What Your Manufactured Home Industry Peers Want to Know; 2021 Proved Much (not all) of Mainstream Media is “Propaganda” for Corporate, Government Interests; Plus Sunday Weekly MH Review
Facts matter and can be eye opening. How did you ring in the new year? In our part of the affordable housing industry, there are reportedly some 75,000 full time professionals, stated the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) in research that likely needs updating. For roughly 1,000 hardy souls, between midnight to 6 AM on 1.1.2021 they accessed 15,187 pageviews of reports and posts on the primary and secondary cPanels on MHProNews. That 15,187 pageviews – plus more on MHLivingNews and tertiary server cPanels – all according to third-party Webalizer. Perhaps those early readers here were already flexing their new year’s resolution while snacking and sipping their favorite beverage? Whatever their motivation, that early 2022 readership engagement represents roughly double the normally 6+ page views per visit recorded for much of 2021. MHProNews’ typical readership engagement is furthermore about double what it is on the typical mainstream news site. As numbers of our readers, plus site statistics indicate, there is simply nothing online that has the standards and engagement levels that MHProNews has enjoyed for over 12 years. But it is our team’s sincere goal that the best is yet to come for 2022.
According to SimilarWeb, which aggregates and analyses internet website related topics, for 2021 “In the U.S., print media accounts for only 16% of total news consumption. Online, including social media, stands at a whopping 66%. This growth isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
It’s projected that by 2022, the average digital media user will spend just under eight hours a day online.”
That same SimilarWeb report on mainstream news says (typo in the original):
“Website traffic sources
Direct traffic the the primary channel for News & Media websites with sending 64% of traffic to the category. Next up is organic search, which is responsible for 21.1% of traffic. This is proof of the importance of having a loyal readership and strong brand awareness. Further evidence to that can be found in the small investment in paid acquisition channels.
Social media, however, continues to expand its reach, and on average, drives 3.6% of all website traffic for the industry.”
2021 data from Pew Research indicates that mainstream news engagement declined. Something similar has been reported on engagement with mainstream video news channels. Compared to their experience, MHProNews has been going strong.
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Pew further reports that employment in newsrooms has been plunging. Pay is modest, less than the average for U.S. household incomes. “Median wages for editors in 2020 were about $50,000, while for reporters, the figure was about $36,000.” When news media options are in decline, that means that specialized trade media sources such as MHProNews and MHLivingNews have an opportunity to continue to fill a growing void.
We trimmed our team about 4 years ago and have successfully navigated the storm that has eliminated so many others in publishing. Note: depending on your browser or device, many images in this report can be clicked to expand. Click the image and follow the prompts. To return to this page, use your back key, escape or follow the prompts.
Additionally, Pew said a year ago on 1.12.2021 that: “More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices.”
Millions of visits and tens of millions of pageviews explain why friends and rivals alike throng to our industry trade media. Yes, they are here even ringing in new year’s 2022.
The Crystal Ball
The crystal ball is broken. We can’t predict the details or timelines of future with specificity. But we do know about the past. Evidence and facts can be sifted. When viewed dispassionately, facts and evidence may tell their own story.
When analysis clearly labeled is added, readers can begin to discern for themselves what is true and what is agenda driven hype.
What doesn’t require a visionary is common sense. Until the dynamics of our industry change, more of the same can be expected.
What readers at MHProNews want to know about – what many of your peers seek to better understand for a variety of their personal reasons – are found on the digital pages of this website.
The evidence examined tells the tale of manufactured housing gone wrong in very specific ways. Saying so digitally where – depending on the topic – thousands to millions will or may see and discover for themselves the facts – are the sad to shocking tales that deep pocketed firms and their nonprofit mouthpieces would rather did not exist.
Both data and tips tells us that those in leadership and management in those ‘leading’ organizations are among the readers here.
Peers and colleagues of the industry’s dwindling numbers of independents are too. The active or semi-retired are here.
Public officials and advocates are here.
As some reports for the week that was evidence, this is the unchallenged largest and most read trade publication in modern manufactured housing industry history.
Leaders at the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) hailed us for years.
