Politico and Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei talked about how news affects people and how trustworthy the field is right now. VandeHei did an interview to promote his new book, but the subject of the interview finally moved to the field of journalism.
The interviewer brought up a number that showed more than half of Americans were very worried about the media sharing false information. What can be done to make people trust news again? VandeHei replied, “I think we in the media need to be a little more humble.” And we need to understand that our job is to be clinical when we give the facts.”
He went on, “Try to get as close as possible to the truth.” If we mess it up, please be humble enough to say so and maybe stop tweeting and acting in ways that make people doubt the work you do.
“I’ve spent my whole life trying to get as close to the truth as I can.” There are also many groups that have tried to make the work we do seem less important. I also believe that some media actions have made some of the work we do seem less important.
He talked about the bad things that could happen if people don’t believe the media. He said that it would be hard to control people and keep them informed.
Nearly 40% of people polled said they had no trust in the news at all, while just over 30% said they had a “fair amount” of trust in mass media.