About 15 years ago, an editor suggested I do a story about the decline of public trust in institutions, especially the media. I did some reporting, then moved on to other stories. And then to another newspaper.
The reasons why our industry was flailing, it seemed, were obvious then, as they are now.
Newsroom veterans, of course, knew who to blame. Hidebound newsroom management trapped by fear and convention. Greedy owners and Wall Street vultures who sought higher returns. The internet and the social media networks it spawned, redirecting advertising and readers’ attention.
Confidence in mass media slipped this year to a 50-year low, according to Gallup. While that decline is mirrored by almost every other American institution, Marty Baron, former editor of the Washington Post, is focused on the industry he knows.
Speaking Sunday (Nov. 2) at a St. Louis fundraiser for the Gateway Journalism Review, Baron said the low levels of trust in traditional media should compel journalists to “look inward to reflect on whether we are going about our work as we should.”
Too many journalists, Baron said, have turned into social media “warriors” in response to critics, straying from “the profession’s bedrock standards” and undermining our roles as honest brokers of facts.
“When we’re at work, our behavior should be that of a professional, not a combatant. At all times we must practice our craft with true independence and in reverence for evidence over our preconceptions,” Baron said.
That means journalists should pursue the truth with rigor and an open mind, ask the right questions, listen “generously with empathy and respect to those we cover,” acknowledge and correct errors of fact and judgment, and be “fully transparent about how we go about our reporting.”
Baron, who retired in 2021, also said news outlets need to cut their dependency on traffic from search engines and social media, and cultivate instead a “genuinely loyal trusting base of readers, listeners and viewers who show support with subscriptions or memberships.” News outlets also “have to learn from influencers … about how to convey authenticity.”
I’ve worked for newspapers most of my career and have written about — and experienced — the industry’s travails since the early 1980s, when several newspapers closed. That said, I’m no expert on the subject; I barely qualify as a student. But you don’t need to be an expert to see that when an institution loses trust, it also loses authority and risks fading into irrelevance.
How does any organization maintain trust? I would argue it should consistently provide the highest quality product or service at a fair price. It should be responsive to customers’ concerns and desires. It should be transparent about its processes and its pricing.
The needs of customers — the people you count on to sustain you — are paramount. That means if you cut corners to benefit a third party — a shareholder, a lender, a supplier, or other stakeholder — you run the risk of losing the trust of the people you need most.
The problem is, we’ve seen a lot of corner-cutting in the U.S. as conglomerates have swallowed up entire sectors of the economy. We have fewer major bankers, fewer airlines, fewer railroads, fewer food processors, fewer almost everything — except perhaps streaming services and marijuana dispensaries.
The news media have not been immune.
Back in 1983, Ben Bagdikian claimed 50 corporations controlled 90% of the content in U.S. newspapers, books, broadcast, and film. Much of the industry, at the time, was dismissive. The Los Angeles Times, in a review, said Bagdikian’s book, The Media Monopoly, was filled with “half-truths and provocative wrath,” then faulted Bagdikian for failing to note “America’s leading newspapers have grown better, not worse.”
Of course, the number of media conglomerates is considerably smaller today — and for that, you can thank both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The internet, which at one time held the promise of expanding media diversity, instead seemed to accelerate concentration. Time Warner and Viacom disappeared in big mergers. AT&T swallowed media companies, then spun them off. Meta and Alphabet, while insisting they’re tech companies not media companies, emerged as leading gatekeepers for content and advertising. Amazon and Netflix are major players in content production, advertising and digital entertainment.
And the dominant media in our new gilded age are controlled by billionaires, including the legacy newspaper Baron once helmed. I would argue a billionaire is the result of and beneficiary of bad public policy — one that allows the exploitation of labor, the conversion of public resources into private gain, and regressive tax policies. As wealth in the U.S. becomes more concentrated, is it any wonder that Americans from left to right lose confidence in the foundational institutions that have capitulated to capital?
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire Amazon founder who bought the Washington Post in 2013, does extensive business with the federal government, perhaps explaining why the paper’s editorial page has shifted right, Amazon MGM studios paid $40 million for the rights to a documentary on first lady Melania Trump, and Amazon Prime Video is now streaming “The Apprentice.”
Baron insists the Washington Post newsroom continues to do good work. But even if it adheres to “bedrock standards,” can it be trusted when the owner’s financial interests are at risk? Can it be seen as an independent, honest broker? —Roland Klose (Nov. 3, 2025)
Roland Klose 