Who Pays the Piper?

Why Americans stopped trusting the news, started trusting comedians, and the one question that tells you who to believe..

Who Pays the Piper?

Why Americans stopped trusting the news, started trusting comedians, and the one question that tells you who to believe.

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #1,034: Thursday, September 24th, 2026

Let me ask you something.

When was the last time you watched the evening news and thought, “Yep. That’s exactly how it happened”?

Take your time. I’ll wait.

If you’re like most people I talk to…you can’t remember. And you’re not alone. Gallup has been asking Americans how much they trust the mass media since the 1970s. Back then…roughly seven in ten said they trusted it a great deal or a fair amount.

Last year, that number fell to 28 percent.

That’s not a dip. That’s a collapse. That’s a restaurant where three out of four customers think the kitchen is lying about what’s in the food.

And…here’s the part that should make every network executive in America lose sleep.

People didn’t stop wanting the truth. They just started getting it somewhere else.

Where Did Everybody Go?

I was listening to a long interview recently, over two hours, between Tucker Carlson and the journalist Max Blumenthal.

Now, you and I may not agree with either of those men on everything. I sure don’t. But…somewhere near the end, Blumenthal said something that stopped me cold.

He said comedians now have more credibility in American culture than politicians.

And he’s right.

Think about it. Millions of people get their real understanding of the news from Jon Stewart. From Tim Dillon. From podcasters and independent writers who work out of spare bedrooms…with a microphone and a laptop.

Why?

It’s not because comedians are smarter than reporters. Most of them would tell you they’re not.

It’s because nobody owns them.

A comedian can say the emperor has no clothes…because he doesn’t have a boss upstairs who golfs with the emperor. He doesn’t have an advertiser who sells the emperor’s clothes. He doesn’t need the emperor’s press secretary to return his calls next week.

He’s just a guy telling you what he sees.

And people can smell the difference…from a mile away.

The Book That Explains Everything

Blumenthal pointed to a book I want you to know about.

It’s called Inventing Reality…written by a political scientist named Michael Parenti. The first edition came out in 1986.

Forty years ago. And it reads like it was written this morning.

Here’s Parenti’s big idea, in my own words.

Most people think media bias is a conspiracy. A bunch of editors in a smoky room deciding what lies to tell you.

Parenti says no. It’s worse than that.

It’s structural.

The bias is baked into who owns the outlet…who buys the ads…and who the reporters depend on for their stories. Nobody has to give an order. Everybody already knows which way the wind blows.

A reporter who wants to keep covering the White House…learns not to embarrass the White House too badly. A network that depends on drug company ads…learns not to dig too hard into drug companies. A newspaper owned by a billionaire…learns which of the billionaire’s friends are off-limits.

Nobody’s lying, exactly. They’re just leaving things out. And…they’re calling it “objectivity.”

Parenti’s point is that “objectivity” becomes a costume. It looks neutral. It sounds neutral. But underneath…it’s dressed in the owner’s clothes.

You’ve Seen It Happen

Don’t take Parenti’s word for it. Look around.

When a media company changes hands…what happens to the newsroom? New owner… new direction. New editors show up. Certain stories suddenly get more airtime. Certain stories quietly disappear.

That’s not a secret plot. That’s just how ownership works.

You wouldn’t expect a Ford dealership to recommend a Chevy. So why would you expect a news network to bite the hand that owns it?

The public figured this out. Slowly at first. Then…all at once.

So Who Do You Trust?

Now here’s where I’ve got to be straight with you.

Independent doesn’t automatically mean honest. There are plenty of loudmouths on the internet…who’ll tell you anything to keep you clicking. Some of them are worse than the networks…because at least the networks have lawyers.

So how do you tell the difference?

I’ve got one question. It’s the only one you need.

Who pays them?

That’s it. Follow the money…and you’ll know whose interests come first.

If a show is paid for by advertisers…the advertisers come first.

If it’s paid for by a political party or a billionaire…the party or the billionaire comes first.

