By Daisy Dixon
College of Southern Nevada professors and former students who currently work in journalism weigh-in on the changing field under the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump has a tumultuous relationship with the press. By popularizing the term fake news and labeling the press as enemy of the state, Trump purposefully made the public suspicious of journalism.
According to a September 2025 Pew Research Center poll titled “How Americans’ trust in information from news organizations and social media sites has changed over time”, stated, “Today, only around half of adults under 50 (52%) have a lot of or some trust in information from the national news media. Adults under 30, in particular, are now about as likely to say they trust information from national news organizations (51%) as they are to trust information from social media sites (50%). Older age groups, in turn, are more likely to trust national news organizations than social media.”
Global analytics and advisory firm Gallup Inc. reports even lower numbers in their September 2025 poll, finding that “Americans’ confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a great deal or fair amount of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This is down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago.”
Assignment Desk Manager at KSNV Byron Teach, former CSN student, commented on the effects this decline in public trust has on news media.
“It does impact us because our viewers are second-guessing us now,” Teach said. “So that’s why when we’re talking about going more in-depth, that’s part of the reason why because we want to show our viewers that we’re making the extra effort.”
Ricardo Torres-Cortez, former CSN student and reporter for Las Vegas Review-Journal, said, “It’s been necessary to really step back to make sure stories are not only accurate but also fair and well-rounded since the rhetoric around media has turned-up in the past decade that President Trump has been at the forefront of American politics, and media trust is at a low. It’s not bad to take a step back to consider how coverage might read to others who perhaps don’t hold much confidence that you aren’t carrying an agenda.”
President Trump’s negative relationship with the press escalated recently as he pursued legal action against prominent news organizations, journalists and even talk show hosts. Within the last few years, Trump has filed lawsuits against some of the biggest names in news media: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BBC, CNN, ABC and CBS.
Jennifer Mitchell, CSN professor of journalism, said, “Journalism has been deeply affected by the Trump administration in the past year. Newsrooms are under attack, the FBI raids reporters’ homes, networks are being commanded to take talent off-air including Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, institutions that teach journalism are seeing funding dollars taken away and so many chilling effects have come about from this administration.”
Dr. Michael Hart, CSN political science professor, commented on the slew of litigations saying it’s the right thing to do if and when news organizations make defamatory statements. “These major news organizations including BBC, ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal are not fully independent actors. They are part of the post-World War II governing network that also includes intelligence agencies, elite universities, big business interests and the executive branch led by the president. What we see is a falling out between the president and the rest of the governing network.”
Another CSN political science Professor Dr. Matthew Weiss remarked the lawsuits are “Clearly designed to have a chilling effect on any media outlet that would dare to criticize the Administration’s actions or policies. They come straight out of an authoritarian playbook. These types of lawsuits, which are often called nuisance lawsuits, are designed to harass and financially burden critical reporters and media outlets to the point that they feel that they have no choice but to settle out-of-court.”
Reporter Torres-Cortez said he considers the First Amendment as a key foundation of American society. “It’s concerning to see journalists who aren’t a special class being threatened for their work. At the end of the day, we must trust that the powers to be (the courts) stand up for the freedom of the press. Americans deserve to know how their tax money is being used regardless of what party is in power.”
The future of journalism in America is increasingly unclear. The public’s trust in news media has rapidly declined since Trump took office in 2016, and new waves of litigations against media organizations and journalists are problematic.
Professor Mitchell gave advice to journalists. “We cannot align ourselves with special interests, propaganda or manipulation if we are truly to serve the citizens and report truth with facts. Journalists have a high calling to be the fourth estate in order to monitor power and that is what we must do especially under this administration.”
She added, “I have deepest respect for what journalists can do. I often tell students, what would you know if it weren’t for journalists going to get that information? In truth, we wouldn’t know much. We have much gratitude and thanks to give journalists who truly do investigative reporting and bring light into dark places.”
Weiss said, “Today’s journalism students should value and indeed cherish the critical role that the free press plays in safeguarding liberty, speaking truth to power, and investigating and exposing corruption and abuses of power. Even when it becomes challenging to do so, as one might argue is the case in today’s America, journalism students can draw inspiration from their colleagues in other countries that remain fiercely committed to doing their jobs even in far more difficult and dangerous circumstances than those we face here.”
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 