Lapdog media can’t be trusted

2020-2021 has revealed many things about established U.S. institutions, but one institution has taken more blows to its credibility than others: U.S. media. There are a few annual surveys conducted around the concept of public trust in media, but the most recent is devastating as it shows trust in media is in “free fall”: https://tippinsights.com/trust-in-media-is-in-free-fall-how-can-the-media-restore-its-trust-factor/

Since the founding of our country, which established a free press, the idea was that journalists would act as the “Fourth Estate” carrying out the important job of keeping a critical eye on the other powerful estates like government and business. Journalists were supposed to intensely scrutinize those in power on behalf of the broader citizenry, but since 2020 people have awakened to the fact that media has rapidly devolved into nothing more than a propaganda arm for the highest bidder/lobbyists and their lackeys in government.

Many solutions will be presented on how to regain trust, but the reality is intense self-reflection is needed to get to real solutions and that has yet to be proven a characteristic of modern-day media. Unless media, at national and local levels, begin to intensely question rather than simply take orders/talking points, the free fall will continue. The sad reality is they probably don’t care, which adds a more concerning layer to these results: There are people out there who still trust media.

Chase McWhorter

Carbondale