Why No One Trusts The News 

The internet didn't kill journalism. Journalism morphed into the same opinion-shouting medium as the internet and just could not compete with it.

I used to be a journalist. I never hated a phrase more than "how can we spin this" or "what's the angle". Best decision I ever made was to do something else.

The Onion is now truly America’s most trusted news source.

I remember when the news only came on a couple of hours a day and you somehow got significantly more news than a 24 hour news cycle.

Because the news media is supposed to hold politicians accountable yet instead they crave access to those same politicians

Learning about US presidential history is like 60% learning why Nixon and Reagan ruined the US

I'm currently working in a job that is the result of the corporate consolidation of media. I work as a bureau reporter in the state capitol and my news stories go out to 5 news stations across the state. This video is spot on. Extremely common Wisecrack W.

I feel like I tune out because the “if it bleeds it leads” and power-stenographic nature of news leaves me unable to really get what I should do with the info presented. It’s almost like it’s designed for us to feel powerless and apathetic

I work for a nonprofit that releases reports and news articles tracking climate issues. When ConocoPhillips’ major new oil project was given the green light by the Biden Administration this past March, I wrote an article criticizing the decision. After getting publication approval from every expert in my org, the piece was mysteriously killed. No news outlet wanted to touch it. Our Comms team decided it was “too hot” an issue with too much risk associated with it. I spent nights in the office doing thorough research and in the end the public will never learn any of that. Project Willow will be built, people will die, the climate will boil, but at least the corporate overlords that own the media will be a little bit richer…

Im probably biased because I believe the failings of the press are the single greatest issue facing our modern society, but I think this is probably one of the best and most important Wisecrack videos Ive ever seen.

The history of journalism and its role and function in the U.S. is important. I hate what it has become, and hope it can be saved.

Wow, no advertisement and a very accurate and scathing condemnation of the death of journalism and not in a clickbait piece scapegoating the internet. Thank you for putting this out for people to see.

I work for a daily newspaper owned by a massive media conglomerate. The CEO just announced another round of mass layoffs. This is ehat happens when you view news not as a public service but as just another commodity to pad an accounting spreadsheet

The issue is deregulation everytime an industry or market gets deregulated because it'll make it "better" it actually gets worse also lobbying that should be flat out illegal

Journalism once used to hold businesses accountable, now it's just turned into a business with the same goals as any business - profit above all else.

I'm trusting RU-vidrs more and more for everything, including the news. Corporations always make Cheez Doodles of different kinds. I like real food. Give me RU-vidrs like yourselves any day.

Down with greed. Down with corruption. Hold everyone accountable

I often wonder how different our country would be if Reagan had a better career in Hollywood. If he had become an A list actor and had stayed there. The difference to where we are now and where we could have been could be boiled down to him simply landing the right role.

There is a slow burning push for local owned journalism. I'm part of a group of locally owned online news outlets. And there are a lot more than you think. We just keep slipping under the radar.

Hard to trust them when they've been caught lying red handed. Repeatedly.

The mainstream news rarely talks about issues that I care about like politicians making too much money, CEOs making too much money at the expense of workers, union busting, or problem with corporate lobbying and bribery by billionaires. If they do talk about these problems they never offer up any real solutions. So I don't watch the mainstream news very often anymore.

Just as trust in journalism has diminished over decades, rebuilding that trust will take generations

This is one of the most important topics of this Digital Era. If the distrust of MSM & institutions continues, sadly people may fall prey to conspiracies or facts curated by echo chambers or conformation bias. The media MUST do better and take ACCOUNTABILITY for their greedy involvement in these prevailing issues today. Thanks as always Wisecrack

This is a really insightful analysis of the situation, but I have one issue with it: the video doesn't examine these changes in the context of a previous media ecosystem that was also extremely effective at protecting the interests of the ruling class. Chomsky's ideas about media control were mostly developed in the era of Walter Cronkhite, after all. So this video very nearly implies that today we've fallen from an ideal situation that existed in the past. But things have always been terrible. They're just different, and slightly worse, now.

Wisecrack continues to prove to me that straightforward and sincere broadcasting, some basic production values, with a sprinkle of academic rigor, you can raise your viewerships consciousness and level of understanding. Been watching Wisecrack for a while and I feel like I can trust them to break down anything from my favorite anime or video game, to real world social issues. Wisecrack is also smart enough to not just chase whatever is trending online, all the videos seem evergreen in a sense. All these traits I'd say would be good journalism, not saying Wisecrack is Journalism, just sayin' they take the good principles of good journalism. It's kinda funny to say but I'd say Wisecrack is good news source, Perhaps not late-breaking news but still great philosophically focused analysis on the happenings of the day.

the moment Opinions take over facts and News cater to readers' tastes and preferences, then News become Opinions, which erodes trust. And once Trust is lost, it is tough to get it back.

