Poll finds high level of distrust in the media. Anybody surprised?
To those of us in the news biz, the headline on a new Gallup survey was dispiriting, to say the least: 鈥淯.S. Distrust in Media Hits New High鈥�
鈥淎mericans' distrust in the media hit a new high this year, with 60 percent saying they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly,鈥� Gallup reported Friday. 鈥淒istrust is up from the past few years, when Americans were already more negative about the media than they had been in years prior to 2004.鈥�
That鈥檚 a far cry from the 1970s, when Gallup asked the question three times and found trust in the media as high as 72 percent.
It also means that 鈥渘egativity toward the media is at an all-time high for a presidential election year,鈥� according to Gallup, which is 鈥減articularly consequential at a time when Americans need to rely on the media to learn about the platforms and perspectives of the two candidates vying to lead the country for the next four years.鈥�
搁贰颁翱惭惭贰狈顿贰顿:听Are you smarter than a Fox News viewer? How about a CNN viewer? Take our quiz to find out.
There鈥檚 a definite political tilt to such findings.
Trust in the media 鈥� defined as having a 鈥済reat deal鈥� or 鈥渇air amount鈥� of trust 鈥� is very low among Republicans (26 percent) and independents (31 percent), considerably higher among Democrats (58 percent). Paradoxically, Republicans are the partisan group most likely to be paying close attention to news about national politics, Gallup finds.
How have things changed since the media鈥檚 relative glory days in the '70s and earlier?
Back then, most Americans relied on local newspapers and such much-admired TV broadcasters as Walter Cronkite and Howard K. Smith, whose veracity was rarely questioned. When Mr. Cronkite ended his broadcasts with his signature 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 the way it is,鈥� most of us believed him.
Vietnam and Watergate changed that to some extent. (It changed Cronkite, who publicly turned against the Vietnam War.) So did the civil rights movement and the push for gender equality. Establishment thinking and policies came under greater scrutiny, and conventional beliefs were challenged.
Fast-forward to the present, and the source of news (perhaps that should be 鈥渘ews鈥�) has exploded. Many fewer newspapers, but a lot more cable television, radio and TV talk shows, news-based entertainment (Jon Stewart), partisan and ideological web sites, and so many bloggers that it brings to mind the old saw about monkeys and typewriters 鈥� what Chris Gaither and Susannah Rosenblatt writing in the Los Angeles Times several technological generations ago (2005) called 鈥渢he uncensored bastions of ideological chest-thumping.鈥�
Back to that partisan split in perceptions about trust in the media. Are reporters and editors, broadcasters and producers biased in a liberal direction? Is that why Democrats are more likely to trust the press?
That鈥檚 certainly the perception among many conservatives. How many times has Sarah Palin decried the 鈥渓amestream media?鈥�
The mainstream media these days is nothing if not self-examining.
鈥淲hen The [New York] Times covers a national presidential campaign, I have found that the lead editors and reporters are disciplined about enforcing fairness and balance, and usually succeed in doing so,鈥� Arthur Brisbane, the newspaper鈥檚 ombudsman, wrote in his final column last month. 鈥淎cross the paper鈥檚 many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism 鈥� for lack of a better term 鈥� that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.鈥�
鈥淎s a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects,鈥� Mr. Brisbane wrote.
Except for Fox News, broadcasters generally went nuts over Michelle Obama鈥檚 speech at the Democratic National Convention, leading Politico鈥檚 Jim VandeHei to observe that 鈥渢he mainstream media tends to be quite smitten with the Obamas.鈥�
But it鈥檚 also true that people tend to dwell in the media echo chamber they鈥檙e most comfortable with, whether it鈥檚 Sean Hannity and Fox News on the right or Rachel Maddow and MSNBC on the left. Fox News drew many more viewers to the Republican National Convention than the other broadcast or cable networks; NBC and MSNBC led the way at the Democratic National Convention.
It鈥檚 also true that the tea party movement and social conservatism have had a profound impact on traditional political conservatism, driving a deeper and angrier distrust of conventional media sources.
鈥淚'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican Party platform,鈥� Ms. Maddow quipped in 2010.
Regarding the Gallup survey, Andrew Beaujon of the Poynter Institute (a nonprofit school that promotes excellence in journalism) asks: 鈥淚s it possible people considering that question disassociate or exempt the media outlets they like (you have to work pretty hard to聽not聽find a news organization that skews toward whatever your views are these days) from the ones they distrust?鈥�
Being down on the press has a long history in the United States.
鈥淣ewspapers serve as chimneys to carry off noxious vapors and smoke,鈥� Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thaddeus Kosciusko in 1802.
But for many reporters and editors, who tend to be an idealistic lot, the words of the late, great columnist Molly Ivins still ring true:
鈥淚 have long been persuaded that the news media collectively will be sent to hell not for our sins of commission, but our sins of omission. The real scandal in the media is not bias, it is laziness.聽Laziness and bad news judgment. Our failure is what we miss, what we fail to cover, what we let slip by, what we don't give enough attention to.鈥�
搁贰颁翱惭惭贰狈顿贰顿:听Are you smarter than a Fox News viewer? How about a CNN viewer? Take our quiz to find out.
