The civic organization Arizona Talks put on a panel discussion Tuesday evening addressing the topic, “Can we restore public confidence in the media?” The participants were mostly local mainstream media, with the exception of KTAR talk show host Jim Sharpe, a libertarian. The Arizona Republic’s executive editor told people to get off social media, and the general manager for PBS said unlike people who believe in “conspiracy theories,” the media looks at facts before coming to a conclusion.
The discussion was moderated by former state legislator Heather Carter, who was considered a liberal Republican while in the legislature and who has since re-registered as an independent. She said a recent poll from the Center for the Future of Arizona found that 85 percent believe that news media coverage of political parties and candidates running for office has created more division.
Carter revealed her opinions on the media while serving in the legislature for 10 years. She said a considerable amount of time is spent crafting a media narrative. Consultants advise the elected officials, “Create your own story or one will be created for you.” She said she saw her relationship with the media as a “partnership.”
Carter, who represented a district with a significant 25 percent Republican voter registration edge over Democrats, observed that when she’d knock on doors campaigning for office, every house had Fox News on. She said people were very interested in national news.
She said the problem is people “are living in echo chambers that don’t cross-pollinate ideas.” The most popular question she got from constituents was where can they find news that’s not slanted.
Scott Woelfel, general manager for Arizona PBS, blamed “the rise of right wing talk radio” … which … really changed the temperature.” He said it caused people to question whether they were getting both sides from the media.
He defended NPR, which is a part of PBS, citing a study. “As far as trust, NPR is fairly in the middle. People perceive it as being slightly less left. It is not.”
Woelfel brought up the problematic 2020 election in Georgia as an example of where he said people were wrongly upset. “We got into a situation where the Georgia election was much like what was our — there were a lot of people calling attention to things that they thought were improper, that really was not, and they’ve been vetted by the Republican governor and secretary of state on down. That didn’t stop complaints from happening.”
He said one man complained to him about the pallets of ballots that were seen on video being brought out from under tables at the State Farm Arena central tabulation center and counted. Woelfel said that concern was debunked, since “The Associated Press investigated, The Atlanta Journal Constitution investigated, and we all found the same thing.”
When the man pressed back with his “conspiracy theories,” Woelfel responded, “Here’s where we’re different. We journalists, news people, we look at all the facts, and then we come to a conclusion that, based on the facts we see, this is what happened. You already had your conclusion, and you’re trying to build the facts to support the conclusion you came to.”
While no one was ever prosecuted for the incident in Georgia, The Georgia Record published a transcript of an interview with the employee implicated, which some believe corroborates the accusations that ballots were added for Joe Biden.
Woelfel observed that the public’s initially positive view of the media first slid to accusing journalists of not showing both sides, then to viewing the media as “the enemy of the people.”
Sharpe pushed back on the notion that the media can’t show bias. “If we exclude anybody who’s ever had an opinion, who’s ever worked in this or that area, you’re not going to have people that have any experience to actually be able to discuss the issues with any kind of knowledge or worth.”
He admitted that “everybody has a bias, everybody has an opinion. … it’s impossible to have a completely unbiased human being delivering the news, researching stories, because every human being is different and has a bias.”
He acknowledged that part of his job as a radio talk show host is to “be popular” and get good ratings.
He asked, “How do we get from a point where a newsman, Walter Cronkite, was the most trusted man in America, to now nobody trusts the media.”
Sharpe explained that he has elected officials from both sides of the aisle on his show, and tries not to “push what listeners need to hear.” The one exception to that is he feels listeners need to know when “politicians are lying.”
He said people who seem to be really hung up on an issue, seeing it differently than others, is not necessarily a bad thing. “There are people that are bulldogs,” he said. “They get their jaws into certain topics, and they don’t let go. And we need those people. We need those people when it comes to issues. We need those people when it comes to our politicians, our public leaders.”
Lauren Gilger, a host and producer for the public radio station KJZZ, talked about trying to cover both sides of the debate over Proposition 314, the Immigration and Border Law Enforcement Measure. She said she spoke to border sheriffs who told her they didn’t like the measure since they claim they won’t have enough money for it.
Greg Burton, executive editor of The Arizona Republic, took the approach that dislike of the media isn’t that bad. He said a recent Gallup poll found that over half surveyed stated they trust in the media. He said it is a higher percentage than trust Congress and the president. He downplayed the poor numbers, “We’ve lost trust in institutions in general.”
Burton said studies show that 71 percent believe the local media, and 60 percent believe the national media. He admitted that “things have changed radically” during the 30 to 40 years he’s been in the industry. He said it used to be a “very communal experience,” with “a shared set of facts” and “similar values reported all across the country.”
He blamed technology for changing the way people access the news. Instead of presenting a full newspaper with multiple sections creating a balance, people cherry pick an opinion article and share it on social media, giving the impression it’s representative of that news site. He said X and Facebook don’t include labels that say those articles are opinion pieces.
The Republic is widely known in conservative circles for the left-leaning, highly partisan opinion articles of columnists like Laurie Roberts and E.J. Montini.
Burton criticized X, stating that it was run by a “plutocrat,” referring to Elon Musk. He said a 2016 study found that 50 percent of the information on X was misinformation.
Musk recently posted a chart on X showing that almost all the organizations engaging in labeling misinformation are on the left.
The second half of the evening featured questions and comments from the audience. Sharpe observed that the pace of news is much faster now, with quicker turnarounds. Gilger said people are only reading headlines much of the time due to the “incredibly fast environment.”
Burton said The Republic has backed off of candidate endorsements — although it still issues them for ballot propositions — due to all the controversy.
One audience member asked how to determine which news outlet is correct when they have diametrically opposing takes on a topic. Woelful responded, “Headlines aren’t news, they’re ads.” He said the quality of the news site can be determined by how well the piece reflects the headline.
Burton said a lot of people get news from social media now, and for those ages 24 to 34, it’s their primary source of news. “The best advice I would give anybody is get off those [social media] platforms,” he said. He recommended finding a “brand” and sticking with it, and praised local media.
Sharpe discussed how a conservative in the media attacked him for posting an article on X about the attempted Trump assassination in Pennsylvania immediately after it happened. He said his colleague didn’t like the title, since it didn’t make it clear that it was an actual assassination attempt, but instead appeared to downplay the events. Sharpe implied that he thought the colleague overreacted, since the full story of what happened was still coming out, so it wasn’t necessarily a sign of bias.
An audience member asked the panel about how they deal with their own biases. Gilger said she declines to interview people where there are conflicts of interest, such as family members or financial interests involved. She said her co-host will interview them instead.
Woelfel downplayed the bias in articles and shows, stating that it occurs when a news site decides what it will and won’t cover.
Lincoln Ragsdale Jr., son of the late prominent Phoenix black leader Lincoln Ragsdale, addressed his question to Burton. He asked him why The Republic often shows a black person or other minority when running a story on homelessness, expressing concern that it spreads a negative stereotype. Burton responded with a general answer stating that the paper is aware of the issue and takes care when addressing it.
The last question came from an independent journalist, who asked the panel about the role of citizen journalists. Burton said independent journalists “need to overcome a credibility gap,” so they need to be “very transparent.”
Arizona Talks is holding an event on November 4 to discuss “the experiences of and challenges faced by those involved in the electoral process.”
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Arizona Talks Event” by Arizona Talks.
