Be it Resolved, don't trust mainstream media

And there is one institution here that it strikes me has a commitment to the right kind of process and a whole set of other institutions that most assuredly do not.

You're a writer. When you're a journalist and people don't trust you, it's always your fault.

The media loves counterintuitive stories more than it loves ideologically convenient stories.

We don't want it to chase its own prejudices. We just want it to speak truth, whatever that is.

Welcome to this special edition of the Munk Debates podcast. On this episode, we feature the best moments from the Munk Debate on mainstream media. It took place in the fall of 2022 in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,000 people at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall. This is a debate that went viral on social media. It spoke to that segment of the population that are expressing growing distrust in legacy media. Recent polls show that one-third of Americans and a similar number of Canadians have low or no confidence in the mainstream press, while equally one-third distrust it altogether, at least in the United States. So how did we get to this point? Listen to the debate to find out. Arguing for the motion was associate editor of The Spectator magazine, Fox News contributor, and best-selling author of such books as The Madness of Crowds, none other than Douglas Murray. He was joined on stage by Substack publishing sensation, former Rolling Stone contributing editor, and investigative journalist Matt Taibbi. There are opponents in the debate arguing against the motion, be it resolved, don't trust mainstream media, were the internationally acclaimed author, podcasting sensation, and veteran New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell. Mr. Gladwell was joined by Michelle Goldberg to argue also against the motion. She is a well-known New York Times columnist, an NBC contributor, former Prospect magazine senior correspondent, and senior writer for The Nation. As with all of our live Munk debates, we began the evening with an audience vote on the resolution. We found out that 48% of people were in favor of the resolution, don't trust mainstream media. 52% were opposed. We did another poll at the end of the debate to find out if people had changed their minds. Did the next 90 minutes affect their views of the mainstream media and its role in society? Well, we saw the biggest ever swing in opinion in the hall in any Munk debate. So we encourage you to listen to the following full-length recording of this debate, see how you might have voted at the beginning, and see how you might vote at the end. Do you join the audience in this remarkable swing vote that we witnessed for the Munk debate on mainstream media? Keep listening and find out. But let's join the debate now with Matt Taibbi giving his opening remarks in favor of the motion, be it resolved, don't trust mainstream media. [audience applauding]

Be it resolved, don't trust mainstream media. My name is Matt Taibbi. I've been a reporter for 30 years, and I argue for the resolution. You should not trust mainstream media. I grew up in the press. My father was a reporter. My stepmother was a reporter. My godparents were reporters. Basically every adult I knew growing up was a