Leaders at the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) have at times expressed dissent or embrace of the reports found here.
Public officials and Congressional staff – the ones who do the lifting behind the scenes – are regular readers here too.
The above we know from a range of digital data and third-party sources. Hate, love or feel meh about the content, others find it relevant. Otherwise, they would not invest so much time and millions of pageviews annually here.
So, we aren’t the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, etc. nor do we strive to be. We have and do fact check mainstream media. MHProNews has for years provided headline bullets on a business daily basis from both left- and right-leading media that can be reviewed at a glance and save time for busy professional. That is provided along with business daily equities and market information. Again, no one else in our profession’s trade media or bloggers even pretends to attempt that range of coverage.
MHProNews has said for years that robust manufactured housing industry sales growth is possible in a manner that yields customer satisfaction. Because we have been on the ground in manufactured housing marketing, management, sales, and consulting, it isn’t a pipe dream or pie in the sky that previously quiet locations can be turned into sales generators that yield happy homeowners in their wake. It is first hand experience that tells that true story.
As 2021 was drawing to a close, MHProNews and our sister site produced several reports that were relevant seasonally, annually, and for current events. Several of those are found among the linked headlines for the week that was that follows.
As normal, if you are keen about the future of manufactured housing, do not miss today’s postscript.
With no further adieu, here are the headlines for the week that was between 12.26.2021 and 1.2.2022.
“Where there is a free press the governors must live in constant awe of the opinions of the governed.” – Lord MacAuley
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair
“If you want to do something evil, put it inside something boring.” – John Oliver
“You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts.” – Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (NY-D).
Brandon Smith RT
It’s hard to overstate how dark and damaging it is that the CDC, Fauci, and Biden’s twitter MDs are doing straight corporate propaganda. This sort of regulatory capture is so violent and dangerous. https://t.co/Thp2GshZoV… pic.twitter.com/iI8cIGgPI9
“2021 has made is clear that the mainstream media is a propaganda arm of political and corporate elitists, from big government to big pharma,” said Brandon Smith of Alt-Market and via the popular Zero Hedge website. Smith said: “If the past year has confirmed anything it is that the mainstream media is thoroughly dishonest. Yes, most people already suspected this, but the last 12 months have provided more confirmation than the past several years combined.” Some pull quotes from Smith are relevant to the thesis at the top and to the ongoing work of providing relevant and reliable information here on MHProNews and at MHLivingNews.
“Legacy media has also seen its audience numbers plummet over the past ten years, but the last year in particular has been especially unkind to them. ALL of the major corporate news channels saw their audience ratings decline, with CNN seeing the largest drop overall. CNN is facing an epic cut of 68% in its prime time numbers in 2021, while MSNBC now has the smallest prime time audience it has witnessed since 2016. Fox also dealt with audience declines this year but continues to remain the most watched cable news outlet so far, probably because of the continued popularity of commenters like Tucker Carlson.
YouTube has even removed the “Dislike” button just to protect the corporate media and the White House from the hilarious bombardment of thumbs down they receive on every video. It’s unacceptable for us peasants to have the ability to voice our discontent.
So, where are people turning for their news if not the mainstream? While stats are not as well tracked for independent sources, it is obvious from viewership and subscription numbers that the alternative media is quickly becoming the dominant force in information. “
That last bullet might be a bit ambitious. Certainly, the legacy media still dominates and often drives the narrative. That said, let’s return to some pull quotes from Smith at Alt-Markets.
I have been working and publishing within the alternative media for 16 years and I don’t think many who are new to the field realize how much Americans have broken free from the mainstream narrative in that time. When I got started, to even dream of the audience numbers we now have was considered naive fantasy. Today I continue to find great hope in the growth of independent journalism.
The fact of the matter is, for decades corporate institutions conned the masses into believing only THEY were qualified to act as gatekeepers and guardians of the information bottleneck. Only they were the true “journalists.” They have now lost the respect of the public and their gatekeeping is over. On that note, lets examine just a few of the reasons why trust in the mainstream has imploded. Lets look at some of the biggest lies perpetuated by the MSM in 2021…
Probably one of the most fake news stories of the decade. The mainstream media has relentlessly parroted the propaganda that the conservative protest at the Capitol Building on Jan 6th was some kind of planned attempt at a national takeover and violent coup resulting in multiple deaths. The reality was much less sexy.