And this is why I trust Highschool/collage newspapers more than the major media outlets. Granted nobody takes the Highschool/college journalist seriously since they only focus on their school's events. But if those journalists stepped out and covered 1 or 2 stories in their local areas it becomes more like what journalism is supposed to be/used to be.

I think we should ban advertising. That was the initial sin of journalism!

There is something very ironic about the fact that I had to watch or skip three different ads while watching this video. Very unbiased and honest take. Keep up the good work, guys.

Journalism in the old times: Ok folks, let’s discover and investigate! Journalism today: It’s just a advertisement company with a different name and scammy zodiac signs quizzes

I'm one of those journalists who left politics for entertainment. The subscription model had a lot of flaws, but after working 60-80 hour weeks with no overtime as the only full time reporter in my entire state for a publication? You get what you pay for.

The answer is the same to every question of why something in our society sucks or doesn’t function well: Privatization of something that should be public, corporations, consolidation, and lack of regulations while simultaneously keeping enough regulations to limit competition.

I really miss the Fairness Doctrine. And world news...

Everyone except the older generation, whenever I tell my parents or grandparents or their friends that I don't trust the news at all, they act like I'm a nut job conspiracy theorist

The press used to spin the message before it reached normals. Now the media can,t do it fast enough and it trip them up.

Thanks to everyone involved in making this piece!!

I hope y'all at Wisecrack know just how important this kind of work is.

Wisecrack!!! You guys are a absolutely KILLING it lately with your videos tackling the current state of society. Your wokeness video, along with ones like these are absolutely spot on

What snuffed out the last remaining morsel of trust I had in the media was me watching CNN on mute at lunch one day. I noticed when they’re muted, it looks like 4 random heads just yapping about…something. It felt odd, like, who are these people and why should I even believe they’re credible? Then I started paying more attention whenever I get to see the news on mute again. Doesn’t matter what network it is. End of the day, I did not find reason to believe anybody talking on TV news is credible.

The movie Network (1976) Explains EXACTLY what happened. If you want to know now, Profits and Rating. That's all that matters to News. As the Director said on the 40th anniversary commentary "Everything I have shown in this movie, has come true. Except the ending." Well, the ending did come true as well.

Ive witnessed the fall of local journalism in my own community. Our local paper was bought by a large out of state firm years ago. The paper would get smaller year by year, then lose daily printing, outsource printing to another city that then delivered the paper to our town, and finally the closing of the paper's building all together. From what i understand their current editor works in another state and any local articles produced are based on the gig model, so no full time reporters. The local news station isnt much better. Its insane that we as a society let it get to this point. I learn more about my community from local facebook groups than the actual local news and paper lmao.

This was a great synopsis of the problem. I’ve been so frustrated by news because I can’t always tell what’s true and what’s opinion which means I do much more work to get less usable information.

As a journalist, this video is very biased to the “death” of the so call serious journalist, as if there’s no other type of media or genre

This was incredibly depressing (the state of our media landscape), but an incredibly important subject. Thank you Wisecrack.

As with most things, this is all Regan's fault.

We are living through the death throes of a dying state. Was greed that laid us low.

All media is biased. Everyone needs to face that now. Media literacy is what helps us understand that. Flowing from that, you can understand ideology, and from that, you can begin to understand what your media is saying to you ideologically and if you are actually comfortable with that. This is all part of that "critical thinking" thing that we are always going on about.

The end of print media was certainly brought on by the widespread use of the internet. As someone who grew up in a family who all worked at the local major newspaper - when free ads (used car ads especially) became available on Craig's List, those ads disappered from the Classified section. Large Auto Dealerships began to advertise elsewhere soon after. The income collected from subscriptions barely covered the cost of the newpaper ink. As more and more ways for people to freely advertise not only items for sale, but things like garage sales, wedding announcements and more - the advertising money needed to operate began to shrink. And in the end, large (auto dealerships) companies began having to spend their adverting dollars online and places other than the papers - if they wanted to reach their customers. Of interest, when I was working at a the Raleigh Observer, their were like three major media companies buying up all the papers around the country as their values fell - including the Observer. - At least that's the story I lived through with my family as the paper slowly died and everyone took early retirement - My Dad who was a head salesmen in advertising and Mom was 2nd in charge of Classifieds, so that was their perspective.

Fixing American journalism would take a long-term sustained effort with a lot attention and focus. And, it would pay off in dividends, making us a stronger nation overall. So, we're not going to do it. People are sure going to get rich from our current media landscape, though. Good for them.

