The news has become the story. A new global survey confirms what many have long suspected: trust in the media is at a historic nadir. Less than a third of people now say they believe most news most of the time.
This is not a blip. It is a cultural shift. For those of us who remember when the evening bulletin was a shared ritual, the numbers are sobering.
But the real story is not the statistics. It is the quiet, daily retreat from the news cycle happening in kitchens and on commutes across the country. People are choosing ignorance over anxiety.
They have grown weary of the algorithm feeding them fear. The crisis of confidence is not just about fake news or political bias. It is about a fundamental disconnect between what the media covers and how real lives are lived.
In pursuit of clicks and outrage, we have lost the human thread. The result is a mass unsubscription from reality, a turning away from the very information we need to navigate a complex world. The path back is not about better fact-checking or more balanced headlines.
It is about remembering that journalism is a service, not a performance. It is about telling stories that matter to the people who pay for them, not the ones that generate the most revenue. Until we do that, trust will continue to erode.
And so will the public square.
