New media and the trust gap

Our nation’s media landscape is rapidly changing, as the American people shift their attention from one of the three nightly newscasts to a veritable smorgasbord of broadcast, cable, print, online, streaming, and social news sources. It’s truly a whole new world for the news industry.

That change has come fast—especially over the last decade. News has been democratized, as anyone with a twitter handle and a hot take can make a meme that captures the attention of thousands. Orson Scott Card, in his wonderful sci-fi novel Ender’s Game, posits a pair of brilliant young teenagers catapulted to global influence as the anonymous authors of regularly insightful commentary “liked” on the holonets.

Donald Trump has captured and embodied much of this transition, with his relentless focus on the “fake news” media and his willingness to go directly to the American people without having things filter through the media first, much like Harry Truman on his old-school whistlestop train tour in 1948. Once banned from Twitter, Trump now collaborates regularly with the new owner of the platform (Elon Musk), rebranded X.

Trump took an important step to formalize this underlying reality at the new White House, where his team restored the press passes of journalists revoked during the Biden Administration. (There were over 400 revoked under Biden’s new credentialing standards.) He also opened the door for independent journalists, such as podcast hosts or social media influencers, to apply for White House press passes—so far, over 7,000 have done so. And he designated a new seat in the James Brady Press Briefing Room for “new media,” guaranteeing that these new outlets will have an occasional opportunity to ask questions directly to the press secretary or senior officials live in a briefing, just like any other outlet.

At the first briefing under the new rules, online insider site Axios and conservative new media site Breitbart were called on for the first questions, underlining the White House’s commitment to this new policy. No longer will the legacy media enjoy their historic monopoly on the press briefing room.

According to Pew research, 20 percent of Americans rely on news influencers as a regular source for information. Meanwhile, Pew has also found that only 31 percent of Americans trust legacy national media institutions.

I take two observations from the Pew data. First, the president has done the right thing with inviting new media into the press room. But one seat in the Brady Room, out of the 49 available, still doesn’t accurately reflect the proportion of Americans who get their news from alternative sources. And, frankly, many of these are President Trump’s biggest supporters. Many in MAGA world don’t trust and won’t watch CNN, CBS, or even Fox for news. They are looking to alternative sources like Breitbart or the Daily Signal, and the White House is smart to recognize that fact.

Second, I hope mainstream media organizations start to take more responsibility for addressing the trust gap that’s developed between them and the American people. Thirty-one percent is not good—like, down with Congress and lawyers not good. If it’s the profit motive that gets them to take a different tact to restore that trust, so be it. I think the decision of many outlets (Gannett, the Washington Post, the LA Times) to not endorse a candidate in the presidential race was a positive sign, a recognition that there’s no need to upset half their readers (or potential readers) by taking sides, especially when no readers expect to change their mind after reading an editorial endorsement.

As Christians, we are called to be people of truth, and good journalism can be an important vehicle for truth in the public square (indeed, that commitment is core to WORLD’s mission). And as citizens, I believe we need good journalism to have a healthy, vibrant republic. We need reliable information about our government, corporations, universities, and schools, including investigative journalism that exposes corruption and malfeasance. I think the Washington Post has hit on something with its tagline, “Democracy dies in darkness.” But we can never forget that media themselves become powerful institutions with entrenched interests and monopolies. We can hope that a few new media journalists at the White House will shed fresh light on what’s happening.