Recent studies have shown record levels of distrust in American media, and syndicated radio host Buck Sexton believes he knows the reason behind the dropping levels.
In a recent Gallup Poll, nearly 40% of Americans remarked they had “no confidence” in the media, with an additional 29% claiming they had “not much confidence” in journalists.
During The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show Tuesday, Sexton — who was hosting the program solo — argued that seeing anyone’s unfiltered thoughts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X, has allowed a peak behind the curtain previous journalists and politicians never had to deal with.
“I do think the same way that we have seen journalism collapse as an institution that is really faith-based at some level. Because you have to put faith in The New York Times., you have to put faith in The Washington Post, in these other entities that they’re trying to do this thing called journalism, and that their real goal isn’t propaganda. That has evaporated.”
Sexton then argued that the conduct of former President Donald Trump calling outlets “fake news” played into the lack of trust, but added that social media is a similar culprit.
“But more than anything else, I think people have been exposed to this phenomenon, where you’ll have the top political reporter for The New York Times or a hard news anchor for CNN or something on — I know now that sounds even more preposterous — and in the morning, they’re tweeting out ‘Donald Trump is Hitler!’,” Sexton continued. “You see that on social media, you go, ‘Whoa’, and then at night, they’re going ‘Here I am giving you unbiased news and presenting you with just the facts’, and people realize this is a scam.
“More than ever before we are really exposed to what these people think, and that — I believe — is a major reason for the collapsing faith,” Sexton concluded.
