The Real Reason Trust In Media Collapsed

Trust in media is at an all-time low. Only 8% of Republicans have trust in newspapers, TV, and radio to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. This compares with a whopping 51% of Democrats who trust mass media.

Why the discrepancy? The short answer is that Democrats tend to pretend bias doesn’t exist, while Republicans tend to embrace it. Here is the long answer.

Right after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in 2024, CNN touted this headline: Secret Service Rushes Trump Off Stage After He Falls at Rally. And one from the Associated Press: Donald Trump has been escorted off the stage by Secret Service during a rally after loud noises ring out in the crowd. Soon after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, The New York Times published a story with this headline: Charlie Kirk, Right-Wing Force and a Close Trump Ally, Dies at 31.

The problem with these headlines is not that they are factually inaccurate, but that they are incredibly biased, leaving out critical information on purpose. These are the same newsrooms that claim to only produce objective, unbiased reports.

I investigated the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) in a summer project in 2024 with the National Journalism Center. CLC is a “nonpartisan legal organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy.” They are supposedly focused on “democracy, not particular political parties or electoral results.” Any ounce of research into the organization proves otherwise. In fact, on a call with a source who asked to remain anonymous, I was given a data sheet proving the Center disproportionately attacks Republicans by a wide margin. They are almost completely partisan, and their website is lying.

The CLC is emblematic of many other liberal organizations — pretending to be nonpartisan and unbiased when they are not.

In direct contrast, many conservative outlets are completely unafraid to embrace their bias. Andrew Breitbart started Breitbart News with this exact intention: to combat Left-wing reporters pretending to be objective. The Daily Wire “does not claim to be without bias. We’re opinionated, we’re noisy, and we’re having a good time.” National Review was founded explicitly as an ideological project with the intention of sharing only conservative opinions. The Spectator’s motto is: “firm, but unfair.” They make no “pretence at being impartial.”

There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. But generally, bias is embraced by Republicans and ignored by Democrats, and Trump’s election illustrates this exact point. Many talking heads dubbed the election “The Podcast Election.” Trump’s three-hour Joe Rogan interview garnered 62 million views and more than half a million comments.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s attempts to get on podcasts mainly resulted in embarrassment. Walz tried to be a man’s man but struggled to load his own shotgun. Harris spent six figures for an appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast for a seven-minute interview that has now finally reached one million views. Harris was invited on Rogan’s show in exactly the same way as Trump. She ultimately declined, although ABC, of course, reported it was Rogan’s fault she didn’t appear.

Trump garnered more young voters in 2024 than in previous elections; Harris gained older voters — which is not typical of Republican and Democrat demographics. But these data aren’t surprising if you listen to the podcast (ironically) where Harris’ campaign chiefs explained how they blew through $1 billion dollars. “We put her on the Weather Channel. In part, because that’s where people were watching.” The last time I watched the Weather Channel was probably when I was helping out at a rest home. Unfortunately for Harris, the young kids are on TikTok and YouTube, and apparently, voting for Trump.

These reports are illustrative of a trend: conservatives want people who are honest about who they are, even if it means that person is incredibly biased. Whether or not the news they are reading and the people they are voting for are actually honest is up for debate — but they would rather have a wolf than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Liberals want to believe that because most traditional, well-established news outlets side with their point of view and are often marked “center,” their view must be objectively true, unbiased, and bipartisan.

This trend pinpoints exactly why Republicans tend to trust the media far less than Democrats do. And for 2024, that’s more than half of voters who mistrusted The New York Times more than they mistrusted Rogan — even when, supposedly, Rogan is far more biased and subjective.

This is the lesson all journalists should learn from 2024: stop promoting unbiased and nonpartisan reporting. Yes, even for news outlets marked “center” by AllSides bias checker, a biased source in and of itself. Objective reporting doesn’t exist. It’s sterile. It’s not entertaining to read. It hides behind lies. And it will ultimately create more distrust and division in society because it is founded on deception.

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Ella Dawson is a freelance journalist and history writer living in Utah.