The day after President Donald Trump announced he was banning CNN, Politico and MS Now from the White House, I moderated a panel called “Truth, Trust and Today’s Media,” hosted by the Glenview Public Library and arranged months prior.

The panelists were Brandis Friedman, chief correspondent and anchor of WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight,” and Mark Jacob, former metro editor of the Chicago Tribune and author of Stop the Presses, a weekly newsletter about how the media covers politics. The room was packed with an encouraging mix of folks — high school students on up to retirees — who wanted to talk press freedom, media bias, the newsgathering process and more.

At the end of our 60-minute panel, we held a 30-minute Q&A that could have easily gone longer, had we reserved the space for more time. People were invested in the topic and eager to share their thoughts, and we were eager to hear and discuss them.

In the lobby of Tribune Tower — the former home of the Chicago Tribune newsroom, now home to luxury condos — an Arthur Miller quote sits among the marble wall etchings: “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.” Not a bunch of editors talking to themselves. Not a bunch of reporters answering to spinmasters. Not a bunch of columnists monologuing to their readers. A nation. Arguing, problem-solving, gut-checking, fact-checking, talking. To itself.

It was always my favorite of the fancy quotes.

Which brings us back to Glenview. We launched the panel discussion with the news of the White House media ban. I asked Friedman and Jacob what it means for the American public, for........

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