Another Example of Why Media Won’t Earn Back Americans’ Trust

Only about a quarter of Americans currently trust the media—and a recent decision by a prominent college media conference shows why.

MediaFest25, which starts Wednesday and describes itself as the “nation’s largest media convention for pros and college students,” originally greenlit my colleague Virginia Allen and my former colleague Mary Margaret Olohan as speakers. It made perfect sense that Allen and Olohan, who have years of experience in political reporting in the nation’s capital, would be tapped to advise young journalists. 

But their remarks were almost immediately cancelled.  

Steven Sandberg, general manager of student media at Oregon State University, told the Columbia Journalism Review he sounded the alarm regarding Allen, Olohan and another journalist, Michael Ryan, executive editor of The Lion. 

“These speakers’ work doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Sandberg, who has his pronouns in his Oregon State biography, says he told MediaFest. “LGBTQ students are feeling targeted by our administration, by the government, and by society. So I was disappointed to see them bring in people who espoused anti-LGBT views.”  

Sandberg did not respond to a request for comment asking him to provide “specific examples of reports by Allen and Olohan that you believe show ‘anti-LGBT views.’”  

During her tenure at The Daily Signal, Olohan wrote a book, “Detrans: True Stories of Escaping the Gender Ideology Cult.” The book featured in-depth reporting on real gender transitions, including in cases where the patient started experimental medical treatment as a minor. A February Pew Research Center poll found that 56% of Americans support banning “health care professionals from providing care related to gender transitions for minors.”  

In July, when Allen and Olohan were informed their invites had been rescinded, they were given a different reason.  

“The MediaFest organizers have accuracy issues with two of your panelists, Virginia Allen from The Daily Signal and Mary Margaret Olohan from The Daily Wire,” wrote Michael Koretzky, MediaFest convention director, in a July email obtained by The Daily Signal. 

Asked to elaborate, Kortezky, who also chairs the Ethics Committee at the Society of Professional Journalists, cited two articles: “13,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children Located” (Allen) and “EXCLUSIVE: Bill Would Block Abortionists From Flushing Baby Remains Into Public Water Systems” (Olohan). 

Read the articles for yourself and see if you agree with Kortezky’s assessment in the email: “[B]oth stories above played loose with the facts, and neither attempt balance.” 

I bet you won’t. 

I emailed Kortezky, who confirmed the emails cited above were his, and asked a few questions of my own: 

 “[Y]ou accuse Allen and Olohan’s two articles you link of being ‘loose with the facts, and neither attempt balance.’ What facts do you think they were loose with in those articles?  … Was anyone else disinvited as a speaker because one of their articles lacked balance? Is it a requirement to be a speaker that every single article ever penned quote multiple perspectives?” 

He didn’t directly address my questions, as you can see in our email exchange (shared at the end of this article). 

Which didn’t exactly surprise me. 

>>> ROB BLUEY: The Rise of Conservative Media in America

When I looked at MediaFest25’s speaker schedule, I didn’t see a single reporter or employee of Fox News, Newsmax, Breitbart, Daily Wire, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, The Epoch Times, National Review, The Washington Examiner, The Blaze, or The Washington Times listed as a speaker. 

Yet there was no shortage of speakers from outlets often accused of left-wing bias. Featured speakers include journalists from ABC News, The Associated Press, Washington Post, CNN, ProPublica, The New York Times, and NPR.  

Just to recap, here are some examples of what these outlets have been up to in the past year: 

—In December, ABC News agreed to donate $15 million dollars to President Donald Trump’s presidential library and pay $1 million in legal fees after “This Week” host George Stephanopoulous smeared Trump. “Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury,” Stephanopoulous asserted. Fact check:  The New York jury involved in the civil case of E. Jean Carroll found that Trump was specifically not guilty of rape, although they did find him guilty of sexual assault.  

—In April, NPR executives reportedly begged member stations to lobby Congress to keep government funding intact.  (Who’s the activist journalism outlet again?) In 2024, former NPR senior business editor Uri Berliner wrote in The Free Press he had found in a 2021 analysis that 87 NPR editorial employees in Washington, DC. were Democrat. Zero were Republicans. “[T]he rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump,” wrote Berliner, who noted NPR interviewed Trump nemesis then-Rep. Adam Schiff 25 times about the alleged Russia collusion. “But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse,” he wrote. 

—The Associated Press is currently suing the Trump administration over White House access. Like virtually all corporate media outlets, the Associated Press stayed silent when the Biden White House revoked White House press passes for The Daily Signal’s Fred Lucas and 441 other reporters. But now that the Trump White House has threatened the Associated Press’ access because the AP won’t use the “Gulf of America” term, the news agency is fighting back in court. 

That’s not even all. At MediaFest25, none other than 1619 Project journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones will be a speaker.  

After significant criticism, the Times provided an “update” to the original 1619 Project article in order to make a “clarification” regarding the passage asserting  “that one primary reason the colonists fought the American Revolution was to protect the institution of slavery.” 

