Welcome back to Independent Times. Today, we tackle a crisis: A 2025 YouGov poll shows only 29% of independents trust the media. How did we go from the unified trust of Walter Cronkite to a polarized "sea of spin?"

Host Lisa Singer, along with co-hosts Leyla Gullen and Bryan Gallo, explores the history of media failures and provides practical tools to help independent voters navigate the news with confidence.

We unpack:

• The Great Shift: The crucial moments from the Pentagon Papers triumph to the Fairness Doctrine's demise that fueled today's partisan media environment.

• Trust Killers: How major media failures, including the Iraq WMD reporting and the 2008 financial crisis, damaged the public's faith.

• False Balance & Narrative: How the push for "performative neutrality," Margaret Sullivan's critique prioritizes political narratives over facts.

• The Local News Crisis: The dire impact of social media and ad revenue cuts, leading to over 3,200 newspaper closures since 2005.

• The Fix: Practical steps for independents, including diversifying sources and using news literacy tools to spot bias.

No spin. No party talking points. Just clear insights to help you vote with confidence.

Independent Hero of the Week: Alan Miller, founder of the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit empowering students to spot fact from fiction.

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Timestamps

• 00:00 Intro: The Trust Crisis in the News

• 02:40 Walter Cronkite & The Unifying Force of the Press

• 04:30 A Radical Idea: The First Amendment & The Fourth Estate

• 06:40 The Pentagon Papers Triumph (NYT vs. Nixon)

• 10:00 The Katharine Graham Story (Courage in Publishing)

• 13:00 The End of the Fairness Doctrine (The Birth of Partisan Media)

• 17:00 From Informing to Entertaining: Cable News and the 24-Hour Cycle

• 19:00 The WMD Disaster: How the Media Failed on the Iraq War

• 24:00 False Balance: Prioritizing Narrative over Truth

• 28:30 Major Media Mistakes (Woodward, Caliphate, FOX/Dominion)

• 31:00 The Ethics Failure: What Journalists Must Adhere To

• 33:30 The Bleeding Out: Social Media & The Death of Local News

• 37:00 The Fix: Practical Tools for Independent Voters

• 42:00 Independent Hero: The News Literacy Project

• 44:00 Next Time: Why Trust in Government is at an All-Time Low