Jennifer is the Ideas and Culture editor and author of the Right to the Point newsletter. She has more than 30 years of experience as a journalist and writes from Boston.

This article was first published in the Right to the Point newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each week.

In the Ernest Hemingway novel "The Sun Also Rises," a character named Mike is asked how he went bankrupt. "Gradually and then suddenly," he replies.

The same could also be said of the public's loss of faith in the legacy media, which had been declining for years and then seemed to sail off a cliff coincident with the rise of podcasts and alternative outlets like The Daily Wire and The Free Press.

The legacy media has seen the light -- or at least the accounting books.

From the soul-searching brought on by President Joe Biden's debate performance in June, to the decision made by Jeff Bezos and other media moguls not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, there has been a not-quite-business-as-usual vibe spreading across the nation's newsrooms.

And now comes word that the Los Angeles Times is developing an AI-generated "bias meter" to ensure that readers get both sides of a story.

It is an indictment of the industry that such a thing is needed at all. One of the ideals of journalism is to provide unbiased reporting informed by facts. And yet some LA Times staffers and their union are pushing back against owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong's efforts to make the publication more balanced, efforts that include bringing CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings onto the newspaper's editorial board. Soon-Shiong has told Jennings that he fears his publication is an echo chamber and "not a trusted source."

The tool, which is still being developed, is set to be rolled out in January, per The New York Times.

Instead of celebrating changes that might bring new readers to the publication, the guild is threatening a byline strike, and a columnist has resigned in opposition to what he sees as "a posture more sympathetic to Donald Trump."

This isn't the flex they might think it is; rather proof that the changes are needed. And they're coming whether liberal journalists like them or not.

In addition to the changes at the LA Times, and Bezos's call for the industry to "exercise new muscles" in order to combat bias, and the perception of bias, in news coverage, there are other hopeful signs. A few months ago, Columbia Journalism Review noted that the ability to work remotely was allowing reporters to work outside of the industry's coastal big-city bubbles, exposing them to "a wider array of conservative perspectives." The South and the Midwest, in particular, are regions that have been basically reporter deserts, when it comes to national publications.

But that, too, may be changing. CJR noted that NBC News was seeking more balance, with one recent job listing saying, "We are especially interested in hearing from candidates who are based outside of New York, Washington, or Los Angeles to add geographical diversity to our staff."

It could be, of course, that all this is too little, too late, and that no amount of balancing (which some will see as pandering) will bring conservatives back to the publications seen as liberal. (For the record, The Deseret News has been rated as center/lean right when it comes to bias, according to AllSides, described as a public benefit corporation.) And for that to happen, there is work to do on both sides.

In addition to changes like those at the LA Times, conservatives who understand the importance of the press in democracy will have to talk louder than the people screaming "fake news." Kudos to Jennings for taking the lead in that, writing on X: "I love newspapers and believe in strong journalism and strong opinion pages that represent a wide array of views."

You can like Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and still not like the language he uses sometimes. In his October conversation with Joe Rogan, Vance admitted a propensity for profanity, which he traces to his grandmother, who he said was a devout Christian but also used "language that would make a sailor blush." The two then exchanged stories about how amused they were when their children -- one 2 years old at the time, one 3 -- used profanity. "It's so cute," Vance said. "It's adorable," Rogan said.

I don't know about you, but that wasn't my reaction. It seems at times that the widespread acceptance of profanity is proof that conservatives have lost the culture war, and we're just not willing to admit it yet.

That's why I was gratified to see an exchange on X this week between sports broadcaster Tony Dungy and Sports Illustrated writer Andrew Brandt. Brandt posted a challenge to NFL coaches to give a post-game locker room speech without using profanity, adding "not sure it can be done."

But Dungy weighed in, saying, "It absolutely can be done, Andrew. But somehow coaches have been brainwashed into thinking that young people can only relate to them if they use profanity. That's not the case but a lot of people believe that." He then engaged with his followers on the subject, some of whom defended the casual use of profanity ("It's just words!") and others who spoke against it ("Although they are merely words, and it ultimately comes down to how the heart uses them, I wish I'd never heard a single one of them.") A few pointed out coaches who are the exception rather than the rule -- the Pittsburgh Steelers' Mike Tomlin among them.

While they won't convince everyone, it's still good to see Dungy and Brandt taking a stand. And memo to Vance and Rogan: If your toddler is cursing in public, it might be time to reevaluate your language.

Speaking of Rogan, here is the quote of the week, courtesy of another CNN commentator, Bakari Sellers:

Last month, I went to Washington D.C. for a conversation with Laura Ingraham of Fox News. It's an understatement to call Ingraham a provocateur -- she has a formidable intellect and the speaking style of a take-no-prisoners Manhattan litigator, which she was for a while. Regardless of what you think about Ingraham, or about Fox, she's someone you'd want on your side in an argument. And it was fascinating to watch the taping of her show in a quiet studio -- all her guests were remote the night I was there, and she was interacting with producers in New York during commercial breaks.

On Christmas week, I'll be sharing holiday columns that I've collected throughout the years from people like George Will and Russell Baker; re-reading them each December is one of my holiday traditions. If there's a holiday column or essay that you treasure from years past, I'd love to include it. Just send a note to [email protected]. Thank you for reading.