What happened last Tuesday? Everybody has a theory, and I've read, listened to and watched a lot of it. But of all the analysis, the most revealing and relevant conversation I've heard so far was an impromptu podcast episode called "The Day After," a special edition of the weekly syndicated public radio show "On the Media." I'm a regular listener and have long admired host Brooke Gladstone, who graduated from the University of Vermont the same year I started at Middlebury College. "We did not expect this outcome" is how executive producer Katya Rogers kicked off the honest, unscripted 30-minute discussion between Gladstone and her colleague Micah Loewinger as they puzzled over the election results — and, frankly, the future of the media and their show, which covers journalism and its role in our country. "The Day After" was also an on-air planning meeting for the next regular episode of the show, which would air two days later. I counted at least four audible sighs from Gladstone. As is their mandate, the trio faced a hard, fool-me-twice truth: The traditional, aka "legacy," media successfully exposed Donald Trump's character and the potential dangers of his second presidency, but none of it changed the minds of the majority of Americans who voted for him. "We do a damn fine job of talking to ourselves," Gladstone said of the news outlets who are serving the other half of the population. "We don't speak to the entire nation. No one does anymore." No words are more discouraging for the journalists who toil long hours, sometimes at the risk of personal harm, in pursuit of truth and the belief that telling it will improve things. Loewinger, the "young" voice on the show, piped up: "I'm not saying that we don't serve a purpose. The need for information, good information, is as high as ever. I think we're all in complete agreement. The need for great reporting on the upcoming Trump administration is absolutely..." "Paramount," Gladstone finished his sentence. Loewinger resumed: "I just fear that the business model that supports it and the trust that powers it are falling apart. It's so upsetting for me to scroll on TikTok or listen to a podcast, and what I'm hearing is mainstream journalism filtered through people who present themselves as a foil to mainstream media. The source of good information is required to fuel everything. But somehow…