The mainstream media fails to deal with the flow of power and wealth in politics

Political science is the study of politics, and more precisely power. -- Political Science for Dummies, Marcus Stadelmann, 2020, Chapter 1, paragraph 1, first sentence

Wealth distribution Q4, 2022

Understanding that politics is overwhelmingly about distributing power and attendant wealth is useful. From what I can tell, the MSM (mainstream media) does a lousy job of reporting about the flow and distribution of power and wealth with various political, social and business policies. But that is just personal opinion. What about data on this point? Does any even exist? Perplexity comments:

Q: How well does the mainstream media cover the flow of wealth and power when covering political issues and policies?

A: The mainstream media's coverage of wealth and power dynamics in political issues and policies appears to be limited and often biased.

That accords with my understanding. So does this:

The mainstream media's coverage of wealth and power dynamics in political issues and policies appears to be limited and often biased. This reliance on officially-provided information has been described as the "biggest weakness" of the American press by prominent journalists. A study analyzing nearly 3,000 news stories in major newspapers found that nearly 80% of stories involved official sources. Critics argue this makes the media passive and susceptible to manipulation by political powers.

Studies have found significant imbalances in coverage of political candidates, with some receiving much more favorable treatment than others. State-owned media in particular tends to show strong bias in favor of incumbents and against opposition candidates. Critics argue the media is increasingly hostile to conservatives and Republicans compared to the past.

The most convincing evidence that DJT and his GOP are authoritarian (autocratic, plutocratic, theocratic and kleptocratic) arguably rests in the overall effects of their policies on the distribution of power and wealth. At least some of the public seems to be aware of a power concentration issue:

For all issues I am aware of, none strike me as promoting flow of power to most individual citizens or the public interest generally. Instead nearly all authoritarian radical right policies, e.g., Project 2025, DJT's secret policies, etc., withdraw power and wealth (directly or indirectly) from the people. Power and wealth get channeled into various special interests in commerce, religion or politics. Examples help clarify the situation, which can be sometimes counterintuitive:

• Forced birth laws take power from affected women and families to choose an abortion and transfers it to politicians who are religious and theocratic or opposed to abortion for non-religious reasons.

• Voter suppression and election subversion laws take power from voters and transfer it to radical right authoritarians who want to neuter voter power and democracy itself.

• This one may seem counterintuitive: Obliteration of many or most gun safety laws by the authoritarian radical right USSC has given power to gun and ammo makers and people who want all kinds of weapons, including military assault rifles. That took power from governments to try to reduce gun violence, and deprived society of some measure of safety, while imposing enormous human and economic cost (~$557 billion/year by one estimate) on the people and our economy. Neither gun makers nor owners bear any or much of the gigantic costs of gun violence.

• Project 2025 calls for major tax cuts without offsetting spending cuts, thereby increasing the federal debt. Wealth directly flows mostly to wealthy elites and corporations. Eventually, the federal debt will be too large to sustain. Most of the ensuing pain will be felt by average people. With wealth comes power, so again, power flows to narrow interests at the expense of the public interest. The people are deprived of their power to protect their own long-term interests.

Similar arguments can be made about (i) LGBQT, atheist and ethnic minority rights, (ii) consumer, worker and environmental protections, and (iii) and reasonable business and religious regulations. Project 2025, nearly all authoritarian GOP elites and DJT all vehemently oppose all of that.

Q: Does the MSM fail to adequately report about power and wealth flows in reporting of politics and political issues?