If it’s paid for by the government…well…you already know.

But…if it’s paid for by readers? By regular people who decided the work was worth a few bucks a month?

Then the readers come first.

Because the readers…are the only ones who can fire you.

Let Me Tell You How This Works Around Here

Last night a reader wrote to me with a tough question.

She’s one of the people who supports this newsletter directly…and she asked whether any ICE officers had ever resigned out of conscience…the way federal prosecutor Danielle Sassoon did.

I didn’t know the answer off the top of my head. So I went digging.

And…I found stories you probably haven’t seen on cable.

A former ICE trainer who blew the whistle on a broken academy. A deportation officer in Florida…who says she was pushed out after reporting detainees held in office space with no beds. Federal prosecutors…who walked out after the Justice Department refused to investigate a fatal ICE shooting.

Here’s why I’m telling you this.

Nobody assigned me that story. No editor. No advertiser. No producer worried about ratings.

A reader asked. So I answered.

That’s what it looks like…when readers are the ones signing the checks.

The questions come from you. The digging goes where you point it. And…there’s nobody upstairs telling me to back off.

I can’t compete with the networks on budget. I don’t have a helicopter or a satellite truck.

But…I have something they lost a long time ago.

I only answer to you.

The Bottom Line

Trust didn’t disappear in America. It moved.

It moved away from the institutions that stopped earning it…and toward the voices that don’t have to check with anybody before they tell you the truth.

Parenti saw it coming forty years ago. The polls confirm it today.

The only question left…is which side of that shift you want to be on.

#HoldFast

Back soon.

-Jack
Jack Hopkins

P.S. Every week…a small group of readers keeps this work independent. They’re the reason I can chase a story without asking anyone’s permission…and…they’re the ones whose questions I answer first.

If you’ve ever wanted to point me at a story the networks won’t touch…that’s how it happens. The button’s right there whenever you’re ready.

P.P.S. Here’s something that should concern you.

In 1974, a psychologist named Elizabeth Loftus showed people a film of a car accident. Then she asked them one simple question: how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

But she changed one word. Some people heard “hit.” Others heard “smashed.”

The “smashed” group guessed the cars were going faster. And…a week later…they were more than twice as likely to remember seeing broken glass at the scene.

There was no broken glass.

One word. That’s all it took…to plant a memory of something that never happened.

Loftus spent the next fifty years proving the same point over and over. Your memory isn’t a video recording. It gets rewritten…every time someone tells you the story…and the person telling it doesn’t even have to lie. They just have to pick the word.

Now…think about how many words got picked for you this week. By people you’ve never met. Paid…by companies you’ll never see.

You can’t stop hearing the news. But…you can choose who tells it to you.

Choose someone who answers to you. Upgrade to a paid subscriber of the Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter, and you become one of those people.

You get to comment on what I publish. You will usually get a reply from ME. You get to ask me questions…that I answer.

Why? Because when you’re a paid subscriber…you’re one of the people in a small group…who are signing my check and making what I do possible. It’s as simple as that.

I always need paid subscribers…people who support my work…and who, by doing so, designate themselves as someone I now answer to. Thank you.

Now, look for an article I’m working on as we speak. The article you just read…was written at 3:30 AM. Much to my displeasure…I do require sleep, so hang with me; you’re not going to believe what I share in the forthcoming article. Well, I could be wrong; maybe you will believe it…and will be left shaking your head because you do.

-Jack

Sources:

Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S. (Gallup)

Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media (Michael Parenti)

Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An Example of the Interaction Between Language and Memory (Loftus and Palmer, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1974)

Loftus and Palmer (1974): Car Crash Experiment (Simply Psychology)

Whistleblower and former ICE attorney calls agent training ‘deficient, defective and broke’ (PBS NewsHour)

Exclusive: ICE Agent Alleges Retaliation After Whistleblower Complaint (Newsweek)

DOJ prosecutors resign over handling of ICE investigation (PBS NewsHour)