First, the FBI has been forced to admit there is no evidence supporting the claim that the protest was an organized coup. And when an institution that is extremely hostile to patriots admits this, you know the government has NOTHING.
Not a single death originally attributed to the Jan 6 protesters was actually caused by them, so that tall tale has been tossed down the memory hole. While there was violence and an unarmed protester was shot and killed by police (Ashli Babbitt), the result of the event was nothing close to an insurrection. Protesters walked in, milled around for a little while, some people stole some souvenirs, and then everyone left. It can barely be considered a “riot.” Compare this to the BLM riots across the country which resulted in multiple actual killings by people directly participating, not to mention billions of dollars in property damage. The media called these riots “peaceful protests” while condemning the Jan 6 participants as monsters.
When conservatives protest something at least we go to the source instead of burning down the homes and businesses of innocent people. And I want to explain something else to leftists because I don’t think they get it – When you do see a conservative “insurrection” (rebellion against centralized tyranny), they will not be unarmed like they were on Jan 6 and they will not stop until all corrupt elements of the establishment are removed from power. If you were hiding under your beds over the events of Jan 6th, you really have no clue.
The Texas Power Grid Failure
Wow, what a politically charged mess the coverage of this event was. Multiple people die from a freak winter storm hitting Texas and taking down parts of their independent power grid and the first thing the mainstream media does is write hatchet stories about how this “proves they could never secede from the union.” These people are obsessed with centralization to the point that they lose their minds if you generate your own electricity.
Paul Krugman, a notorious spin doctor for the establishment, went on a tirade in the New York Times dismissing any and all evidence that federally funded Wind Turbine failures led to the Texas power grid crisis. The facts on this are buried to this day.
The numbers prove Paul Krugman and the MSM utterly wrong. The Mises Institute published a comprehensive article on this based on analysis from the Institute For Energy Research, but I’ll summarize:
The MSM and Paul Krugman argued that the entire incident was caused by Texas’ ill prepared natural gas powered grid and that Wind Turbines had nothing to do with it. By extension, the MSM asserted that this makes any notion of a state like Texas becoming independent from centralized governance and a centralized grid “laughable.” It’s important to note that Krugman offers no real stats to support his arguments. An “economist” should know better.
The truth is that failing wind turbines were indeed the primary source of the power grid decline. Leading up to the winter storm in February, wind turbines were generating around 28% (nearly one third) of Texas power while natural gas was providing 43%. By the end of the freeze wind power had dropped to 6% while natural gas took up the slack and increased to 65% of the grid. In other words, Krugman either lied, or he was oblivious to the actual stats. While there were failures in some natural gas plants, the majority of the fault was in federally funded wind power. During the grid down crisis, natural gas lost 7% of its overall output while the federally funded wind turbines lost 47% output. THIS IS A FACT.
Also keep in mind that power demand in the state skyrocketed at this time breaking all previous records, perhaps because the state population jumped from 29 million to 30 million from the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2021. Millions of people had just transplanted to Texas in a matter of months to escape blue state policies such as high taxes and oppressive covid mandates. And here is where we find what is likely the core motive behind the media’s lies about Texas – The establishment does not want Americans to migrate and congregate to fight against the mandates. Lying about Texas at any opportunity, even during tragedy, reveals their underlying fears.
Fauci’s Gain Of Function Research
Anthony Fauci is perhaps the highest paid liar in recent history, but his lies go beyond simply acting as a propagandist for the government. The covid pandemic has luckily resulted in a very low average Infection Fatality Rate (only 0.27% officially), meaning, over 99.7% of the population at any given time has very little to worry about from the virus. With the mild Omicron variant now in circulation the death numbers are falling even further. However, there have been fatalities that did not need to happen and Fauci is partly to blame.
