“There Is an Increasing Loss of Trust in the Media in the USA”

How does a German correspondent live and report in the United States? Doris Simon, US correspondent for Deutschlandfunk, provides insights into the US media landscape. She talks about the loss of trust in traditional media, the influence of social networks and her impressions of rural America. A conversation about journalistic challenges in a divided society.

Interview by Selina Bergmann and Eva Umschlag

Werksgelände: Ms. Simon, you are the USA correspondent for Deutschlandradio and report from the United States for the three radio stations Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Deutschlandfunk Nova. You have your office in Washington.

Doris Simon: I work for the three programs of Deutschlandfunk in Washington and report on the USA. I’m not just in Washington, but regularly traveling all over the country. Especially if you want to report on a divided society in these tense times, you have to visit more rural areas, for example, because that’s where the other half of the USA is based.

In your job, you also follow the media landscape in the USA. How would you describe it, also in comparison to Germany?

One big difference is that there is no public broadcasting. Television and radio in the US are either commercial or rely on donations from users, listeners and viewers. For example, National Public Radio (NPR) and its associated television channel Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) rely on donations. Broadcasters such as ABC, NBC, CBS or the cable channels Fox and CNN are commercial enterprises. In the newspaper landscape, on the other hand, regional and local newspapers are dying out. Local papers often consist of only one or two pages with pictures of football or high school basketball teams and obituaries. In some places, there is no longer any local print coverage at all. In some places, there are online news sites or local television and, in some states, donor-funded journalism.

Can’t local newspapers survive with digital offerings?

I recently visited a small local newspaper in West Virginia, the Moorefield Examiner, which has very limited financial resources. All the employees have second jobs in order to be able to finance themselves. Of course, the newspaper has no money to provide digital offerings. Another local newspaper, which is structured more like local newspapers in Germany, has a Facebook page that is operated around the clock and that is also vital for this newspaper’s survival. The local newspaper also has an online edition with a paywall – you can no longer be successful without it.

It all sounds rather gloomy.

I was very impressed by the local newspaper „Moorefield Examiner“ in West Virginia. West Virginia is only about three hours away from Washington, but life in the USA is generally very different in the countryside than in the city. Even in comparison with rural life in Germany, where there is all-encompassing healthcare. In the USA, you sometimes have to drive 30 miles or 45 kilometers to the nearest supermarket. It is also common to have to drive two hours to reach a hospital or for people to die because they have to wait so long for an ambulance. The concept of “country” is definitely differently in the USA. And in this context, to experience the local newspaper in Moorefield, West Virginia, which has been around for about 130 years, and whose owner is the last of her generation and has another job on the side just to somehow keep this newspaper with its approximately 2,000 copies alive. That was impressive.

There is no other way to put it: Fox News is a conservative to right-wing medium.

- Doris Simon

Do people in the USA still use the classic, traditional media at all?

Overall, far more people in the USA no longer obtain information via traditional media, but via social networks. For me as a journalist, that’s not media. But I would say that the majority of the population informs itself in this way – regardless of whether they are young or old.

So what role do independent media play in the USA and how do they hold their own in an economically dominated environment?

The stations NPR and PBS are funded by donations from large and small donors. These stations are independent and have a clear political bias to the left. I also notice that their publications are increasingly trying to take up local issues. In particular, topics that are not taken up by commercial media, such as reports on socially relevant stories and social problems. There are also newspapers at universities, but most of them have no impact beyond the university context. The Harvard Crimson comes to mind as an exception. The publications by Harvard students in the context of the anti-Israel protests have attracted national interest this year.

How do you see the role and influence of the traditional media on politics?

I have mentioned some media that tend to lean to the left. Fox News, on the other hand, is the voice of Donald Trump. There’s no other way to put it: Fox News is a conservative to right-wing medium. The channel consists of conservative journalists and many show hosts who are partisans of Trump, such as Laura Ingraham or Sean Hannity. The medium is mainly watched by pensioners and not by young people. On the other hand, we have the cable channels. MSNBC is left-wing and close to the Democrats. CNN tries to be in the center, but they are still perceived by many as close to the Democrats. Newspapers have been in an uproar recently after the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times dropped their traditional endorsements this year. The endorsement is something typically American. Newspapers, especially local and regional papers, take a stand before the presidential election and make a statement about which candidate they recommend to voters. In the major newspapers, the commentary section and the reporting and news section are separate. It’s not like here in Germany, where as a correspondent I am also regularly asked to comment. Before the last presidential election, many major newspapers did without endorsements. The outcry was so great because it is obvious that the billionaires who own the newspapers did not want to publish an endorsement because they were afraid of the consequences if they had supported Kamala Harris.

For years, there has been an ever-increasing loss of trust in the media in the USA and in all institutions of democracy.

- Doris Simon

Can we see a loss of trust in the media among Americans as a result of this media polarization?

