Louis Menand in The New Yorker, January 30, 2023, describes the decades long decline of the the public’s faith in the press. Former president Donald Trump had much to do with the decline by treating the press as an “enemy of the American people.” Holding to the “objectivity” standard had not served the press or the public as retired media columnist Margaret Sullivan has argued. Menand concludes that the power of the press is “like the power of academic scholars, scientific researchers, and Supreme Court Justices. It is not backed by force. It rests on faith: the belief that these are groups of people dedicated to pursuing the truth without fear or favor. Once they disclaim that function, they will be perceived in the way everyone else is now perceived, as spinning for gain or status.”
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