I think the "60 Minutes" show/format success started a wave of 'Pop' news shows that were more emotional and sensational in scope than the Cronkite/ Reasoner/ Reynolds/ Huntley-Brinkley era of TV journalism. Network News was a 'loss leader' of a major network, basically providing an evening synopsis of local/state/national news of major import with as neutral of a presentation as possible with no opinion added most of the time. Anyhow news anchors today are all about sensationalism, celebrity and writing Tell Alls, spreading their brand of propaganda to garner/keep/ gain viewership. We trusted the news from the 1940's-1970's era anchors a lot more than we do now.

Great to see you again Helen. I had a teacher in uni who said that the separation of powers between legislature/executive/judiciary was outdated. Political parties make the executive and their majority in legislative bodies inseparable. However, the third power is now the media instead. If this is true, then there needs to be constitutional protection of the independence of the press eg. through subsidies that cannot be changed by the government, sanctions for media players who report "news" that are refuted by scientific consensus, regulation of private media companies, etc.

I'd note that some academics justified the fall of the news as "democratisation". It's a lens within which it's not an innately bad thing when people who were utterly resistant found themselves knowledgeable about the Kardashians. So beyond the sheer failure of the press, you have this other strand that says there's nothing wrong.

This is easy i read about this everyday. The fairness doctrine. Corporate consoladation. Ad revenue changing due to the internet. Income changing in general, declining. Plus in a period of massive inequality the rich just buy coverage for themselves. Elon is in the news everyday, for no reason. He picks his news and there is a news article about it. All of this influences story choices and journalistic integrity. Along with the major urge to just be first and get the story out there. Speed almost always kills accuracy.

It all boils down to people. If people don't want to consume and pay for investigative journalism, news media adapts. we need educated, critical citizens.

It lost trust when it became sensationalized. But networks have their board of directors like every other business, and want that advertising money and national rankings.

This was an excellent explanation of how it all went downhill from the first government policy change....

Fun Fact: Two different judges ruled that Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow's shows are not news but entertainment. That's all you need to know about America's most watched "News shows"

It's not even the bias that's the problem, it's the stories that AREN'T told. The story selection is my biggest concern.

As a relatively new local news journalist, this has answered so many questions that I've found myself asking. The need to produce infinite content for a Insatiable corporate overlord had induced what I call "shit eating behavior" in newsrooms in all markets. Leaves me deeply dissatisfied and removes all pride in my own work.

That part about the news becoming fluff and these current reporters only asking what is allowed of them is so telling and true. The recent Desantis Jake Taper interview is a prime example of this. Real reporters don’t get a chance to ask the real questions because they won’t be spoken to anymore. So sad that media has fused into this pathetic entity that it currently is.

I think we also have to do a better job of educating our youth. Far too many people who get “news” from one “source” that tells them what they want to hear.

Helen! Great to see you back in actio ! Love your starring videos!😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤❤

When everything is treated as a conspiracy theory, nothing can be trusted.

Also, thank you all for giving me more ammunition to defend the journalistic plight, by explaining; journalism has actually been stripped of power/access over all these decades. Journalism is key to democracy.

We SO need a broken T-shirt now!🎉

There used to be way less diversity of opinion and options for media consumption. And the speed + volume of delivery has blown up similarly. When you have your own media bubble personalized to the degree it can be today, and observe how theres so much more out there that doesnt meet the standards of your bubble, it makes media look bad in general. And we didnt used to get told as many stories about institutional failures, especially ones that arent important outside of "us vs. them" hyperpolarization. But also important and meaningful failures/corruption of our institutions are much more widespread due to the diversity increase and the ability for news to be shared to the whole world at any time of day and consumed on-demand. It doesnt have to fit inside the 35 minute local tv news show along with everything else going on in the world

Deregulators forget or ignore the fact that public corporations are effectively government agencies that exist just out of reach of official Constitutional strictures

Quality news exists. But people, in their vast majoriy, are lazy. We wish everyone would watch PBS & read TheConversation. They'll watch FalseNews & read Buzzfeed. Wich in my opinion is the reason most medias are lacking quality content. I'm french and we have the same issue, without any Nixon. And if you ask anyone in any given country, they'll have the same kind of story you have for journalism : wealthy people & conglomerate taking over and using their power to help their own agendas. PS : i posted this comment 3 times and it bugged 3 times . Dafuck YT ?

