Are Americans Giving Up on the News?
A Pew Research Report last week revealed that the percentage of Americans “following” the news declined from 51% in 2016 to 36% today. The drop spans all demographics, but was steeper among Republicans (from 57% to 36%) than Democrats (from 49% to 39%). Several factors may explain this decline.
One likely reason is a loss of trust in the media. Another Pew report earlier this year found that trust in national news organizations has fallen from 76% to 56% since 2016. Gallup’s October survey was even more stark: only 28% of Americans expressed a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the media.
Given the mainstream media’s blatant bias over the past decade—see, e.g., the 2016 Russia Hoax, the 2020 riots, the Covid pandemic and Hunter Biden lap top scandal – this erosion of trust is understandable. Donald Trump’s branding of “fake news” may be controversial, but it should prompt reflection across the political spectrum.
Distinguishing fake news from truth has long been difficult. For example, I recall an incident in 2017 during the weeks-long debate over legislation to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. I was in Congress at the time, and a constituent, concerned by media reports suggesting people would lose coverage or that those with pre-existing conditions would be left vulnerable, scheduled a meeting with me. I walked him through my heavily annotated copy of the bill—marked with post-it notes and yellow highlights—to show that the media narrative was false. The bill included explicit protections for those with pre-existing conditions and for those already enrolled under the Affordable Care Act.
At the end of our meeting, the constituent, visibly frustrated, asked, “Where am I supposed to get my news then?” I told him that if he really wanted to get the facts he had to read the primary sources himself. It’s not a satisfying answer, especially during heated debates over issues that affect families and the nation. But it’s a necessary one when the media decides to spin rather than report facts. And facts about law and policy can be hard to get to, particularly given the complexity of our laws and regulations. Most substantive legislation today runs hundreds of pages and includes numerous citations to existing provisions of the United States Code. Even trained attorneys with support staff struggle to decipher these drafts.
James Madison warned of this very problem: “It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” Regrettably, this is the state we find ourselves in today, compounding the crisis facing the media.
As legacy media has floundered, an opening was created to allow new media—social networks, podcasts, internet news sites—to gain market share. These outlets often wear their biases openly, and consumers gravitate toward (or are driven by an algorithm to) sources that reinforce their own views. While this fragmentation allows for more diverse perspectives, it is not contributing to an actual resolution of the nation’s challenges.
This presents an opportunity for political leaders. With public trust in media waning, are there politicians willing to do the hard work of seeking truth, being honest with the American people, and using available media—legacy or new—to communicate that truth in order to resolve constructively an issue that we face?
Consider, for example, the issue behind the Democrats’ recent government shutdown. Enhanced Covid-era subsidies for Obamacare insurance plans, meant to be temporary, are expiring at the end of the year. Their expiration exposes a deeper truth: the ACA’s promise of affordable health care was simply false. That was evident from the start and became even clearer by the time of the 2017 repeal-and-replace debates, when insurers were exiting the ACA exchanges, deductibles and co-pays were increasing, and doctor shortages were worsening. The failure of the ACA to deliver as promised, and bringing accountability to those who made those promises, is a debate that must be had, and Republicans should have been preparing for it long ago.
In the coming days, we’ll see how the media handles the ACA subsidy issue—and whether its coverage offers a reason for the public to begin reconsidering its trust in news sources. A course correction will be difficult, but the media must start somewhere. Regrettably, I would not bet money on this being the place.
(Congressman Keith Rothfus served 3 terms in the U.S. House. He is a Notre Dame Law School graduate living near Pittsburgh where he and his wife raised their family. )
