We can demand better from the media

Yes, there is still reason for hope.

If the responses to my pieces here on The Contrarian and on They Stand Corrected (my podcast and newsletter) are any gauge, Americans’ frustration with the media seems to be bigger than ever. If you’re exasperated with endless failures from major news agencies, I don’t blame you. Big legacy outlets allow people to lie with impunity. They also get things wrong all the time and leave out crucial context. I’ve seen this since my days fact checking on air at CNN. The problem has increased as more outlets have sprung up, churning out more content.

One of the most common questions I get asked is: What can we do about it? I know the answer to this. It’s the reason I created the work I’m doing now. But I explain it carefully because the last thing I want is to seem like yet another person competing in the “attention economy.”

In this era, people are overwhelmed with content from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep. Understanding this is central to understanding the rise of President Donald Trump. A top global expert in marketing, Vaughan Emsley, discussed this in an episode of my podcast leading up to the election.

“Media, and television news particularly, has moved into the area of entertainment, taken onboard the aspects of reality television in many ways—not a focus on ideas, not particularly on great themes,” he said. The news is filled with “stories of people behaving in an extreme and absurd and very often objectionable way. The fact that Trump became nationally known through a reality television program makes him like catnip for the media, given the fact that they're not really, today, seeking to inform and educate like Cronkite and Murrow.”

Trump’s team learned this in 2016. Say and do insane things, and the media will give you constant attention. After a while, some people will stop being outraged and start focusing on things they like about you. This template has been adopted by others since, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green.

Trump uses this to set the agenda. The madness during the election about immigrants allegedly eating people’s pets helped him make immigration the top story for days on end, which benefited him, even though it was a lie.

These two problems in the media—not fact checking and a focus on the ludicrous—create a disastrous concoction. Fair-minded Americans are learning that they can't turn to legacy media and expect to get accurate information that is relevant to them. So, of course, they turn to openly ideological outlets that say what they like to hear.

But there is a glimmer of hope. I know from 20 years inside big mainstream media what makes news executives concerned enough to take action: a broad section of the public discovering specific instances of journalistic failure. It’s a matter of critical mass. When executives worry that “enough” people are spotting individual moments in which their teams have blown it, they hold emergency meetings, assign new stories, and begin to make changes.

This is where my columns here at The Contrarian and my podcast They Stand Corrected come in. I launched the podcast to give Americans a place in which news reporting is fact checked and specific failures are exposed. It’s not about me. As I often say, whether I’m alive or not, the Earth is still round. Truth exists.

So what do we do? When I point out examples that concern you, share them with everyone you know. Make that everyone you’ve ever met. Maybe everyone in the whole country? Also— importantly—email the news outlets and let me know. You can cc this email address: tsc@joshlevs.com. I can then share your email with lots of people inside those agencies, including top executives. I have long lists. (You can generally find feedback email addresses for news agencies by Googling, but if you need any, just ask me.) Messages from the audience show executives that people care—and could affect the bottom line.

Also, when you see examples of media failures I have not yet covered, send them my way. You can leave a comment on my posts here (I read all of them). Or message me on my Substack or my website. I use these systems because they prevent haters and spammers from filling my feeds with nonsense. Social media has its benefits, but it’s often where the truth goes to die. Sadly, so is the White House.

In another glimmer of hope, people who work for most of the big major news media send me examples of their own companies’ failures. Their bosses won’t listen to them, or the climate of fear is so pervasive that they’re afraid to speak up. So they hope I will. And I do—not only here and on my Substack, but also in missives to the executives.

To build a functioning, strong democracy, our country needs a news media fiercely committed to reporting only the truth. Americans can't vote in the country's or their own best interests, and can’t demand the right actions from leaders, if they’ve been fed a steady diet of misinformation.

Yes, there's a long way to go. But I believe we can do this. We—the people—can and must demand not only the government we deserve but the Fourth Estate we deserve as well.

Josh Levs is host of They Stand Corrected, the podcast and newsletter fact-checking the media. Find him at joshlevs.com.

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