MEDIA FAILS TRUST TEST – AT 10:31 A.M. ET: Trust in the media is tying all-time lows, according to Gallup. Anyone surprised?
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Four in 10 Americans say they have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This ties the historical lows on this measure set in 2014 and 2012. Prior to 2004, slight majorities of Americans said they trusted the mass media, such as newspapers, TV and radio.
Americans' confidence in the media has slowly eroded from a high of 55% in 1998 and 1999. Since 2007, the majority of Americans have had little or no trust in the mass media. Trust has typically dipped in election years, including 2004, 2008, 2012 and last year. However, 2015 is not a major election year.
This decline follows the same trajectory as Americans' confidence in many institutions and their declining trust in the federal government's ability to handle domestic and international problems over the same time period.
And...
For more than a decade, Republicans and independents have been significantly less likely than Democrats to trust the media. This pattern continues in the latest survey. In 2014, Gallup found that trust among Democrats fell to a 14-year low of 54%, and this figure is essentially unchanged at 55% this year. While more Democrats than Republicans continue to say they trust the media, the percentage of Republicans who report that they trust the mass media increased slightly this year, from 27% to 32%. This increase was offset, however, by a decrease in independents reporting trust, from 38% to 33%.
COMMENT: You'd think media would want to do something about this, but I see little interest in trying. If the ratings or sales are good, the product seems to take second, third, or fourth place.
It's clear that perceptions of media bias play a major role with Republicans and Independents. Too many "journalists" aren't reporting the news, they're "making a difference." The difference they make tilts left.
September 29, 2015 |