It's notes from America. I'm Kai Wright. I often tell people there is no licensing process

to become a journalist. Yes, you can go to school and get degrees and all the rest, but

nobody appoints you a journalist. The First Amendment makes it possible, and from there,

the whole business rests on a three-pronged relationship between those of us who call

ourselves journalists. The sources we turn to for information and the people to whom we

offer our work, which is to say you, dear listener. It's all about your trust that we are

acting independently with integrity and thoroughness on your behalf. That's how I understand it

anyway. And it is no big news flash for me to tell you that this trust between journalists

and our potential readers, listeners, and viewers has eroded substantially. At least, that's

what public opinion polls tell us, which are yet another source of information that fewer of us

trust these days. So for the rest of this hour, I want to get a vibe check from the listeners of

this particular show about your relationship with journalists. And I'm firstly interested in those

of you who have experienced some kind of change. If you trust journalism less than you once did,

why? Or if you come to trust us more, if you've deepened your relationship with your primary

news outlet, whatever that is, why? What happened for you? And as we sort through your calls,

I'm joined by host and managing editor of On the Media Brooke Gladstone. Hey, Brooke.

Hey there, Kai. So Brooke, I have asked you to come help me with this conversation because you

have been in this relationship with listeners and readers for a very long time now.

On the media alone, you have been hosting a weekly conversation for more than 20 years.

How do you understand it? 20 years. So how do you understand your relationship with listeners?

What is the social contract for you? Well, being somebody who is on a show, a show that

talks regularly to people on behalf of listeners, I feel like the listener's surrogate.

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