Will Bunch: “The American mainstream media, and its vital watchdog role that once made it a trusted, major institution in a flawed yet functioning democracy, imploded in 2024, and it happened in two ways — gradually and then suddenly.” “The sudden part came in the days immediately after the Oct. 25 revelation that Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos — the third-richest person on Earth — had spiked his editorial board’s long-planned endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris over the GOP’s Donald Trump.