The legacy media still has blinders on when it comes to their own faults. Some critics thought the media would finally do some soul-searching after the 2024 election and the cover-up of Joe Biden's cognitive decline. But the first year of the second Trump administration has brought much of the same biased coverage from Trump's first term. Even a recent Gallup poll showing public trust in the news media has hit an all-time low failed to rattle the trees. Asked to comment on those poor numbers, former "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd is deflecting again, blaming Big Tech.
"We are in this siloed world," Todd told Newsmax TV. "I put the blame on Big Tech and algorithms that sort of, I think, make it too easy for too many people to live in a bubble, a filter bubble."
"Essentially the left doesn't trust the media, and the right doesn't trust the media."
Todd is correct to point out the changing media landscape, which is driving people away from traditional outlets. But he appears to be missing the bigger point. "Yes, confirmation bias is a factor caused to a certain extent by algorithms and Big Tech, but there is much more going on here," says Jeff McCall, media studies professor at DePauw University. "And the problem starts with the traditional media's rejection of standards and fairness, and their embrace of political activism."
McCall notes that Todd was one of the biggest examples of that political activism during Todd's time at NBC. "For Chuck Todd now to just point at Big Tech and algorithms oversimplifies things a lot," McCall tells KTRH. "And it really disappoints me, because I think that big media is really not going to get over this (trust) problem until there is more self introspection, and I don't see that coming from Chuck Todd here."
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