海角大神

When a reputable poll recently found that nearly half of American voters 鈥� 46 percent 鈥� think the news media are fabricating stories about President Trump, alarm bells went off.

Mr. Trump鈥檚 constant cries of 鈥渇ake news鈥� must be working, some surmised. The president is actively degrading public trust in the media, his opponents say, and threatening a central pillar of democracy whose freedom is enshrined in the First Amendment.

For Trump supporters, seemed to be vindication. The media have been unfair to Trump, they say, running with any unflattering gossip they can find or just making stuff up out of whole cloth, and people are starting to understand that.

The reality is more complicated. Public trust in mass media has been sinking for decades, 鈥� long before Trump burst onto the political stage. And it鈥檚 impossible to draw a direct correlation between Trump鈥檚 statements and any growth in distrust. But the president is clearly taking advantage of this fertile ground 鈥� of voters prepared to believe the worst about news outlets 鈥� and using it to his advantage, say experts on the media.

鈥淔or 40-plus years, the public 鈥� especially conservatives 鈥� have been primed to distrust the mainstream media,鈥� says Rutgers University historian David Greenberg, author of the book 鈥淩epublic of Spin.鈥� 鈥淭here are arguments going back to [President Richard] Nixon that the objective media are actually biased in a liberal way, and hostile to Republicans.鈥�

Add to that the advent of the Internet and especially social media, where it鈥檚 easy to spread and share these ideas, and it鈥檚 not surprising that a substantial portion of the electorate subscribes to that worldview, Mr. Greenberg says. And it鈥檚 not a big leap from perceived bias to claims of outright fabrication of news stories.

For Trump, the 鈥渇ake news鈥� charge is often the default reaction to media reports he doesn鈥檛 like, particularly those that portray palace intrigue in the White House and that are unflattering to Trump personally. The NBC News story about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson allegedly calling Trump a 鈥渕oron鈥� is a prime example. Trump vehemently disputed the story, although Secretary Tillerson has never directly denied making the remark.

But the reality is, Trump seems to love reporters as much as he hates them. The media, after all, fueled his rise to the presidency, covering one eye-popping Trump event after another during the campaign, and leaving the other candidates starving for oxygen. Now, as president, he is treated to round-the-clock coverage, chronicling his every public performance and giving him a ready platform for attention. 聽

In fact, Trump seeks out the company of reporters more than many of his predecessors. When traveling on Air Force One, he comes to the back of the plane to schmooze with the small traveling press corps on about every third trip, say reporters who travel with him regularly. That is far more than President Obama ever did.

Trump also, of late, has held impromptu press conferences that are unprecedented in the modern era. Last week, with little advance warning, he took to the Rose Garden to answer questions for 45 minutes. On Wednesday, he stopped for 15 minutes on the South Lawn, before boarding the presidential helicopter, and fielded questions from reporters. When asked if he should be more civil, he came back with an extraordinary answer that spoke to his grievances with media coverage 鈥� but also revealed much about his self-image.

鈥淲ell, I think the press makes me more uncivil than I am,鈥� Trump said.

鈥淵ou know, people don鈥檛 understand 鈥� I went to an Ivy League college,鈥� he continued. 鈥淚 was a nice student. I did very well. I'm a very intelligent person. You know, the fact is, I think, I really believe, I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real person.鈥�

Feeling misunderstood

This notion of a president feeling misunderstood is hardly unique.

鈥淓very president, at least every president I鈥檝e studied, going back to Franklin Roosevelt, believes that he understands the truth better than the press does,鈥� says Greenberg.

When stories reflect the president鈥檚 spin, or view of things, the president thinks the press is doing its job, he says. When reporters question it, and include dissenting voices in their stories or point out faults with the president鈥檚 claims, he thinks they鈥檙e editorializing or lying. Reporters, who consult multiple sources and provide other points of view, think they have a better purchase on reality.

Then there鈥檚 Trump鈥檚 free-wheeling way of expressing himself.

鈥淥ne of the problems with Trump is, if one wanted to correct everything that he said that was misleading, there would be no time to cover the news,鈥� says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-founder of Factcheck.org.

That leads Trump supporters to complain that journalists spend all their time attacking Trump, instead of reporting his accomplishments. 鈥淭hat critique actually has some legitimacy,鈥� says Ms. Jamieson.

Low unemployment, a booming stock market, sweeping deregulation across many government agencies, and the seating of a conservative justice on the Supreme Court are all part of the Trump record that the president and his supporters feel are getting short shrift in the media.

Jamieson also advises that the media refine how it fact-checks Trump. Don鈥檛 restate the false information in the process of trying to correct it, she says, because that actually reinforces the incorrect information. And it鈥檚 best to avoid repeating the phrase 鈥渇ake news.鈥� 聽

鈥淐all it viral deception,鈥� says Jamieson. 鈥� 鈥楩ake news鈥� means anything Donald Trump doesn鈥檛 like. You don鈥檛 want to delegitimize the word 鈥榥ews鈥� by calling it 鈥榝ake.鈥� 鈥�

Whom do you trust?

As for the media鈥檚 public image, the news isn鈥檛 all terrible. found that US confidence in newspapers is still low but rising. The same poll found that confidence in TV news is also up 鈥� albeit from a record low of 18 percent three years ago.

also had some good news for the media, along with some bad: While American voters disapprove, 60 percent to 35 percent, of the way the media cover Trump, they also disapprove, 59 to 39, of the way Trump talks about the media.

But on the question on whom voters trust more to tell the truth about important issues, the media beat Trump handily, 52 percent to 37 percent.

Ultimately, for many voters, Trump鈥檚 cries of 鈥渇ake news鈥� have become such a constant refrain that a lot of Americans are just tuning them out, says Karlyn Bowman, an expert on public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute.

鈥淧eople have made up their minds about Trump, about the media, about so many things,鈥� Ms. Bowman says. 鈥淲ashington just seems like a sideshow to most people.鈥