This editorial board is a firm believer in the importance of the Fourth Estate, which serves as a fundamental check on power. But we’re well aware many Americans have their doubts.

Trust in the press has been on the decline for years. In Gallup’s 2024 survey, only 31% of Americans said they trust the mass media “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. That’s down sharply from the 1970s, when trust levels were around 70%.

What a shame. Nothing is better for freedom and democracy than a strong, trusted press reporting the facts. Our own newspaper is staffed by many dogged journalists who do fine work keeping our readers informed.

But the distrust many feel is only deepened when outlets make choices that seem out of touch with reality — such as Time’s exclusion of one of the world’s most popular podcasters from its 100 Best Podcasts of All Time list.

Ever heard of Joe Rogan?

Time omitted him from its ranking, a choice that no doubt will be viewed by many as just another example in a pattern of dismissing influential alternative voices.

You don’t have to listen to — or agree with — Rogan to recognize that for better or worse, his podcast fundamentally changed the culture and narrative leading up to the 2024 election, and even years before that. His ardent fans are willing to sit through hourslong conversations with famous names ranging from Post Malone to Neil deGrasse Tyson and Elon Musk. His ardent critics call him a peddler of dangerous misinformation, taking umbrage at Rogan’s decision to platform fringe voices such as Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos.

Either way, Rogan’s is the most popular podcast on Spotify and YouTube, and consistently ranks among the most popular podcasts on other platforms as well.

In other words, Time’s decision not to include Rogan’s podcast is sort of like putting together a list of the 100 Best Basketball Players of All Time and excluding Michael Jordan. His omission adds to the perception of a bias, especially when honorees were described as “the most innovative, influential, and informative listens in the history of the medium.”

We acknowledge that Time did recognize Rogan as one of the most influential people of 2025. But the magazine not including his podcast in an extensive roundup seems an oversight so glaring that we can easily see how skeptics might view the omission as intentional. Or, at the very least, blinkered.

Other incredibly popular podcasts such as Theo Von, Adam Carolla and Megyn Kelly were also excluded. All have longtime, loyal followings. All of them also lean right. It’s this sort of thing that leads to just 12% of Republicans having trust in the media.

To those who argue that these podcasts don’t deserve inclusion on ideological grounds, or because they push “misinformation,” we note the words of Justice Louis Brandeis, who wrote in 1927 that, “If there be time to expose through discussion, the falsehoods and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”

If we hope to rebuild trust, all of us in the media have to engage honestly with the media landscape as it is, not as some of us might wish it to be.

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