Those events come amid a troubling backdrop. Trust in the press hit a record low in October 2025 at 28%. Americans, particularly those on the Right, view the media as a punching bag — rabidly biased, hunting not the truth but Republicans, out of touch with America and Americans, and bent on inflaming existing ruptures in the nation’s social fabric. For those perhaps Pollyannaish enough to hope that an institution important enough to be protected by the first constitutional amendment offered by our nation’s founders could be more than a punchline, the situation seems bleak. But despite how it feels...