Ever since Donald Trump became a political force a decade ago, we’ve been told that his popularity is in part a result of grievance – that is, a lot of people become part of the MAGA faithful because they believe that the political system and American institutions are stacked against them.
And, of course, Trump has amplified that sentiment. He casts himself as the champion fighting “woke” ideas that somehow hurt ordinary folks, and he viciously attacks those who stand in his way, and he claims that policies like stiff tariffs and a crackdown on immigrants are aimed at making things better for those aggrieved Americans, those people who think they’re victims.
This isn’t just an American phenomenon, though, and it goes beyond Trump: Edelman, the giant communications firm, has for 25 years issued an annual “Trust Barometer,” a survey of 33,000 people in 28 countries, and this year it found that six in ten people globally have a moderate to high sense of grievance. Edelman found that over the past decade, we’ve devolved from fear to polarization to grievance.
Alarmingly, four in 10 respondents say that to get change, we need hostile activism – including such tactics as attacking people online or spreading disinformation, committing violence or damaging public property. Among people age 18 to 34, more than half say that hostile activism is an acceptable response to their grievances.
But back to why this grievance has taken hold: One of the key factors underlying it, Edelman found, is confusion over credible information. That is, almost two-thirds of people say it’s hard to tell if news was produced by a reputable source or is instead an attempt at deception.
As somebody who has been engaged in practicing journalism for decades, that particularly concerns me. And what’s especially frustrating is that distrust of the media is being exacerbated not only by Trump and other right-wing politicians – you know, people claiming that honest reporting is “fake news” – but also by people posing as journalists, who are intentionally deceiving their audience. They’re violating the ethical standards that have guided the journalists I know, and whom I’ve worked with all my career.
We’ve just gotten some more insight into this from a tranche of documents released last week in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News – a $2.7 billion claim that Fox intentionally and knowingly defamed Smartmatic, a voting technology company. Remember: Fox already had to pay more than $787 million to another company, Dominion Voting Systems – the largest defamation settlement ever. Both of these lawsuits stem from Fox News going along with Donald Trump’s lie that he was cheated out of reelection in 2020. Documents show that Fox knew it wasn’t true, but eagerly advanced the notion anyway.
What’s emerging more clearly from this latest release is that a lot of Fox News personalities who were pretending to be journalists were in fact trying to help Trump overturn the election – even though they knew it wasn’t rigged. The files uncovered cynical manipulation of facts by Jesse Watters, now a primetime host on Fox, and Maria Bartiromo, a business anchor. And then there’s Jeanine Pirro, the former Westchester D.A., and now the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump. Back in 2020, she was a Fox News host, and she wrote to the head of the Republican National Committee, “I work so hard for the President and party.” Pirro was at the time lobbying for Trump to pardon her husband, who spent 17 months in prison for felony conspiracy and tax evasion. And, yes, Trump wiped the slate clean for Albert Pirro.
No wonder people distrust the media: These people are manipulating public opinion while pretending to be truth-tellers. Perversely, they are distorting reality in service of a politician who attacks honest journalism as being biased. It’s topsy-turvy: The people who don’t trust the truth-tellers instead believe those who intentionally don’t tell the truth – and this loss of trust in the media is part of the dynamic that propels forward the political ambitions of the distortionists.
So now I’m one of the people with a grievance, and it’s against those who are tearing down honest journalism in support of their own ambition. But I won’t go along with those aggrieved people who say hostile activism is the solution. No, I’m with those instead who stand up, steadfastly, for what’s right – who support public media, for example, and the local press that helps a community know itself and build a better future.
Neither cheerleaders nor attack dogs, but honest brokers of information and partisans of the facts: Those are the voices of journalism you can trust, and they are who I hope you will join me in supporting.
Rex Smith, the co-host of The Media Project on WAMC, is the former editor of the Times Union of Albany and The Record in Troy. His weekly digital report, The Upstate American, is published by Substack.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