“We recognize that our original language could be read to suggest that protecting slavery was a primary motivation for all of the colonists. The passage has been changed to make clear that this was a primary motivation for some of the colonists,” wrote Jake Silverstein, editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine.  

So: Hannah-Jones is both an unabashed activist and someone who made a significant journalism mistake, yet she’s good enough for the MediaFest conference.  

Make it make sense. 

Earlier this month, Gallup released a poll showing that mere 28% of Americans trust the media.  Five years ago, 40% did. It’s no wonder that trust has catered as corporate media often seeks to gaslight audiences, laughably claiming objectivity even as content selection and viewpoints skew left.  

The Daily Signal is transparent about our perspective: On our “About Us” page, we state we are a “leading conservative news website providing fair, accurate, and trustworthy reporting on politics, culture, and policy.” We take that fairness in reporting seriously. Many of our news articles quote both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.  If we make a mistake, we correct it—transparently, noting the correction in the updated article.   

Furthermore, there is evidence Americans are savvy news consumers. Eighty-four percent of Americans think It’s always or sometimes acceptable for journalists to “advocate for the communities they cover,” according to an August Pew Research Center report. Another 43% of Americans think it’s always or sometimes OK for journalists to “express their political views.”  Seemingly, Americans, no doubt jaded from years of the corporate media claiming to be unbiased while simultaneously showing clear bias, want transparency. 

Today’s college journalism students are simply not served by the legacy media pretending that no alternatives exist. It’s not the 1960s anymore. Thanks to the internet, Americans are free to choose from among a variety of news outlets—and there’s clear interest in outlets that include a right-wing perspective. Just consider Fox News’ ratings or the fact that 5 million follow The Daily Signal on social media platforms.  

The legacy media can gatekeep all they want. But it’s 2025, and no matter the efforts of the old media elites, these college journalists are more likely to face a career future dominated by Bari Weiss than Nikole Hannah-Jones. 

Emails on Oct. 14, 2025 between Michael Koretzky and me (lightly edited to remove some personal information): 

From Katrina Trinko, 10:59 a.m. eastern 

Mr. Koretzky, 

Since I sent my earlier email, I obtained this email from a source. Can you confirm or deny the contents of these emails, which I’ve attached? 

My deadline is 3 p.m. Eastern. 

Best, 

Katrina 

From Michael Koretzky, 11:04 a.m. eastern 

Katrina, sorry you’ve had trouble reaching me. … Yes, those are my emails.  

I look forward to being equally dragged. CJR conveniently didn’t mention I’m a Jew who advises OutFAU, a queer student newspaper whose editor got cancelled for even writing about a gay IDF soldier speaking on campus. 

Weirdly, the most accurate reporters I’ve spoken with have been from…Breitbart. 

Anyway, if I can answer any questions via email, hit me up. I’ll be quick so it doesn’t look like I contemplated my answers. 

From Katrina Trinko, 11:17 a.m. eastern: 

Thanks for the quick response and safe travels! 

Question wise, you accuse Allen and Olohan’s two articles you link of being “loose with the facts, and neither attempt balance.” What facts do you think they were loose with in those articles?  

Can you share any of the other articles you reference that did not meet MediaFest’s standards? 

WAs anyone else disinvited as a speaker because one of their articles lacked balance? Is it a requirement to be a speaker that every single article ever penned quote multiple perspectives? 

Looking at the mediafest25 schedule, I saw multiple speakers who work for outlets accused of left-wing bias—ABC News, CNN, Washington Post, ProPublica and New York Times. I did not see a single reporter or employee for Fox News, Newsmax, Breitbart, Daily Wire, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, The Epoch Times, The Washington Examiner, The Blaze, The Washington Times, or National Review. (Please let me know if I missed one or someone is speaking who is not yet announced.) What’s your response to this speaker lineup suggesting that MediaFest25 is effectively completely excluding any journalists who work for right of center publications?  

Thanks! 

From Michael Koretzky, 11:30 a.m. eastern 

OK, let’s do this… 

Let’s define a legit news outlet – left or right in their opinion section – as one that publishes corrections. CNN, WaPo, and CBS all do that. I know folks at Breitbart and have been interviewed there multiple times, but let’s not pretend they adhere to the same standards as the “lamestream media.” 

Do what you want with that. 

At most of the right-wing media outlets, there’s not much interest in news-gathering, so there’s not much interest in our conventions. At least not since I started going in 2005. It’s all about point-scoring. And yes, there were plenty of that in proposals submitted by progressive advocacy orgs. One example: “Trauma-Informed Approaches to Covering Gun Violence.” I nixed plenty. 

But I’ll make you a deal: While I’m unlikely to be hired to direct a convention ever again, let’s work together to get some right-leaning journalists at the next convention. I’ll put in the effort if you or someone else will. 

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