Paula Routly: What the 2024 Election Means for Vermont Media
"We did not expect this outcome" is how executive producer Katya Rogers kicked off the honest, unscripted 30-minute discussion between Gladstone and her colleague Micah Loewinger as they puzzled over the election results — and, frankly, the future of the media and their show, which covers journalism and its role in our country. "The Day After" was also an on-air planning meeting for the next regular episode of the show, which would air two days later.
I counted at least four audible sighs from Gladstone.
As is their mandate, the trio faced a hard, fool-me-twice truth: The traditional, aka "legacy," media successfully exposed Donald Trump's character and the potential dangers of his second presidency, but none of it changed the minds of the majority of Americans who voted for him.
"We do a damn fine job of talking to ourselves," Gladstone said of the news outlets who are serving the half of the population. "We don't speak to the entire nation. No one does anymore." No words are more discouraging for the journalists who toil long hours, sometimes at the risk of personal harm, in pursuit of truth and the belief that telling it will improve things.
Loewinger, the "young" voice on the show, piped up: "I'm not saying that we don't serve a purpose. The need for information, good information, is as high as ever. I think we're all in complete agreement. The need for great reporting on the upcoming Trump administration is absolutely..."
"Paramount," Gladstone finished his sentence.
Loewinger resumed: "I just fear that the business model that supports it and the trust that powers it are falling apart. It's so upsetting for me to scroll on TikTok or listen to a podcast, and what I'm hearing is mainstream journalism filtered through people who present themselves as a foil to mainstream media. The source of good information is required to fuel everything. But somehow people have just completely lost faith in it, and it really scares me."
Me, too.
I've spent hours in the past two weeks responding to emails about my recent column entitled " GoPro Bro ," some of which are collected as Feedback in this week's paper. Many readers misunderstood my critique of YouTuber Peter Santenello's video of Burlington. Some thought I was whitewashing Burlington's problems and promoting a progressive agenda; others read it as suppression of Santenello's free speech.
One writes, "Maybe Routly's objection is that Santenello's medium is YouTube, and therefore he's not a real journalist. To me, his selfie-stroll down Church Street was relatively innocuous. The residents and business owners interviewed came across as reasonable people with legitimate concerns, telling their stories. Isn't that real journalism?"
I wouldn't call it that, no. Santenello opts out of fact-checking, providing context, identifying sources with their real, full names and other protocols that serve as important guardrails in an industry that is increasingly misunderstood. This column exists in part to explain how journalism works — and to advocate for it.
It's worth noting that Santenello doesn't use the term "journalist" to describe , either.
Even in communities with access to good local news, Loewinger noted, "People are on YouTube; they're on TikTok; they're listening to podcasts. They have just chosen other personalities ... or people who LARP as journalists" to follow for information. LARP, or live-action role-play, is a gaming term that refers to acting out a scenario.
That can be entertaining and even informative to watch, but it doesn't replace what local journalists provide week after week.
Near the end of the half-hour episode, Loewinger suggested: "Maybe this is an opportunity to lean into our show being a community for people: a celebration of good journalism, a belief in the truth to our best ability to understand it and report it," he said. He proposed asking the audience to send in their reactions and ideas to "make this a little bit more of a dialogue."
has been doing that since day one; see pages 20 and 21 in this issue. We're grateful for the diverse community of readers who take the time to respond to our content, offer story tips and push us to do our best.
