Public Trust in Media Reaches a New Low; Newsom Threatens Universities That Agree to Trump’s Terms–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Oct. 2, 2025

Indy Digest: Oct. 2, 2025

The public does not have a high opinion of the media these days. In fact, it’s possible this opinion has never been lower.

Earlier today, Gallup released the results of a new poll looking at how the public views the media. Key takeaways:

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.

Meanwhile, seven in 10 U.S. adults now say they have “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%).

When Gallup began measuring trust in the news media in the 1970s, between 68% and 72% of Americans expressed confidence in reporting. However, by the next reading in 1997, public confidence had fallen to 53%. Media trust remained just above 50% until it dropped to 44% in 2004, and it has not risen to the majority level since. The highest reading in the past decade was 45% in 2018, which came just two years after confidence had collapsed amid the divisive 2016 presidential campaign.

Broken down by party: Democrats (51%) trust the mass media more than independents (27%), and a LOT more than Republicans (8%).

Gallup didn’t poll Americans regarding their feelings on local media. I would assume that local radio, TV and newspaper journalists are liked and trusted more than “mass media.” But who knows?

There’s one thing I do know: This is a problem. How do we fix it? Honestly … I don’t know. If you have thoughts or ideas, I’m all ears.

In the meantime, those of us here at the Independent are going to keep doing what we’ve always done: Tell the Coachella Valley’s stories, as best we can. Hopefully, we’ve earned your trust while doing so.

—Jimmy Boegle

From the Independent

More News

• The president is demanding that certain colleges sign a “compact” to get more federal funding. Now the governor is saying any California schools that sign the “compact” will face a California funding cut. The Los Angeles Times reports: “Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday threatened to cut ‘billions’ in state funding, including to USC, from any California campus that signs a Trump administration compact and agrees to sweeping and largely conservative campus policies in exchange for priority access to federal funding. ‘If any California University signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding—including Cal Grants—instantly,’ Newsom said. ‘California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.’ The bold statement came less than a day after the White House asked the University of Southern California and eight other major universities throughout the country to shift to the right and agree to Trump’s views on gender identity, admissions, diversity and free speech among other areas—in exchange for more favorable access to federal research grants and additional funding.”

• Our partners at Calmatters take a look at a number of California teachers who got in trouble following public statements regarding Charlie Kirk: “At least 20 teachers in California’s K-12 schools are facing disciplinary action after they made derogatory comments about right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination last month. Most of the disciplinary investigations are based on comments that teachers made on social media during non-working hours, a possible violation of their right to free speech, said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union. ‘People are ready to pounce on educators. The goal is to sow fear,’ Goldberg said. ‘It’s part of a larger attempt to bring the culture wars into schools and silence teachers.’ … Following his death, hundreds of people who criticized Kirk’s ideology have been fired, disciplined or doxxed—had their private information posted online to stoke harassment.”

• Also from Calmatters: A new state law has significantly limited the fines that homeowners associations can charge: “Millions of California residents could get a break if they violate their homeowners association rules due to a new law that caps fines at $100, down from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Amid an affordability crisis, lawmakers and groups that represent homeowners have characterized the cap, which took effect July 1, as protecting the pocketbooks of middle- and low-income residents. However, HOA boards worry the new restriction will limit their authority to enforce rules. Attorneys for homeowners and HOAs say it will get rid of extreme cases where board members impose unfair and egregious fines to retaliate against homeowners they dislike.”

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• This Associated Press headline is stunning, both for its candor and the fact that it’s provably true: “Trump uses government shutdown to dole out firings and political punishment.” The lede: “President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, saying he planned to meet with budget director Russ Vought to talk through ‘temporary or permanent’ spending cuts that could set up a lose-lose dynamic for Democratic lawmakers. Trump announced the meeting on social media Thursday morning, saying he and Vought would determine ‘which of the many Democrat Agencies’ would be cut—continuing their efforts to slash federal spending by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting ‘irreversible’ cuts to Democratic priorities. … ‘I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,’ Trump wrote on his social media account. ‘They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’”

• Bari Weiss—a journalist known more for her controversial columns, less for her news credentials—is going to be put in charge of CBS News, according to a report. Mediaite says: “Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, according to a report by Puck’s Dylan Byers. Prior to the merger with Paramount, Skydance CEO and founder David Ellison ‘quietly courted’ Weiss to bring her on board for a potential high-profile gig with CBS, according to a report by Oliver Darcy. Weiss was an editor and writer at The New York Times, covering political and culture topics, until she left in 2020 and launched a Substack newsletter, later renamed as The Free Press. Earlier in her career, Weiss was viewed as being aligned with the center-left but has moved rightward on certain issues, garnering praise in conservative circles for her critiques of ‘woke’ liberal excesses at the Times, other media outlets, universities, and prominent progressive institutions. … As Byers reported last month, she has been ‘portrayed as both a bogeyman for American journalism and a bellwether for a broader rightward shift in the news industry,’ and chatter about her being hired for a top position has ‘amplified the anxiety’ in the CBS newsroom.”

• And finally … The New York Times’ obituary on Jane Goodall is a fantastic read, as it shows the power, influence and importance of her life’s work. A snippet: “On the scientific merits alone, her discoveries about how wild chimpanzees raised their young, established leadership, socialized and communicated broke new ground and attracted immense attention and respect among researchers. Stephen Jay Gould, the evolutionary biologist and science historian, said her work with chimpanzees ‘represents one of the Western world’s great scientific achievements.’ On learning of Dr. Goodall’s documented evidence that humans were not the only creatures capable of making and using tools, Louis Leakey, the paleoanthropologist and Dr. Goodall’s mentor, famously remarked, ‘Now we must redefine “tool,” redefine “man” or accept chimpanzees as humans.’”

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