Despite the fact that the largest Level 4 virology lab in Asia is in Wuhan, China right down the street from the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak, the mainstream media at the behest of the government and the medical establishment has fought tooth and nail to deny any connection. If this was a murder investigation it would be like a detective walking in a room to find a dead body and a neighbor standing over it with a bloody knife, and then buying the suspect ice cream and sending him on his merry way. If you didn’t witness the actual stabbing, why investigate further?
Why was the media so adamant about ignoring the obvious? Maybe because government agencies like the NIAD and NIH under the direction of Anthony Fauci were involved in funding clandestine “Gain of Function” research of corona viruses at that very lab in Wuhan. This would explain why the initial strain of Covid that spread around the world in early 2020 was a 96% match to samples held at the lab since 2013. The other 4% could be attributed to genetic manipulation through gain of function.
Fauci denied any involvement in gain of function research, which is predominantly used for the weaponization of a virus or other microorganisms. The media violently defended him and accused anyone critical of Fauci of being crackpot conspiracy theorists. Well, it turns out he was lying again. The release of over 900 documents related to coronavirus research funded by Fauci and the US government in Wuhan proves the media either blindly defended Fauci without looking at the evidence, or that they share the same agenda.
The Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated
“Breakout case” is now a common term used in the media to describe fully vaccinated people who still get sick from and die from covid infection. But not long ago the narrative was that anyone and everyone falling ill from the virus was unvaccinated. The media and the government still push the notion that unvaccinated people are filling up hospitals and ICU beds, but there is ZERO evidence to support these claims. Meanwhile, the most vaccinated countries on the planet are also dealing with some of the highest infection rates on the planet and continuing deaths.
In Ireland, for example, over 63% of recent covid deaths were fully vaccinated individuals. In Israel, nearly 60% of covid hospitalizations are fully vaccinated. Uruguay, Bahrain, Maldives and Chile all have overwhelming majority vaccinations and all of them have seen spikes in covid deaths and infections.
If the vaccines actually work, then how is this possible? Conclusion: The vaccines don’t work, at least not in the way that pharmaceutical companies initially claimed. Add to this the fact that people with natural immunity are 13 to 27 times more protected from covid than people who submit to the jab. On has to ask – What is the point of these experimental mRNA vaccines with no long term data to prove their safety?
“Transitory” Stagflation
Mainstream media denial of US inflation has been commonplace for some time. Now, they can’t hide it anymore. With price inflation hitting 40 year highs (according to official numbers), the pocketbook of the average American is taking a massive hit, and its only going to get worse from here on.
The media appears to be specifically invested in hiding real economic data from the public and protecting the Federal Reserve and central banking practices in general. I won’t get into my theories on why this is the case (I already wrote extensively on this issue in my last article), I’ll only say that an unprepared populace is an easy to control populace when an economic crash occurs.
Covid Keeping Audiences From The Movie Theaters?
The movie industry was on the decline well before the covid pandemic happened, and it is undeniable that this was largely due to the extreme leftist propaganda implanted into Hollywood films since 2016. Yes, Hollywood was woke before then, but nowhere near as bad as the industry has become in the past five years. Hollywood calls this politicization of films “inclusivity,” but having more black and brown people in films is not the issue. Rather, it is the injection of leftist woke ideology and cultism into everything from films to TV series to commercials.
The culture war is VERY real, and sadly, the biggest mistake of conservatives was to mostly ignore the fight in popular entertainment until recently. There is hope, however, and it is found in the mantra of “Get Woke Go Broke!” Audiences are voting with their wallets and the consensus is that they do not want woke politics poisoning their entertainment. For the past couple years leftists in the media have said that the crash in theater profits has been caused by public fear over covid. This excuse was recently destroyed by the latest Spiderman film, which has no woke politics and had audiences coming to theaters by the millions. The film made over $1 billion in 5 days breaking previous records.
Clearly, covid is not a factor at all, but if you look at almost every failed movie this past year there is a thread that connects them – Woke propaganda. No one wants it, no one likes it. The media has no other means of denying it any longer.
