Our Estate Needs Repair

Our estate needs major repair. Over the years, we have allowed both the exterior and interior to fall into disrepair. Today, we’ve become so accustomed to it that we no longer see the need to fix our Fourth Estate.

It’s time we take a long, hard look in the mirror. It’s time we are honest with ourselves: we have made major mistakes, and now we must repair our estate.

We hear voices in the media who once said one thing and now say the opposite—yet they claim they didn’t know their earlier statements were clearly political propaganda. We claim to be independent and without bias.

But our readers and viewers aren’t that naive.

That’s why the media is no longer a trusted source of real news.

According to a 2024 Gallup poll, only 32% of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.

As books are released, we’re learning that our former president’s cognitive health had been declining for years. Those around him were hiding the problems—and we in the press turned a blind eye. It was no secret to anyone paying attention that the president was struggling. Yet the Fourth Estate didn’t ask the tough questions. Instead, we labeled concerns as “fake news.” Now we are the ones seen as fake.

Who was running our country? Who was making the tough decisions? Who was holding our leaders accountable? It wasn’t us in the media.

The liberal media ignored the concerns but attacked conservatives. Conservative media highlighted the problems but ignored issues on the right and attacked liberals. The side the reporters favored was presented as truth; the opposing side, as lies.

The American public saw through it and lost faith in the Fourth Estate. They took sides, called the other side fake, stopped listening, canceled subscriptions, and the divide between left and right grew wider and wider.

Today’s journalism has become eerily similar to the yellow journalism of the late 19th century. Yellow journalism thrived on exaggeration, drama, and dubious facts, often prioritizing shock value over truth. Though criticized for its manipulative tactics, it left an indelible mark on the media landscape, revealing both the power of the press and the dangers of blurring news and entertainment.

If we want to be trusted again, we must own up to our mistakes, acknowledge the need for repair, and commit to it. We must report the facts, attribute everything, ask the tough questions (even of those we agree with), and leave our beliefs out of our stories. We must be skeptical—not just of those we disagree with. And our opinions and analysis must stay on the editorial pages.

We love to say we’re unbiased, but we all carry bias. We don’t like to admit when we’re wrong, but we have allowed our bias to infiltrate our reporting.

We can blame the decline in trust and subscribers on the internet, on social media, or on changing reader habits. Those are all factors—but the person staring back at us in the mirror has a lot to do with the problems facing the Fourth Estate.

Change must come, and the Fourth Estate must be repaired.