Something is deeply broken in American news. Can it be fixed?

美国新闻中有些东西被严重破坏了。 可以修复吗?

Apple News In Conversation

2022-10-29

26 分钟
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单集简介 ...

A recent study by the Reuters Institute found that only 29% of Americans say they trust the news most of the time. Where has the press gone wrong — and how can it change to better serve the public? Longtime media critic Margaret Sullivan explores these questions in her new book, Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) From an Ink-Stained Life. Below are excerpts from her interview with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu.
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单集文稿 ...

  • This is in conversation from Apple News.

  • I'm Shemitah Basu.

  • Today how the media flunked its big moment of reckoning and how it should change to better serve the public.

  • Americans trust in media has dwindled to an all time low.

  • Back in the 70s, around 72% of Americans said they had a good or great amount of trust in the press.

  • Last year, a study by the Reuters Institute found that only 29% of Americans say they trust the news most of the time.

  • People will often say, just give me the facts.

  • Leave your opinion out of it.

  • I just want the plain old facts.

  • Margaret Sullivan is a longtime media critic.

  • I get it.

  • I get why people say that they're very tired of what they see as biased media.

  • The problem is every story, every broadcast, every photograph, there are choices behind that.

  • She's spent her whole career analyzing and criticizing the choices that journalists make.

  • She started at her local paper, the Buffalo Evening News.

  • She went on to become the New York Times public editor, a sort of internal watchdog role where she wrote critically about the Times editorial process.

  • So very weird job.

  • Kind of like being in internal affairs in the police department or kind of like being the inspector general of a federal agency.

  • Earlier this year, she retired her media criticism column at the Washington Post and now she's out with a new book called Newsroom Confidential Lessons and Worries from an Ink Stained Life.

  • The truth is, Margaret told me she is worried about bad media moves that eat away at trust, about the political climate about democracy.