Cratering Trust In America’s Anti-Truth Media Is Healthy For Society

Americans’ trust in the media is in the tank — and the hack-tivist “journalists” who have spent years contributing to the trend are not taking it well.

On Tuesday, former CNN political reporter Chris Cillizza lamented findings published in a recent Gallup survey that show Americans’ overall confidence in “mass media” has been in decline for years. The analysis indicated that in 2024, just 12 percent of Republicans, 27 percent of independents, and 54 percent of Democrats “say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media” to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly.”

Overall, in 2024, 36 percent of respondents said they have “no trust at all” in media, while 33 percent expressed having “not very much” trust and confidence.

“Devastating. And a massive problem for a healthy democracy,” Cillizza whined on X alongside a photo of results from the Gallup analysis. Cillizza also indicated yesterday that he believes the controversy surrounding “60 Minutes” allegedly distorting its sit-down interview with Kamala Harris is “dumb.”

Cillizza’s melodramatic performance may sit well with his legacy media cohorts. But for anyone who’s been paying attention to the past decade of press coverage, it’s all smoke and mirrors.

When talking heads like Cillizza claim Americans’ waning trust is “devastating” for “democracy,” what they’re actually espousing is their fear that the media is losing its ability to control what information the public is allowed to receive and how it’s portrayed.

For years, these self-professed “news” outlets have dominated the information sphere with little competition from conservative and independent media or from free speech platforms like X. They frame nearly every major news story from a left-wing perspective, ultimately advancing the Democrat Party agenda.

While Cillizza unsurprisingly declined to mention in his Tuesday post on X how this dynamic has contributed to Americans’ lack of trust in the industry, CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell recently provided a clear-cut example of why corporate media can no longer be trusted to deliver objective, unbiased news.

During the opening of her Monday night program, O’Donnell provided a synopsis of Harris and Donald Trump’s recent 2024 presidential campaign activity. In typical left-wing activist fashion, O’Donnell gave a glowing account of Harris barnstorming in rust-belt swing states with her new wacky sidekick Liz Cheney to convince “disaffected Republican voters” to back her flailing candidacy.

After reporting that Cheney that day called Harris “a responsible adult,” O’Donnell characterized Trump’s campaign activities as such:

As for former President Donald Trump, he was back in North Carolina — again, pushing false claims about FEMA and immigrants. That’s after he spent the weekend slinging a crude insult at Harris, engaging in lewd locker room talk about the late golfing legend Arnold Palmer, and staging a campaign stunt at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s.

Recall that O’Donnell was one of two “moderators” hand-picked by CBS News to pander to Tim Walz during the 2024 vice-presidential debate. It was clear to any objective person who watched the Oct. 1 spectacle that helping Walz — not impartiality — was their top priority.

What Americans experienced during the debate and throughout recent years is not an industry devoted to the truth, but Democrat activism. These so-called “journalists” have weaponized the First Amendment right to a free press to advance the very ideology that seeks to undermine that right and others documented in the Constitution.

Contrary to Cillizza’s assessment, Americans’ skepticism and lack of confidence in our current media aren’t “devastating” for the republic; they’re necessary for its very survival.

Western civilization cannot function when its media’s primary objective is protecting the interests of the state. A real press devoted to providing the unvarnished truth to the people ensures accountability throughout government and society writ large.

Cillizza and his ilk can shoot off disingenuous tweets about Americans’ declining trust in media until the cows come home. But until they start acting like the press our founders envisioned, the people have every right to view them as the left-wing propagandists they are. Failure to do so only ensures an accelerated collapse of what’s left of our republic.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood