InfoTrumped

I think it has also hijacked the attention of the press to the extent that for many months, they weren't giving Donald Trump the kind of due diligence, the kind of tough scrutiny in his business life that you would give to a politician for his earlier political life. And I think Trump did that by feeding the press so much. It was irresistible to the press. The ratings show it. The clicks show it. This will be a time of high profits for cable news. But it meant that, for many months, he was able to escape a different kind of scrutiny that I think would have served the voter better.
David Folkenflik "Trump Takes On Media For Questioning His Fundraising Efforts For Veterans"

"The ratings show it. The clicks show it." What this says to me is, regardless what people might say, is that they're more interested in the showmanship angle of Donald Trump than they are in "due diligence" or "tough scrutiny" of him. And "the media," being a business, caters to that, and Mr. Trump knows it. I understand that people feel that a hard-hitting and  dogged news media are the watchdogs of a vibrant democracy, but it's also worth pointing out that we don't live in a nation where very many people are willing to give media outlets money without any strings attached. And that even goes for public broadcasters like National Public Radio, which has an audience, and has to do some level of catering to that audience.

It's often said that "the media" has been suborned by the wealthy and powerful in this nation, who have lulled the populace into self-destructive complacency with a constant diet of colorful circuses; but if that's the case, then we still have to accept some responsibility in our own fates. After all, no-one is making us watch or read certain media, and the World Wide Web means that any number of people can be different sources of information.

In this regard, I think that the media is serving the voter. The voter knows what they want, whether or not what they want is what others think they should want or need.