Roxanne Arruda: Public's distrust of mainstream media should be addressed

To The Daily Sun,

On the front page of Tuesday’s Laconia Daily Sun, we were told about the new project by the Granite State News Collaborative (17 media outlets) launching a multi-year examination of race and equity in New Hampshire.

In order for readers to adequately digest the information that they are preparing to write with their team of independent journalists, the collaborative's first project should have been focused on improving their own credibility.

Through self-evaluation and offering solutions to the issue that fewer Americans than ever before trust the mainstream media. An issue that was reported as recently as Feb. 2021 in a Forbes article that 56 percent of Americans agree that “journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations." Concerns that “most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.” And 61 percent of Americans think that “the media is not doing well at being objective and non-partisan.” Once that project is completed, we might be more convinced the journalists representing the collaborative would attempt to provide informative, impartial articles on race and equity.

The article by Meg McIntyre did nothing to raise my confidence in the described goal of objective, informative reporting. Instead, it reinforced concerns that a collaborative of 17 media outlets in the area are using their power to promote a dedicated agenda. Reader beware!

Roxanne Arruda

Laconia