I began my first full-time job in the mainstream media back in the late 1960s. It was a very different profession back then. One of my duties was to talk with readers who called the newspaper's foreign news desk with questions or comments.
I will simply say that even in those years, if you were moved to call a newspaper with a comment on its news coverage, chances were overwhelmingly likely that you were not happy about something.
A woman called one morning. She was concerned about the disappearance of the nation's newest aircraft carrier named for John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated a few years previously. The ship's launch and then later the initial sailing departure on duty — to the Middle East is my recollection — had been big news.
The caller had seen nothing since about the ship's location, and she thought we should cover such a big story about the immense vessel's mysterious disappearance.
I explained that absent a major development, we did not provide daily news coverage about every U.S. Navy ship location around the world. She was stunned, to put it politely, and slipped into the standard argumentative, "Are you telling me that..." rejoinder.
I assured her we would publish it if there was any major news and that, by the way, the U.S. military did not always want the world to know exactly where every Navy ship.was.
"You, you medias!" she shouted. And slammed down the phone, which was rented in those days.
Now, the good folks over at Gallup have published a new survey on Americans' opinions of news media. It may not surprise you to learn that trust in U.S. television, radio, and newspaper news has now fallen to its lowest level ever.
It did surprise me, however, that the decline in public trust in such media's reports was actually first detected by Gallup way back, right around the same time that angry woman and I talked about the aircraft carrier. And the trust level has been steadily sinking ever since.
That's what this week's audio commentary is about: the broad ongoing distrust of legacy media and the reasons behind it. (Hint: It's not just tied to Donald Trump.)
It might interest that long-ago caller to know now that after 40 years of loyal service to the nation, that celebrated ship, which was the country's final non-nuclear carrier, has been tied up in harbor retirement in Philadelphia since 2007. And last month, tugs took the old lady down to Brownsville Texas, where she will be disassembled for scrap.
So, in actuality, the Kennedy will disappear. Just not when that lady thought. Not to worry, though. A new nuclear Kennedy carrier is under construction and is expected to enter service later this year.
Listen to the new audio right here:
This week's Sunday column analyzed how media weaponizes the news to attack President Trump. In return, he attacks media. And that makes news to the benefit of both sides, it turns out.
The reasons for this are not just personal or political animus. Which means no end in sight. I tied the column to the pending outcomes of three state elections this week. The results of those elections are now in, and my colleague Susie Moore has all the breaking details for RedState readers here.
The most recent audio commentary reported on Vladimir Putin's ongoing plot to kidnap the future of the territories he has illegally annexed in eastern Ukraine. He is literally kidnapping thousands of children from their local families and exporting them to Russia for adoption and Russification.
The Ukrainian families have no say and will never see their youngsters again.
