For years, trust in the mainstream media has been declining, reaching new lows every year. This isn’t shocking. It makes perfect sense. The truth is that too many people—especially on the left—don’t want facts anymore. They just want confirmation of what they already believe in. And the press? They’re happy to oblige.
For years now, the likes of CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC/MSNOW, and most major newspapers have been operating under the impression that their job is to be the public relations arm of the Democratic Party.
This week proved just how much the legacy media has failed to do its job. While most legacy outlets were doing their usual interference on behalf of Democrats, an independent journalist named Nick Shirley did what they wouldn’t. In one day, he exposed $110 million in daycare fraud tied to operations in Minnesota. You’d think that kind of scoop would earn admiration, maybe even gratitude from the press. But, no. Instead, many of these outlets spent their time attacking him—and covering for the fraudsters he exposed. The media didn’t see Shirley’s exposé as a moment for self-reflection; they saw it as a threat to the narrative they’d been trying to protect.
The closest thing we’ve seen to a mea culpa so far came from CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil. In a pre-recorded video, he admitted that “on too many stories, the press has missed the story” because the media relied too much on academics, activists, and elites instead of ordinary Americans. Then he pledged, “You come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS.” It sounds noble enough. But if we’ve learned anything over the years, the real test isn’t what they say—it’s what they do when the story points in a direction the Democratic Party doesn’t like.
"On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you."
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 1, 2026
That changes now. The new CBS Evening News… pic.twitter.com/NKdvRJjYCS
We know that CBS’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, wants to overhaul the way the network operates editorially. That may sound promising on paper. Still, this is the same outfit that repeatedly fumbled or buried major stories, from Hunter Biden’s laptop from hell to Joe Biden’s deteriorating mental state. I’ll believe they’ve changed their ways when they prove it with their actions. I think Bari Weiss has good intentions, and I hope she succeeds.
ICYMI: CNN Humiliates Itself With Hilarious Attempt at ‘Investigative Journalism’
But there’s reason to be doubtful that she can change the culture at CBS. Shirley’s daycare exposé is a perfect example of why. When his story went viral, CBS even tried to “fact-check” Shirley, claiming that when he visited one of the daycare centers, there were four children on-site instead of none, as if that disproved the existence of fraud, when it actually still proved the fraud.
Dokoupil’s pledge to put the viewer first sounds great on camera, but CBS's handling of the Minnesota fraud story makes it feel like misdirection. A network that really believed in transparency would have reported on the Minnesota fraud scandal earlier, chased that daycare story until it found answers—not excuses. Instead, CBS proved exactly why Americans turned away in the first place, and despite Weiss’s efforts, that culture hasn’t changed yet.
Let’s face it, rebuilding trust will take years, if it happens at all. For that to change, legacy outlets would have to stop protecting the Democratic Party and start reporting the truth. And Americans would have to start demanding it again. Until then, the people doing the real journalism won’t be on TV. They’ll be on X, armed with a phone and the nerve to tell you what the networks won’t.
