OPINION | “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Prepare for a sunset.

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Journalism used to matter. Local papers across the country would churn out hundreds of local stories covering issues that appealed to their readers. At dinner, families would gather around to watch the evening news. Student journalists would aspire to join the ranks of esteemed professional reporters, seen as respected harbingers of the truth. 

And none of this was haphazard. An affinity with journalism is engrained in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — journalists are the only professionals whose work is recognized by the constitution. 

But nothing should be taken for granted anymore. Local journalism is in shambles. Journalists can hardly afford to live in the expensive cities that hold most media jobs. The Oval Office is infested with a president who hates reporters. And, social media has replaced fact-based journalism.

Whoever wrote the constitution would be turning over in their graves.

In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post. During US President Donald Trump’s first term, then-Executive Editor Martin Baron credits Bezos for defending his journalists from Trump’s attacks. Then Bezos stifles an already-written editorial endorsing Kamala Harris. 

“Jeff Bezos stood behind us all the way. He endured a lot of pressure from Donald Trump, and Trump threatened his business, Amazon, and all of that. And he didn't bend at all [...] I see this development as yielding to Trump's pressure,” Baron told CBC News.

And the aftermath? The Post lost two members of its Editorial Board, 11 columnists, and 200,000 subscribers.

Bezos decided to kiss the ring now, Baron says, since the prospect of a second Trump presidency could be increasingly precarious for the billionaire. Trump had been in closer proximity to Elon Musk, and was expected to return to office in an administration filled with obedient staffers, who wouldn’t blink an eye at the president’s efforts to silence reporters and attack his enemies.

As well, Musk owns SpaceX, a rival to Bezos’ own space tech company, Blue Origin.

While Bezos argued in an op-ed published by The Post that his move was “a principled decision, and it's the right one" — he claimed presidential endorsements create the “perception of bias” — his actions fit into a concerning trend of squashing journalists’ independence and editorial freedom. It’s a pattern that’s only expected to get worse.

Trump’s damaging rhetoric has undeniably had an effect on society’s perception of journalism. In 2016, Pew Research found that 76 per cent of US adults had at least some trust in the information they received from national news outlets. In 2024, that number had dropped to 59 per cent. Trust was even lower among Republicans.

Among young adults, 56 per cent had at least some trust in national news organizations, while 52 per cent trusted the info they received on social media. When the next generation places an equal amount of trust in news media as they do in a hodge-podge of platforms whose algorithms’ single imperative is to propagate provocative content — never mind truth, respect, or independence — in an attempt to keep users hooked, journalists are in big trouble.

As Americans undercut reputable sources of information — the very institutions that have shed light on issues for centuries — by placing their trust in social media, print media entered a steep decline.

From 1990 to 2017, the number of newspapers printed in the US fell 50 per cent, while the population increased by 30 per cent. From 2005 to 2020, 2,100 American newspapers closed, and 45 per cent of newspaper jobs were cut, according to an analysis by Penny Abernathy, a professor at the University of North Carolina. 

Am I preaching to flip through the pages of an old-fashioned newspaper? Absolutely not. The issue lies in the fact that citizens aren’t shifting from trustworthy print media to online news sources of similar repute. While 23 per cent of US adults prefer getting news from news apps and websites, 25 per cent prefer social media.

To stay afloat, online news sources have also pivoted, mimicking the tactics of social media to attract audiences.

Talk show hosts and online commentators have increasingly relied on “overgeneralizations, sensationalism, misleading or patently inaccurate information, ad hominem attacks, and belittling ridicule of opponents” to help boost finances, wrote Jeffrey Berry and Sarah Sobieraj in their 2014 book, The Outrage Industry.

“It became painfully apparent that the news consumer no longer wanted as much objective, factual reporting. They wanted news that comported with their worldview,” they write.

Social media has completely undermined the entire media landscape. By offering sensationalized news, and then creating a consumer base that can’t get enough of it, social media has incentivized all news platforms to adopt a less factual stance. And since news organizations rely on their viewers for backing, objectivity and truth has been terribly de-valued in the journalism landscape. 

Worse still, the trend is increasing exponentially. In 2020, 3 per cent of US adults regularly used TikTok to get news. By 2024, 17 per cent of all US adults regularly used the platform for news — over a five-fold increase. 

Social media may also be harming the finances of traditional news organizations and their professional journalists. When a free and highly desirable alternative is available, how much can journalists charge for their high-calibre stories? Clearly not enough.

In Canada, a journalist’s median wage was $31.25 per hour in 2024, according to the federal government’s Job Bank. In BC, that number was even lower at $29.10 per hour — a mere $11.70 per hour more than the minimum wage. I have friends that make more as high school pre-calculus tutors.

Top journalists are also getting squeezed. In 2018, over 400 employees of The Washington Post signed an open letter to Bezos requesting adequate compensation for all staff.

"All we are asking for is fairness for each and every employee who contributed to this company’s success [...] Fair wages; fair benefits for retirement, family leave and health care; and a fair amount of job security," the letter states. 

Another major trend in the media landscape is declining attention to the news. In 2016, Pew Research found that 51 per cent of US adults followed the news most or all of the time. By 2022, only 38 per cent kept up with the news.

As such, a journalist’s efforts to bring knowledge to the world are entirely irrelevant. Not only are the long-form, investigative pieces that expose serious wrongdoing by government or business discouraged in the current media landscape, but what journalists uncover is entirely worthless — the public simply won’t be paying attention.

Additionally, a journalist’s role goes beyond the high-profile scandals of national governments and multinational corporations — stories that may garner at least some attention on all platforms used to access news. Journalists also play a critical role in moderating the actions of all levels of government.

PEN America, a national writers’ organization, found that when local journalism wanes, “government officials conduct themselves with less integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and corporate malfeasance goes unchecked. With the loss of local news, citizens are less likely to vote, less politically informed, and less likely to run for office.”

In the three years following the closure of a local newspaper, local taxes rose an average of US$85 per person, while local government’s expenditures on staff pay rose 1.3 per cent above the typical rate, according to a US study. In short, the government gave itself more favours without valuable reporting from local papers.

Journalism’s inherent power holds all levels of government accountable, while impacting citizens in meaningful ways — whether or not they acknowledge it.