Who Watches the Watchers? The Rise of Government Censorship. Episode 774

On today’s podcast, Niall Boylan is joined by Sunday Times economics columnist Cormac Lucey to discuss a growing crisis that goes far beyond politics and economics, the collapse of public trust in the media.

New figures published in the Digital News Report Ireland 2026 show that trust in “most news” has fallen sharply in Ireland, dropping from 51% to 42% in just one year. According to the report, Ireland recorded one of the steepest declines in news trust of any country surveyed. While confidence in individual news brands has remained relatively stable, trust in the wider media landscape continues to erode.

At the same time, a fierce debate has erupted over censorship and freedom of expression following the UK’s proposed social media restrictions. Critics, including Elon Musk, have argued that measures presented as online safety protections could become tools for surveillance and control. Supporters insist stronger regulation is necessary to tackle harmful content, misinformation and online abuse.

Niall and Cormac discuss why so many people no longer trust traditional news organisations, whether journalists and media outlets have become too closely aligned with political and ideological agendas, and what role censorship, fact-checking and government regulation may be playing in the public’s growing scepticism.

As public confidence continues to fall, the conversation asks a fundamental question: are people losing trust in the news because the media is failing the public, or because social media has fundamentally changed how we consume and judge information?

It’s a thought-provoking discussion about trust, journalism, censorship, free speech and who gets to decide what information the public should be allowed to see.