US trust of media dwindling

US trust of media dwindling

AFP
Fri Aug 13, 2010

WASHINGTON – No more than one-quarter of Americans trusts the news media, but the greatest confidence in the struggling newspaper industry ironically comes from young people, a poll said Friday.

The Gallup poll found that 25 percent of Americans felt a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in newspapers and 22 percent in television news, in line with a steady slide over the past two decades.

The media were among the national institutions in which Americans placed the least confidence, although Congress, big business and health care coverage providers fared worse.

However, 49 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said they placed confidence in newspapers, the same demographic often blamed for the precipitous decline in US dailies' subscription rates.

Confidence falls sharply once Americans get older, with only 19 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds trusting newspapers before the figure rises among middle-aged and elderly people.

Explaining the results, Gallup said young people tended to place more trust in institutions in general and noted that online media, despite growing popularity, often linked back to traditional media.

"But so long as roughly three in four Americans remain distrustful, it will be difficult to attract the large and loyal audiences necessary to boost revenues," it said.

Liberals were the most trustful of newspapers, at 35 percent, compared with 18 percent of conservatives. The gap was narrower in views on television media, with moderates the most confident.

Gallup said it surveyed 1,020 adults in the continental United States and gave a margin of error of four percentage points.

It is an interesting dilemma. Young people trust the media more, yet traditionally they are supposed to be rebellious and not listen to authority figures for the sake of authority. The media is arguably one of the most powerful authority figures in most western countries.

It makes sense that they are also blamed - so to speak - for the decline in sales figures. Younger people are more technologically astute, and more likely to read newspaper articles on line for free, and more likely to search the internet for a wide range of media sources than to simply go into a shop and buy a newspaper.

It's gotten to when i read mainstream media articles (newspapers like the NYT, etc), i'm very skeptical on what i'm reading. It's their own fault, too. There's been many instances of bias in major newspapers in this country. Too many to count. That's one thing that i appreciate about the internet is debunking things that they may or may not say.

Well, I distrust the media for a lot of reasons, not least how badly they handle science reporting, especially on climate change. They are fuelling scientific ignorance and in some cases, it is dangerous to do so. For example, how they are still allowing the anti-vaccine lobby a voice despite that the person who started it was stripped of his right to practice medicine for malpractice. They never take responsibility for the scares they create and they continue to make the same mistakes over and over again while not giving right of reply to experts who disagree.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:Well, I distrust the media for a lot of reasons, not least how badly they handle science reporting, especially on climate change. They are fuelling scientific ignorance and in some cases, it is dangerous to do so. For example, how they are still allowing the anti-vaccine lobby a voice despite that the person who started it was stripped of his right to practice medicine for malpractice. They never take responsibility for the scares they create and they continue to make the same mistakes over and over again while not giving right of reply to experts who disagree.

Yeah, it's shit like that. My uncle is an ethanol farmer and he reads stuff online by 'professors' that he says have no idea what they're talking about. He see's it even in our Minneapolis paper (which leans left). That paper's problem isn't what they tell you. It's what they leave out.

Brings to mind the CBS Dan Rather fiasco a few years back with documents proving Bush was AWOL while in the Nat'l Guard. It was found to be a fraud and caused Rather to resign eventually because the bloggers proved that the docs were fake.

For everyone else, no, i'm not getting into a discussion on Bush's military service.

I apply that to both the left and right wing press just for the record.

When it comes to climate change, the left wing media always act as though the planet is going to explode and everybody and everything will die horribly, leaving the planet a sterile, scorched rock. They do more harm than good to the cause of showing the world why this is a problem that needs to be dealt with and now.

The right wing pretend it is all the invention of a liberal conspiracy to destroy capitalism or more specifically, American freedoms and free market capitalism.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:I apply that to both the left and right wing press just for the record.

When it comes to climate change, the left wing media always act as though the planet is going to explode and everybody and everything will die horribly, leaving the planet a sterile, scorched rock. They do more harm than good to the cause of showing the world why this is a problem that needs to be dealt with and now.

The right wing pretend it is all the invention of a liberal conspiracy to destroy capitalism or more specifically, American freedoms and free market capitalism.

The problem with the left wing media is that they hang on every word Al Gore says. Drives me apeshit.

No more or less than the right wing media hangs on every word Rush Limbaugh says.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:No more or less than the right wing media hangs on every word Rush Limbaugh says.

Depends on what he says.

Meh... The media issue has become way too muddled as-of-late. I used to be able to rely on Jim Lehrer or CNN to get decent news, but even those have really gone downhill. I do think Anderson Cooper still has some legitimacy, but that's about it. Beyond him, and I mean on all the networks, it's become unwatchable for news sake. I mean hey, I like watching Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. He makes me laugh. He makes me scream and sometimes he even brings up a point I hadn't considered. Let's face it, he's entertaining! But no, I wouldn't call most of what he says "journalism". His topics might be news-worthy, but not in the way he presents them. And then there's Fox. I've actually begun watching Fox to see what topic they're on. And on the rare occurrence that Glenn Beck isn't on, whatever is being talked about, it still isn't important. They are pure entertainment.

i_luv_miley wrote:Meh... The media issue has become way too muddled as-of-late. I used to be able to rely on Jim Lehrer or CNN to get decent news, but even those have really gone downhill. I do think Anderson Cooper still has some legitimacy, but that's about it. Beyond him, and I mean on all the networks, it's become unwatchable for news sake. I mean hey, I like watching Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. He makes me laugh. He makes me scream and sometimes he even brings up a point I hadn't considered. Let's face it, he's entertaining! But no, I wouldn't call most of what he says "journalism". His topics might be news-worthy, but not in the way he presents them. And then there's Fox. I've actually begun watching Fox to see what topic they're on. And on the rare occurrence that Glenn Beck isn't on, whatever is being talked about, it still isn't important. They are pure entertainment.

Anderson does an ok job there on CNN.

Olbermann is the left's Sean Hannity. He preaches to the choir as Hannity does. I don't watch Hannity very often unless i hear there's going to be someone on there that i want to see.

Journalism? Nobody in those primetime spots are journalists and most will even tell you that. It's the difference between hearing opinion and hearing actual news. The news comes on at 5 or 6pm on most cable news networks. That's news. I wish people would get that thru their heads.