Absolutely, there has been an ever-increasing loss of trust in the media in the US and in all institutions of democracy for years. Trust has been systematically undermined for years. The Supreme Court, for example, has been filled with very conservative members. As a result, Democrats do not believe that it makes impartial decisions. It also doesn’t help that the Trump camp in particular labels everything they don’t like as “fake media”. Donald Trump has also announced that media outlets such as the major channels ABC, CBS, NBC will face consequences if he becomes president. And I don’t think these are empty threats.

What influence do social media have on the formation of political opinion?

Social networks have an enormous influence on people in the USA. Let’s take a look at X first. X – formerly Twitter – is now owned by Elon Musk and he is now the godfather of conspiracy theories. Since he took over Twitter, there are no controls at all and anything can be posted – violence, conspiracy theories, etc. If you look at the figures since Twitter was taken over, three times more Republicans and right-wingers have posted on X than Democrats and left-wingers. The channel has now become a multiplier of conspiracy theories. In rural US states such as Georgia, Mississippi and Alaska, Facebook is the most important medium for older citizens. There are certain Facebook groups where the biggest lies and conspiracy theories are spread, for example about alleged election fraud. These are the mechanisms in these social networks. People only get these things “flushed out” and no background information, such as the statement by the Republican State Secretary in Georgia explaining that certain videos are faked with artificial intelligence. This problem also applies to TikTok.

Of course, this has consequences when citizens are only confronted with conspiracy theories, lies and biased statements.

- Doris Simon

Surely this also has an impact on the way traditional media in the USA works?

There has been a change under Elon Musk at X, where regular news is no longer distributed further up in the feed. Of course, this has an impact if citizens are only confronted with conspiracy theories, lies and biased statements. But I have also noticed that local newspapers and major newspapers such as the Washington Post and especially the New York Times are making massive investments in the digital business, including podcasts and social media. You can now also take out separate subscriptions to these newspapers and deselect print formats accordingly. As for me, I sometimes write articles for „Deutschlandradio“ online formats on request: https://www.deutschlandradio.de. At the beginning, I also occasionally shot self-recorded news reels for Instagram.

What topics do you report on most frequently?

I mainly report on political topics. Sometimes these are topics that I can’t follow directly because I don’t have access. I do have a “hard pass” for the White House. This is a pass that you get after a long vetting process by the secret services so that you can attend events at the White House. But many events only allow access to a small circle of journalists, mainly from the US media. I therefore often experience highly political events exclusively in front of the television. I often travel around the country for reports and conversations with citizens, experts or local politicians. This also describes my two different main ways of working. On the one hand, conveying breaking news to a German audience in a way that they can understand – in various formats as a report, live conversation, commentary, in a discussion or in a podcast. And on the other hand, to provide listeners and users with background information and context. So that they – especially if they perhaps don’t have much time and only see a headline in the newspaper – can better understand and conceptually frame why things are going the way they are in the USA.

Were there any particularly formative or surprising experiences during your work in the USA that gave you a new perspective on the US media landscape?

Before I came to Alaska two years ago, I didn’t realize how important Facebook still is. I thought that Facebook was no longer relevant as a medium and would only be used to post vacation photos. It’s different in the USA: Facebook is still a very important medium here, but it’s also a channel for conspiracy theories.
Secondly, I am still amazed that an estimated half of citizens get most of their information from social networks. Television, on the other hand, has mainly become a medium for old and senior people. But that doesn’t surprise me, because I have to say that I hardly use it either. I am very enthusiastic about the wealth of podcasts on offer, which are prepared in different ways. That’s really great. It’s great journalism.

Ms. Simon, thank you very much for the interview.

Doris Simon

… worked as a freelance journalist for television and radio in Bonn and Berlin after training at the German School of Journalism and studying history, politics and journalism. She reported as a correspondent from Bonn and Brussels for RIAS Berlin and later Deutschlandradio. She was Head of Service at Deutschlandfunk, worked in the Program Directorate of Deutschlandradio and was a presenter and editor on Deutschlandfunk’s “Information in the Morning” and other current affairs programmes for many years.

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Selina Bergmann

Selina Bergmann, born in Siegen in 2000, discovered her fascination for media at an early age. It all began with a camera that she was given as a present as a child. Since then, she has been capturing small and big moments in photos. She particularly enjoys documenting her travels with analog pictures and creating photo albums from them. Since her first school internship in a media agency, she has worked in the fields of communication, editing and social media during her studies. But as a series junkie, her heart beats for movies above all. Her next goal? To become an editor!

Eva Umschlag

Eva Umschlag, born in Troisdorf in 2001, discovered her passion for photography when she was given her first digital camera as a child. This camera is still with her today. Whether weddings, landscapes, architecture or spontaneous scenes: She captures everything that comes in front of her lens. Youtubers James Popsys and Roman Fox helped her to sharpen her eye and refine her technique. She now also uses her skills professionally in PR and social media.