The fairness doctorine isn't the wonderful thing that this video makes it out to be. It required journalists to present both sides of any issue. Well, that sounds great, except it is this approach that resulted in us wasting so much time debating if climate change is real. Even if 9 out of 10 scientists said climate change is real, in the interest of "fairness", they had to give equal time to that 10th scientist. Thus leading the public to think the science is less settled than it actually is. Imagine a TV debate between two dentists. One saying you should brush your teeth with toothpaste, the other saying you should brush you teeth with cola. Because while 4 out of 5 dentists say you should brush your teeth with toothpaste, we have to give equal time to the 5th dentist lest we be accused of "bias". That's the Fairness Doctrine for you.

„This means political knowledge is filled in by advertising“ - cuts to ad That was perfect

This is basically an updated version of what Nome Chomsky told us about decades back. But since then, it has gotten even worse.

Great video! Love seeing you Helen. We love "blaming" such an American drive. "We must find those responsible!!" I fell we are to blame. As a collective. We keep allowing these rich guys to control and manipulate laws amd regulations which further increase their invented play money.

As always one of histories greatest monsters, Ronald Reagan, appears to ruin things for generations to come.

My grandfather delayed his retirement in order to continue the work he was doing at NABET (which is part of the CWA now I think?) but when we were helping him move house back in the 00s and asking him what mementos etc from that time he wanted to keep he told us “throw all that old shit away”. We didn’t get a chance to discuss it in depth before he died but I got the impression that he felt the union should have pushed back more while the deregulation was happening as it was obvious to him where it was all heading in the end. That a great deal of the work he had done there over the decades had ultimately been for nothing if they were just going to roll over and let the 80s and 90s go the way they did. In a sense it’s a bit of a blessing he didn’t live to see how bad it got. What happened to the Washington Post alone would have made him furious enough ffs.

"Pick up your local paper..." What if mine is the Austin American-Statesman?!

This was very good, crew. You managed to cover a good chunk of Manufacturint Consent, and you add more recent trends. Arguably, you could easily do a Part II, astroturfing, flak, and in Taibbi’s “Hate Inc”, you find yet more on how talk news became paranoid “culture war” storytelling serving the Southerrn Strategy, and then the liberal mirror version that took off during the Trump years.

The question should be "Why do some people still trust MSM at all?"

You are spot on. I must share this video everywhere.

You have to pay for cable but you still have to listen to advertisements half the time in programs ...I forget what I was watching.

Great analysis. More of this.

We SO need a broken T-shirt now!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Im seeing this more and more every day with my dad. If hes not watching a sports game hes watching msnbc or cnn. Talking heads just ruin it for me and tbh im getting my news more and more from stuff like Reuters or AP since 9/10 articles from them. The earths getting hotter, folks not making ends meet but were not worried about that when every news network is gonna show the next school shooting or celebrity butthole pics.

I never thought about how the public invested into telecommunications and then it was handed away to private interest.

Capitalism. The problem is capitalism. When the press is a for-profit business instead of a public service, reporting the truth takes a back seat to generating revenue.

Secret agendas, just that.

This is one of the best and most important pieces by wisecrack! Well Done !

I feel like when we live in a country that tried to run the post office like a business rather than a public service, journalism never stood a chance.

Nice to see Helen finally gave up playing the "I gonna shake my shoulders and be a cutie " roll. Now she's trying to get taken seriously like the big boys. She's getting better. She used to be unwatchable.

Can you just rename the channel "Reagan Administration Post Mortem"

It's not a coincidence that politics tend to have far more impact on individuals at the local level than the national level and local news does as well. The ironic thing is National politics and news get the most headlines, clicks, etc. even if it doesn't affect or properly represent people.

One of the biggest problems I have is anytime I try to click on an article for a website. I can only read about a sentence before being bombarded with like 17 ads that don't even load properly and you have to keep scrolling.. Like I get it. They need to advertise but sheeee

It's literally always Reagan

Reagan is truly a bottomless well of downstream tragedy.

So much less important but interesting to see in tandem is that game journalism industry also have decayed: corruption, nepotism, fear of pissing off game developers so said game developers do not gate them off.

Opinion journalism is an oxymoron & in reality is theatre NOT journalism.

It's always capitalism's fault.

This was insightful. I'd be interested in what you guys say about documentaries.

"They keep lying and getting caught." Roll credits.

"Further contributes to the hobo soup that is the news" amazing sentence!

Awesome as always. I feel like people are so helpless and unable to get much done let alone help anything in the world. Too fixed on trusting anything or nothing, to the point of driving one's self crazy over something we are all too powerless to do anything about because we have all become armchair critics and no longer actively participating in our immediate communities. So news is a form of entertainment we love bad news it makes us feel something. Feeling something makes us feel good about ourselves like it's doing good. But reality is we are mass consumers and zombies. No judgemental.