“Fake news” has become a major talking point over the past four years, but while President Trump artfully dialed-in to this anti-media sentiment, right-wing complaints about the press are nothing new. For decades there has been a consensus perception among Republicans that the liberal media treats GOP causes and candidates unfairly.
They very well may have a leg to stand on, as the majority of journalists do identify as Democrats. Though most members of the media strive to be impartial, and we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, it is simply impossible for one’s ideology to not present some bias in how they view and report a story — even if that bias is subconscious.
That being said, conservatives have had quality news outlets of their own for many years — including the nation’s top-rated cable news channel, Fox News, and dozens of print media outlets, such as the Washington Examiner and the Wall Street Journal. So, while there may be liberal bias in reporting, there are still plenty of options to receive the news through a conservative lens.
This hasn’t solved the problem.
Trust in the media continues to decrease, and the charges of “fake news” have never been louder. So, what’s going on? The real problem boils down to this: People can’t tell the difference between fact, opinion, news presented with a partisan slant, and actual fake news. The term has been used so widely that “fake news” has really just come to mean news a person disagrees with.
With the onset of the coronavirus crisis, what was previously an issue that caused divisiveness in our society now presents an actual healthcare crisis. As I previously wrote, clear communication is imperative for effectively managing a public health emergency — but when people don’t trust the news, it becomes very difficult to convince society of best disease-prevention practices.
What’s to be done about this massive decline in trust? It’s a more difficult question because there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Despite an avalanche of newspapers having to close their doors across the country, mass layoffs, and the overall negative sentiment toward their profession, the majority of media professionals have never grappled with their own culpability in their current predicament.
Some bias in reporting can be written off as human nature, but many outlets have gone far past that and reported outright falsehoods. And those falsehoods almost always seem to go in the direction of harming the Right, rarely the Left. When this occurs, bias becomes an agenda. This kind of misleading reporting pushes people toward false narratives, such as the incorrect media theory that Trump “colluded” with Russia to “steal” the 2016 election.
Too, media bias decreases our ability to hold the government accountable. For example, many cable news outlets have stopped airing the president’s press conferences, leaving viewers to depend on the network’s subjective interpretation and selective clips of what is said at these important events, instead of allowing citizens to access the news themselves.
At no time would this be proper, but during a pandemic, it is deeply irresponsible.
Actions such as this erode trust in the media, and for good reason. But the media are not the only bad guys here. We also have ourselves to blame for our hyperpartisan, loosely fact-checked, 24/7 news cycle. The simple reality is this is what the market demanded. This is what we have rewarded with our clicks, shares, and likes. People want their worldview regurgitated to them through a polarized news lens, and media outlets have simply met this demand.
We need a trustworthy media if we hope to hold our often wayward government accountable and make it through both the coronavirus crisis and crises to come. But this will require change from everyone involved.
Hannah Cox (@HannahCox7) is a libertarian-conservative activist and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog.
