Trust in news collapses to historic low

Discussion in 'Politics' started by gwb-trading, Jul 8, 2022.

  1. gwb-trading

    gwb-trading

    Trust in news collapses to historic low
    https://www.axios.com/2022/07/08/news-republicans-democrats-trust-partisanship

    trust-in-news.jpg

    Americans' confidence in newspapers and television news has plummeted to an all-time low, according to the latest annual Gallup survey of trust in U.S. institutions.

    Why it matters: The erosion of trust in media is one of the most significant signs of deepening polarization in America.
    • Political party affiliation has become the primary driver of opinions about the media's trustworthiness, as Gallup has noted.
    • A 2021 poll from Pew Research Center found that Republicans are far less likely to trust media sources that are considered "mainstream."
    Details: Television news is today considered the second-least trusted institution in the country, following Congress, according to the poll.
    • While other institutions have also experienced precipitous declines, including banks and the medical system, others — like small business and the military — have held steady over the past few decades.
    By the numbers: The trust fall in the news media been driven mostly by Republicans, according to the data.
    • Just 5% of Republicans said they had "a great deal or quite a lot of confidence" in newspapers, compared to 35% of Democrats.
    • Only 8% of Republicans said they had "a great deal or quite a lot of confidence" in TV news, compared to 20% of Democrats.
    • Independents' views are generally closer to Republicans'.
    The big picture: The media trust gap between Democrats and Republicans began to widen during the the Bush and Obama administrations, but grew dramatically during the Trump era and has continued to widen.
    • Censorship and media bias have become a rallying cry among conservatives, prompting a slew of new media and tech investments, including alternative social media networks, entertainment companies and podcast networks.
    Trust-in-mass-media.jpg


    Between the lines: The lack of trust in traditional news institutions is growing as partisan voices become more accessible online.
    • Data and experts suggest the public struggles to distinguish fact-based journalism from opinion content online.
    • The standards used by traditional media outlets — like fact-checking, bylines, datelines, and corrections — have not been fully-adopted by online news commentators on blogs, podcasts and social media.
    Yes, but: The internet can't be fully blamed for the erosion of media trust. And distrust in traditional institutions could force them to reckon with institutional problems, like a lack of diversity.
    • Semafor's Ben Smith noted on stage Thursday at an event in Washington that the "single most important factor" in media distrust was "the horrible coverage" in the run-up to the Iraq war and "the disastrous media coverage in the years after 9/11," when television and newspapers were still the dominant forms of news.
    • Politico founding editor and editorial chairman John Harris reminded Smith on stage that "in the old days," a handful of people at a small number of outlets had all the agenda-setting power and they "would’ve all been white men."
    • "All of us have biases and that maybe true objectivity is, what does your newsroom look like? How diverse is it?" said Al Jazeera English host Femi Oke at the event.
    Go deeper: Conservative trust in media has cratered
     
    ids, wrbtrader, ipatent and 1 other person like this.
  2. TBH I can't remember the last time I read an actual newspaper as opposed to other news media. One thing's for sure though, you can't wrap your fish and chips in an iPhone.
     
    Bugenhagen likes this.
  3. Bugenhagen

    Bugenhagen


    fish-and-chips-tuimages-.jpg

    I'd prefer chunkier chips. Have to wonder of these online offerings, how many of them are actually every ordered as a product.
     
    tetramorium likes this.
  4. UsualName

    UsualName

    If I were a Republican I wouldn’t trust the news either. They get sold packs of lies by their leaders and the news tells them what they believe in is bullshit. It’s tough to be right wing. They’re Fed total bullshit day in and day out on so many issues from guns to climate change to conspiracy theories that include cabals and deep states. It’s a hard life being a manipulated idiot.
     
    Cuddles and Frederick Foresight like this.
  5. On the plus side, they have a whole stream of political candidates looking to guide them through the maze:

     
  6. easymon1

    easymon1

  7. Cuddles

    Cuddles

    fake news
     
  8. Within those 6 giants are numerous tv, movie, cable and news programming..plenty to choose from.
     
  9. wrbtrader

    wrbtrader

    The internet changed everything and it has been a slow decline ever since but the political right has been more distrusting of media.

    Yet, hypocrisy occurs when I see so many online complaining about news media and their distrust to then see the same idiots get their news from "alternative news media" that are very political or religious to one side or the other and many into conspiracy theories.

    As stated, the hypocrisy is thanks to the birth of the internet and we see the microcosm of it here at Elitetrader.com by many members supporting weird "alternative media" sources while so-called saying they don't trust the media when in reality they don't trust any media sources that don't align with their agenda.

    wrbtrader
     
  10. Well said.
     
    #10     Jul 10, 2022