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CHAUTAUQUA--Do you know which national-news source is--according to polls--most trusted?
Western New York native and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley posed that question to the morning-lecture audience in the Chautauqua Institution amphitheater on July 1.
Think about that question while reading today's column. The answer made the audience laugh. It may make you laugh too.
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The lack of public trust in the national press isn't a new problem, Riley said.
The Washington-press corps is overwhelmingly Democrat. Less than 5 percent of those in the political press are Republicans, he said. The national press's preferred narrative drives its coverage.
Consider a few examples:
– Read wire-service news stories in newspapers.
– Go to one of the big local libraries, pull off of the shelves a stack of editions of a big newspaper other than, say, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, or the New York Post, and read the front section of each edition.
– Listen to particular network-news programs on AM radio, and
– Watch news programs on you-know-which television networks.
It shouldn't take long to see or hear liberal bias.
And please note this is no indictment of local reporters, or of sports reporters, local or otherwise.
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Furthermore, Riley said, the business model has changed for big newspapers.
They once received most of their revenue from advertising, he said. The Internet changed that. Now it's subscriptions.
This changes the coverage, he said. Big advertisers' desire to appeal to all readers drove balanced coverage. Yet under the subscriber-based model, coverage caters to subscribers: "Objectivity is no longer the goal. The goal is telling people what they want to hear."
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Aside from that, many in the national press see it as their job to take down President Trump, Riley said.
Those working in the Trump administration, including the president, might consider taking this in substantial part as a badge of honor.
Yes, a badge of honor.
Why? Because the disdain of many liberals--in the press and elsewhere--for the president stems substantially from his effectiveness: He's currently their most effective opponent. He has their number.
Indeed, substantially because of his effectiveness, the now-decades-long realignment of Americans' political-party allegiances continues, with left-of-center Republicans shifting to Democrats and right-of-center Democrats shifting to Republicans. In this center-right country, that's a bad-electoral omen for liberals.
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Has the president sometimes hindered his own cause? Most understand the answer is yes. Please consider the suggestion that entertainer Pat Boone kindly offered on Sept. 19: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1109332168297459. Yet please recall President Trump 47 is a considerable, commendable improvement over President Trump 45 in this regard.
And here's a suggestion from this column regarding the White House's revoking press credentials of three organizations and their reporters. Let's assume, just for purposes of today's column, that the president's Sept. 18 explanation at https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117293599348325006 is entirely correct. Is frustration with hostile opponents' persistent falsehoods understandable? Yes. Yet rather than taking on unnecessary, and perhaps unhelpful, fights, consider two alternatives:
– Admit more non-hostile organizations to the White House press corps, and more importantly,
– Hire a press secretary or press secretaries who are quick on their feet and can effectively take on hostile organizations and their reporters--right there in the White House press room or wherever appropriate--in a way that not only refutes them and their agenda but also persuasively reaches the real audience: The American people.
In other words: The White House can and should persuasively take opportunities that hostile opponents present.
And please remember this: It's often effective to get an audience to react emotionally, not just think. Sometimes pride or gratitude is an effective emotional reaction to arouse. Sometimes it's sadness. Sometimes it's anger. Yet often it's laughter.
As President Reagan demonstrated--see, for example, https://www.facebook.com/reel/1795707041836190--humor can help transcend press hostility.
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Randy Elf was among those who laughed when he heard that the most-trusted national-news source is the Weather Channel. That's, of course, no disrespect to the Weather Channel.
COPYRIGHT © 2026 BY RANDY ELF