Nigeria, Jan. 24 -- After the last United States presidential election, I cancelled my cable news subscriptions without a second thought. I had reached a point of saturation. I no longer wished to permit Time Warner, the Murdoch family, or any other corporate media conglomerate to monetise my anxiety. I could not continue to endure the psychological battering that came from the incessant recycling of the inanities of Trump's first term, a spectacle that messed with my mental health. Strip away the sanctimony and the performative outrage, and the underlying loyalty of cable news becomes unmistakable: the maximisation of shareholder returns, not enlightenment for public good.

I did, however, retain my subscription to The New York Times. Un...