Podcast Summary: "History As It Happens"

Bonus Ep! What Happened to Journalism?

Host: Martin Di Caro
Guest: Greg Jarrett (retired reporter, Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, former ABC News war correspondent)
Date: October 19, 2025

Main Theme

This episode tackles the dramatic decline in public trust in American journalism. Host Martin Di Caro and veteran reporter Greg Jarrett explore how journalistic standards, business models, and newsroom cultures have changed—from the heyday of local radio newsrooms and international reporting to an era dominated by platform-based, often personality-driven journalism. With Jarrett’s five-decade career as backdrop, the conversation touches on the consequences of consolidation, the rise of digital media, and the blurred lines between reporting and opinion.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Decline in Trust and the Changing Definition of "Media"

• Di Caro sets the scene, noting that trust in the news media has “plummeted,” and questions what/who constitutes “the media” today: traditional newsrooms, online publications, independent Substack writers, or influencers and podcasters ([00:00]-[01:34]).
• He singles out the fate of “mainstream” outlets like The New York Times, Washington Post, and major TV/radio as audience numbers and prestige erode.

2. The Social Media Problem

• Di Caro describes how social media has upended credibility:
  • "Individual journalists damage their credibility or their careers. When trying to burnish their own brands, they post their personal opinions about the subjects they're covering." ([00:55])
• Case study: Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran’s suspension/firing over opinionated tweets about figures like Stephen Miller and Donald Trump, and his subsequent rebirth as a Substack newsletter author with 115,000+ subscribers ([01:34]-[02:21]).

3. Greg Jarrett’s Early Path in Journalism

• Jarrett shares his childhood fascination with war correspondents, inspired by historic figures and personal family history in Guadalcanal ([03:35]-[05:12]).
  • Quote:

    “How many people do I know who, when they were nine years old, wanted to be something, and when they were...65, 69 years old, realized that I got to be what I wanted to be?” – Greg Jarrett ([05:03])

• He recounts experiences at segregated and newly integrated high schools in Texas and Louisiana, providing firsthand insight into race relations and social change in 1970’s America ([05:14]-[08:03]).

4. Climbing the Radio "Farm System" and International Reporting

• Both Jarrett and Di Caro reflect on starting out in small markets, learning from mistakes, and working up to larger stations ([08:14]-[09:56]).
• Jarrett’s global reporting career at ABC included:
  • Central American civil wars in the 1980s (Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador)
  • The Balkan conflicts and Sarajevo under siege in the ‘90s
  • Gulf War One (1991), Somalia (including Black Hawk Down), and multiple trips back to Iraq ([09:56]-[13:42])
• Vivid description of war reporting conditions, e.g. living in hotels, avoiding snipers, and surviving in failed states:
  • Quote:

    “In Bosnia...I stayed on the ninth floor and newcomers would say, ‘man, why are you on the ninth floor?’ And I’d say, ‘because they can’t get an angle from the hillside into my bed.’” – Greg Jarrett ([10:46])

5. The Business Model Collapse & Media Consolidation

• Jarrett outlines deregulation’s havoc in radio: giant companies “buying multiple [stations]...paying 10 to 20 times cash flow,” then slashing staff and quality to service debt ([15:00]-[17:28]).
• Di Caro shares the realities of modern radio consolidation:
  • Reading generic newscasts for multiple cities from a single studio, replacing local journalism ([17:28]-[18:47]).
  • Quote:

    “I was being sent copy and then I would have to read the copy in two minute chunks and then using digital technology, send these newscasts back to the radio station that didn’t have their own news departments anymore. I was their news department, sitting in a studio in Providence, Rhode Island...It’s ridiculous.” – Martin Di Caro ([18:13])

• Big stations like KGO slashed experienced staff ("overscale performers") in 2009; Jarrett was among nine top reporters let go in a single day ([18:47]-[20:47]).
• International reporting budgets vanished, and remaining correspondents became “parachute journalists,” dropping in briefly versus living in the field.

6. Erosion of Expertise and Journalistic Standards

• The loss of specialist correspondents means reporting errors proliferate; Jarrett laments inaccurate aviation reporting and how niche expertise has evaporated ([20:47])

7. Blurred Lines: Reporters as Commentators

• The conversation returns to today’s erosion of impartiality, particularly online:
  • Newsroom cultures increasingly expect “a take” rather than objective reporting ([21:43]).
  • Example: At Bloomberg News, displaying opinion—on a placard or social media—was grounds for termination, in contrast to much of today’s industry ([21:43]).
• Jarrett recalls being suspended by ABC for inadvertently saying “our troops” on-air:
  • Quote:

    “You said, our troops. We don’t have troops. The US Government has troops. ABC has correspondents.” – Advice given to Greg Jarrett by his news manager ([23:06])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Social Media & Brand-Building:
  "Individual journalists damage their credibility or their careers. When trying to burnish their own brands, they post their personal opinions about the subjects they’re covering." – Martin Di Caro ([00:55])
• On Being a Reporter:
  “How many people do I know who, when they were nine years old, wanted to be something, and when they were...65, 69 years old, realized that I got to be what I wanted to be?” – Greg Jarrett ([05:03])
• On Reporting From Sarajevo:
  “Because they can’t get an angle from the hillside into my bed.” – Greg Jarrett ([10:46]) (explaining his preference for a particular room to avoid snipers)
• On the End of the Old Business Model:
  “They started cutting quality. They started taking their million and a half dollar morning show and saying we don’t have to spend that anymore. We can go out and hire these kids at scale and do it that way.” – Greg Jarrett ([16:53])
• On Genericized Radio Reporting:
  “I was their news department, sitting in a studio in Providence, Rhode Island...It’s ridiculous.” – Martin Di Caro ([18:13])
• On Journalistic Impartiality:
  “You said, our troops. We don’t have troops. The US Government has troops. ABC has correspondents.” – Jarrett’s editor, quoting a lesson in objectivity ([23:06])

Important Timestamps

• 00:00–01:34: Decline of public trust and the changing news media landscape
• 01:34–02:21: Terry Moran’s fate and the rise of personality-driven journalism
• 03:35–08:14: Jarrett’s childhood, early radio career, experiences with segregation and integration
• 08:45–13:42: War correspondence—Central America, Balkans, Gulf, Somalia; vivid anecdotes of reporting dangers
• 15:00–20:47: Media consolidation, deregulation, decline of newsroom budgets and expertise, the “parachute” reporter
• 21:43–23:18: Social media, opinion, and the erosion of objectivity—historical contrasts and modern dilemmas

Conclusion

Through Jarrett’s stories and Di Caro’s industry perspective, this episode provides a grounded, personal account of the radical transformation of journalism—from robust, locally anchored newsrooms with entrenched standards, to an era of financial insecurity, social media-driven commentary, and the erosion of expertise and trust. Listeners gain both historical context and urgent, firsthand reflections on what’s been lost in American journalism—and what may lie ahead.