&quot;Paranoid much?&quot;<p>Well, remember what working in the media is like. It&#x27;s an industry where writing opportunities are contracting, advertising is stronger than ever, pretty much all but the top tier of newspaper is writing clickbait, it&#x27;s perceived that there&#x27;s little prospect of it getting better, and they compete with Congress for major institution least respected by the public.<p>I wouldn&#x27;t consider schadenfreude a paranoid theory, I&#x27;d consider it the expected outcome. It&#x27;s hard to avoid wondering how much of the general tone of opinion in the media is a direct reflection of the fact that <i>they</i> aren&#x27;t doing well. (Are they worried about the &quot;1%&quot; precisely because a couple members of the .01% are buying up their entire industry, and they see the .01% showing up in the reporting chain? I&#x27;ve seen people similarly wonder if part of the reason academia is so pessimistic in their writing is that <i>their</i> world really is in terrible shape and the sense of immanent collapse is scaring everybody.)