Why don't they trust us?

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Trust in the news media has been falling for decades. Most journalists know that, but not all.

In a recent interview, former CBS correspondent Scott Pelley suggested not only that he doesn't understand why trust has evaporated, but that he finds the question itself surprising.

Here’s WORLD commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS: The late broadcaster David Brinkley once observed: “Objectivity is impossible to normal human behavior. Rather, we should strive for fairness.”

Now that’s a useful standard, especially for journalists. And especially for journalists who don’t realize how they’re perceived.

Former CBS correspondent Scott Pelley recently sat for a lengthy interview over the weekend with The New York Times after being fired from CBS News.

One exchange caught my attention: Pelley was discussing Bari Weiss, the woman hired to run CBS News. Questioning Pelley was Lulu Garcia-Navarro of the Times.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I’m surprised that you hadn’t heard of her. She’s a lightning rod in journalism.

PELLEY: You know, she just hadn’t crossed my radar, and if I hadn’t heard of Bari Weiss at that point in time, that probably tells you more about me than it does her.

I appreciated the honesty. Because it showed what a tiny bubble America’s elite TV personalities live in.

Not because every American should know Bari Weiss, but because Scott Pelley isn’t every American.

For years, Weiss has been one of the most prominent critics of mainstream news organizations and declining public trust in them. She built an entire media company around those concerns. 

Yet one of America’s most recognizable journalists says Weiss had never crossed his radar. And, to his credit, he acknowledged that probably says more about him than it does about her.

I agree. Because what came next suggests exactly that.

Garcia-Navarro asked Pelley about Weiss’s first meeting with senior staff at 60 Minutes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: When Bari comes in, she has a meeting with senior 60 Minutes staffers, and in that meeting she asked, and I’m quoting, ‘Why does the country think you’re biased?’ Is that a correct assessment of that? 

PELLEY: I wasn’t there... / I see. / ...but that is what I’ve been told by my colleagues who were there, and … that was sort of her hello to the staff at 60 Minutes.

Garcia-Navarro followed up.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What was the feeling about that particular opening salvo to the team?

PELLEY: "Uh, oh." She, I am told, said something to the effect of, "Why do you think the country thinks you’re biased?" But she didn’t offer any kind of a metric. 

You know, what’s your metric? Why do you think so? Do you have a poll? Is there market research? What are you talking about? Because we certainly didn’t believe that. And we just felt that she was making statements that perhaps she couldn’t back up, and was coming into the news division with hardened preconceived notions that didn’t seem to be thought through.

A poll?

For decades Gallup has measured public confidence in the news media. In the early 1970s, nearly seven in ten Americans trusted the press. Today, fewer than three in ten do.

The question wasn’t strange. It was long overdue.

What struck me wasn’t that Bari Weiss asked it—what struck me was that veteran journalists had no answer.

And then Pelley offered perhaps the most revealing line in the entire interview, describing his colleagues’ reaction to a perfectly reasonable question:

PELLEY: They were shocked.

They were shocked.

Not challenged. Not unconvinced. Not eager to offer evidence to the contrary; shocked.

Millions of Americans have spent years questioning whether major news organizations report the news fairly.

One of the most prominent critics of that perception arrives at CBS News. She asks why the public thinks the media are biased. And the reaction inside the newsroom is shock.

Perhaps that helps explain why trust in the news media continues to fall.

For WORLD, I’m Cal Thomas.

Finally, a personal word:

For many years, I’ve argued that journalists should spend less time defending themselves and more time understanding why so many Americans have lost confidence in the news media.

At WORLD, that question is never far from our minds.

Every day, our reporters, editors, and producers set out to practice journalism that is fair, careful, transparent, worthy of your trust, and that remembers Who is ultimately in charge of the world we cover.

That kind of journalism matters. It is why WORLD exists.

And during WORLD’s June Giving Drive, we’re grateful for those who help make it possible. WNG.org/donate. 

And thank you.

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