The public trust is up for grabs
In a narrative-driven media, truth is the narrow path
The truth is a narrow path. Especially these days in the news business.
If ever you thought that the work of your think tank is too confined and restricted to justify starting a news outlet, consider this. More than ever, the public trust is up for grabs, as the media abandons its traditional role as a truth-teller.
You and I know there is no such thing as a free school lunch. That taxpayers pay for every single one.
That truth is common knowledge in the free-market policy world, but it’s not told that way in newsrooms across America.
Here’s how it works: A politician — say, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — announces plans to call for free school lunch in her State of the State address.
Before the speech, the media repeats the claim without skepticism or question: These are free lunches, and they’re a gift given by generous politicians, like the governor.
This is not true. But it is favorable to the politicians’ reporters seek favor from, so it’s printed and broadcast regardless.
After the speech, they question how anyone could oppose such a “common sense” plan.
And just like that, a narrative is set in the public mind.
The public is conditioned to believe that free lunches exist. Or that 1.4 million Michigan school children would go unfed daily, but for politicians. It’s automatic that you ignore the many private and home school children exempt from the program — apparently, it’s not important whether they eat.
Worst of all, it gives no credit to the people who pay for 2.8 million breakfasts and lunches daily: Taxpayers.
For a business rooted in truth, the mass adoption of untrue narratives, such as “free lunch” and “free community college” are a crack in the foundation. That crack represents the news business making an ultimate break from reality, in favor of approved narratives. This break will be fatal.
The news has stopped telling us things we do not know. It tells us instead what to think. And it’s this version of the news business, more so than any in the past, that’s vulnerable to competitors who tell the truth and nothing but.
Who will write the news in a way that promotes free-market values, while challenging narratives that paint school lunch and community colleges and wars abroad as free?
You. Specifically, your think tank.
At Michigan Capitol Confidential, the news outlet for the Mackinac Center, we walk the narrow path.
So many topics that a normal news outlet would cover are off-limits at CapCon. We don’t run stories on abortion, guns, or street crime. We don’t run stories on politics, but on public policy.
Per President Joseph G. Lehman, every story CapCon prints must do “Mackinac work.” Either they advance the organization’s values or show what happens when policymakers run afoul of those values.
It’s those values, and their reinforcement in the public square, that makes our voices carry.
Often, I’m asked to give the free market viewpoint in a TV or radio hit. Sometimes I’m there because the host knows and shares my views. But most times I’m there because the host wants the right side of things…whatever that may be.
When they turn my way and ask about the overnight transition to electric vehicles, they actually don’t know what I’ll say. They don’t know anyone who opposes such a thing. They don’t even know how someone could. They’re asking because they don’t know.
What they don’t know offers an opportunity to steer the conversation. To lead the public to a knowledge base and values system they normally don’t hear from politicians and the press.
But in an era so detached from truth, these opportunities could dry up. Your views could be painted as “harmful,” and your voice is shut out from the conversation. What then?
As a news source, you’re a cog in a wheel. As the media, you drive the car.
In mid-January, reality made a last stand in Michigan. Tired of the negative comments on social media, State Rep. Jaime Churches, a Democrat, reminded people that the public, not politicians, are the ones who paid for those school lunches.
“Media that promotes inflammatory rhetoric accusing legislators of buying votes is what contributes to a divisive culture,” Churches wrote on X.
“Food is a basic human need,” Churches continued. “Now tax dollars are working in a new way for our Michigan families, allowing all students access to school meals if needed.”
Tax dollars. As in, money taken from taxpayers. For a politician to make that connection was special. They mostly just take credit for the lunches themselves. It should not go unnoticed that Churches only credited taxpayers after getting heat from the public — not when the praise was universal.
Churches’ remarks went uncovered by the rest of the Michigan media, save for CapCon. But we gave her credit for speaking honestly, even if under duress.
Unfortunately, the reality era would be short-lived in Michigan. At Gov. Whitmer’s State of the State speech, she reverted to her norm.
“All 1.4 million public school students get two meals a day so they can focus on learning, and parents save $850 a year on groceries, per child,” Whitmer said.
When it was time to give credit, none was left for taxpayers.
“I want to thank Sen. Darrin Camilleri and Rep. Regina Weiss who led this effort,” Whitmer added. “When I introduce my next budget, we’re going to keep feeding students and lowering grocery bills.”
Bonus: 5 Reasons A Think Tank News Outlet Would Totally Work:
- It’s a better job than newspapers, so you can attract the best talent. But make sure there is alignment.
- The earliest newspapers in America were expressly political. This is a proud American tradition, long predating the objective news tradition the media has now abandoned.
- Wide reach. Experts reach insiders. But journalists reach the public. Both matter.
- How many free-market-positive stories have you read this year in your state’s best newspaper? I’d put the over/under at 0.5, and I’d take the under.
- Move the Overton Window by explaining good ideas and questioning bad ideas.
James David Dickson is managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential.