There are many other lies I did not get a chance to cover here, but I think you get the picture. Who knows what the next year will bring in terms of spin from our corporate gatekeepers? At least, for now, the alternative media has stepped up to fill the void and bring facts where there was once only deception. In order to get rid of the truth, they will have to get rid of us. Otherwise, the free market has spoken. … ##
Again, in terms of an analysis in brief, while there are differences and nuances that MHProNews has provided reports on those related topics, the thrust of the above tends to line up with what sources cited here that span the left-right divide have documented too. We’ve long said by way of analysis and editorial commentary that not all news is fake news. Who says? University level media researchers.
But there are certainly examples of news reports that are agenda driven. Those reports may downplay or ignore information that runs counter to the narrative that a given source is promoting.
That pattern is playing out in manufactured housing specifically, and affordable housing in general. But as big as the total housing market is, it is still just a subset of the total economy. Again, when voices on the left and right agree that several segments of the economy are steadily being gobbled up by corporate consolidators, it is no surprise that such is occurring in manufactured housing too.
These patterns are reported here precisely to set the larger context that manufactured housing operates in. When people in media, or those who study media, as well as those in alternative media are often saying that a significant part of mainstream reporting is agenda driven, and that the agenda is a mix of corporate and governmental in nature, that has been confirmed by a range of sources.
The largely leftist writers in the collage above and dozens of their colleagues did a de rigueur swat a then still-in-the White House, President Donald J. Trump. One leftist that has since come to realize that the Biden agenda is not as promised has done a public mea culpa.
President Trump recently said the obvious. The nation needs a savior. He’s not that savior. Trump aptly said Jesus is the savior that is needed.
That said, there is a world that we live in. There are spiritual and temporal needs. With the proper balance, it is obvious even to millions who voted for Obama-era VP Joe Biden that President Trump is the superior president. But that doesn’t make Trump perfect. The case can be made he was dupped on COVID19 into Operation Warp Speed and other steps too. That is serious, but one might hope that public officials that advised him would have had the best interests of the country – not certain deep pocket corporate interests – at heart.
Naomi Wolf has a point. We are in the fight for our lives. Part of that is an attempt to crush free speech and silence dissent. When you can deplatform a sitting President of the United States (POTUS), that is an exercise in raw power. But that pattern of silencing dissent – which ranges from voices on the left who dare challenge the official narratives as well as those on the right who do so – is resulting in growing resistance. That resistance is often attracted to sites such as this if the professionals involved happen to be involved in manufactured housing.
Some of the oldest tricks in the book have been used in the past few years, especially in the past 2 years. For instance. Point the finger at your opponent and accuse them of doing what the finger wager is claiming their rival is guilty of – for instance, accusing Trump of being a fascist dictator. If he was, then why didn’t he invoke martial law to stay in the White House? Fascism is a blend of big corporate and big government colluding together. Isn’t it obvious that the big corporate interests wanted and got Joe Biden?
One reasonable test for good journalism is this. Does the reporting, facts, and analysis stand the test of time months or years later? Typos aside, here on MHProNews, we can point to hundreds and hundreds of articles every year where the answer is yes. By contrast, as Brandon Smith said, some in mainstream media have had to swallow and pivot on story after story. Former CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson documented over 120 mainstream media reports that were errant in the Trump era.
A new year is here. A foundation has been laid of information that is routinely reliable, even if some of what is stated here is not popular with certain circles. Time will tell, but there are reasons to believe that 2022 could witness some significant pivots in our profession, and perhaps nationally too. Count on MHProNews to shine the light on issues that have caused millions to miss out on the benefits of manufactured housing in the 21st century. Our goal remains the same. Providing the resources that can make white hat professionals and affordable housing seekers benefit through the good news of modern manufactured homes done properly. Friend and foe alike flock here to see how that struggle is being reported and how it will play out in 2022. ##
Trade media can and should be a ‘cheer leader’ when it is appropriate to do so. But authentic trade media also holds the powers that be to account. Who says? The American Press Institute.
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All on Capitol Hill were welcoming and interested with the discussion of manufactured housing related issues on our 12.3.2019 meetings. But Texas Congressman Al Green’s office was tremendous in their hospitality. Our son’s hand is on a package that included a copy of the Constitution of the United States and other goodies. MHProNews has worked with people and politicos across the left-right divide.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
