Something is fundamentally broken in America. And you can get a hint of it in the way Americans think about and interact with news about the world. Especially news about politics.
A fascinating new study from public opinion firm Change Research puts its finger on the problem: "navigating a sea of bias, sensationalism, and misinformation exhausts and annoys significant portions of voters." The researchers show that it's this basic aggravation with the way we get information that is at the core of a lot of voter behavior. Americans have grown weary; not just of the news, but also of the entire miserable chore of learning about it.
Which explains the stunning statistic that the share of Americans saying they closely follow news dropped 13 points in the past eight years, and that today, only one-third of us pay any real attention to the world around us. Like singles on a dating app wading through a sea of creeps, duds, and weirdos until they quiet-quit the dating pool out of sheer exasperation, people are opting out of news out of frustrated fatigue.
As voters in a republic who are supposed exercise self-determination, that's on us. Mostly. But it's also on the media. Because they're the ones who are supposed to help the citizenry make informed decisions so that we can govern ourselves. And they're the ones that have made reading news feel like jumping into the trash compactor in Star Wars: wading through muck, waiting for some cyclopean alien eel to jump out and drown you. What a wonderful smell we've discovered.
Is there any way out of the cesspool? It depends on whether media organizations figure out the secret.
What they need to see is that the thing that is ultimately broken in America is trust. Stacks of research show that trust in institutions has been cratering and news media are among the biggest losers in the great American confidence die-off.
But there are a few clever media entities that are thriving right now, and it's highly likely that a major reason is that they've recognized ways to address some of the root causes -- perceptions of bias, sensationalism, misinformation, and financial motivations -- behind people's loss of faith.
For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer is tackling reader skepticism of media motivations by leaning into their not-for-profit ownership as a contrast to their competitors. They've successfully branded themselves as a paper that's more willing to shoot straight with readers because they're less driven by the balance sheet. That differentiation directly attacks one of the biggest sources of loss of reader trust -- the feeling that what they're reading is dripping with sensationalism. Articles look less like click-bait if the newspaper doesn't seem like it has quite the same need to chase clicks.
Substack is following a different trust-based model, and it's clearly resonating. It allows subscribers to develop a direct, social media-like connection with creators, so they can feel like they are getting more unvarnished analysis with less suspicion of platform owner bias. Creators also often mix the DIY Substack vibe with the name-brand professionalism of big-name-media by straddling both worlds. The smarter media outlets have seen this as a good thing, a win-win way to build greater reader trust for themselves by tapping into the creators' direct audience connection. Both of us are becoming such straddlers, and one of us (Schecter), a former Daily Beast columnist, is literally starting his own Substack right now (feel free to come give feedback on this article in his 12-hour livestream happening today, or hit Robison's).
To be sure, this list is neither complete nor perfect, and these steps are necessary but may not be sufficient. But the take-home is clear: if news media is going to reverse the tune-out trend -- which is something this country desperately needs -- the table stakes are being much clearer about getting biases out in the open and helping people feel like they at least know what they're getting.
And they can't just hope that it will happen; Walter Cronkite ain't walking through that door, so they've got to work for it... If they do, the marketplace may even reward them.
Matt Robison is a writer, podcast host, and former congressional staffer.
Cliff Schecter is a columnist and Democratic consultant.