous, and politically agnostic, has become politicized.

And it’s not even necessarily about if liberal media outlets or conservative media outlets are doing better or worse – they’re all down. That would seem to indicate people are over it. They want facts. They want weather. They don’t want to be preached to, or talked down to, or called something they’re not.