Brittany Tarwater, local anchor (WVLT) and award-winning multi-media journalist, introduced Rotarian and speaker David Winstrom. Winstrom has been in broadcast journalism for forty years. He has had career stops in New Orleans, in Knoxville as the news director for WATE and later WVLT, and then in New York, where he spent 18 years managing news affiliates of Fox News. Since returning to Knoxville in 2020, Winstrom has been an educator, teaching broadcast writing at the University of Tennessee and the managing executive producer of WVLT.
David Winstrom opened by recounting stories of some politically and culturally significant figures he has met throughout his career. He began his presentation to the club like he says he starts his class – “Journalism’s in trouble.” “Journalism makes a better America,” said Winstrom. He explained that Americans have lost trust in journalists by citing a few statistics, including:
- 69% of Americans have “not much trust or none at all” in the media. (Gallup, October 2024)
- 65% of Americans have “not must trust or none at all” in Congress. (Gallup, October 2024).
Winstrom suggested that news organizations have played into their consumers’ confirmation bias as it can give them a financial advantage. More specifically, media outlets know their audiences, and they know their audiences’ beliefs. So, national media tends to tailor their coverage to affirm what their audiences already hold to be true rather than presenting facts that may challenge their audiences’ worldviews or beliefs to keep them tuned in.
He discussed the relevance of the 24-hour news cycle to this issue because what Americans identified as “news” became a hybrid between traditional journalism and opinion programming. Winstrom also suggested that social media has a significant role on younger generations as that is where they overwhelmingly receive their information and what they consider news. According to Winstrom, the problem is that it’s hard for people to tell the difference between what is opinion and what is trustworthy journalism.
Winstrom closed out his presentation by discussing the necessity of building and keeping trust in journalism. He praised local journalists in TV, radio, and print media and encouraged the club members to trust them and their reporting. After all, as he stated, they live in the same communities as those they are working to inform and want the best for their neighbors and friends.