Yet another survey finds the public no longer trusts “journalists”. This one was done by something called the Reuters Institute, which is apparently not quite the same thing as the dying Reuters “news” agency. It polled US, UK, Brazil and India, and found the same distrust in the first three, while India still trusts its own media.
Most distrusters agree on two changes that might restore trust. (1) Pay more attention to humans and less to celebrities and politicians. (2) Pay more attention to actions that solve problems, and less to mere gossip and noise.
I’ll go with both of those. As I’ve been tiresomely chanting, news means something NEW, not an endless repetition of TRANS_BABIES or ZERO_TAX or JANUARY_6_VIOLENT_INSURRECTION.
Unfortunately a focus on problem-solving activities would require media to be mostly silent, since only one major figure is solving problems. And the media DOES focus on Jerome Powell, in a UNIFORMLY NEGATIVE WAY. All sides, whether they call themselves Repooflicans or Democrats or Socialists, agree violently that normal economics is IMPOSSIBLE! INTOLERABLE! ALL OPTIONS ON THE TABLE! All agree violently that ZIRP/QE is the natural permanent order of nature, the only way to achieve prosperity.
The distrusters also think media should start listening to its customers, but that’s just silly, like asking the earth to rotate clockwise.
Polistra's Mill 