Posted on 09/20/2016 7:52:27 PM PDT by Lorianne
A Gallup Poll released this week shows the largest decline in trust in the media since the organization started asking the public’s opinion on the subject in 1972. In a survey conducted among people over 18 years old, across 50 states, only 32 percent said they trust the media “to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.”
Only 14 percent of Republicans trust the media, down from 32 percent in 2015. According to the poll, the steep decline in trust among Republicans has been influenced by Republican leaders, conservative pundits and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who continually claims the media is biased toward his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Democrats (at 51 percent, compared with 55 percent in 2015) and independents (30 percent versus 33 percent last year) have a little more faith in the Fourth Estate than Republicans.
Young and old alike are distrustful. For the 18-to-49 age group, only 26 percent say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the media, down 10 percent from 2015. For those 50 and older, it’s 38 percent, down 7 percentage points from 2015.
Gallup reports:
The divisive presidential election this year may be corroding Americans’ trust and confidence in the media, particularly among Republicans who may believe the “mainstream media” are too hyperfocused on every controversial statement or policy proposal from Trump while devoting far less attention to controversies surrounding the Clinton campaign. However, the slide in media trust has been happening for the past decade. Before 2004, it was common for a majority of Americans to profess at least some trust in the mass media, but since then, less than half of Americans feel that way. Now, only about a third of the U.S. has any trust in the Fourth Estate, a stunning development for an institution designed to inform the public.
With the explosion of the mass media in recent years, especially the prevalence of blogs, vlogs and social media, perhaps Americans decry lower standards for journalism. When opinion-driven writing becomes something like the norm, Americans may be wary of placing trust on the work of media institutions that have less rigorous reporting criteria than in the past. On the other hand, as blogs and social media “mature,” they may improve in the American public’s eyes. This could, in turn, elevate Americans’ trust and confidence in the mass media as a whole.
Since 1972, the apex of trust in media by the general public was 76 percent in 1976.
I'm surprised 32% trust the mockingbird media
32 is BS.
The PATHETIC 32% are ALL Hillary voters.
Besides, the media twists polls like this one the same way they twist polls of what Hillary's standing in the race is.
Mainstream media desperate to hide Muslim faith of attackers
Foxnews.com
I’m amazed that there are 32% that don’t know they are being fed a narrative by the Ministry of Propaganda.
Americans are realizing just how poor the standards are for journalism, as practiced by the MSM. Period.
Duh...the Democrats love the Democrat media. Intelligent people ignore our biased press.
Agree. The Rat numbers include Bernie fans and they don’t even know what media is.
The media are so obviously liberally biased that they should call themselves Pravda. The 32% are those that are hardcore Leftists or idiots.
32% are idiotic, moronal retards?
32% of those polled are morons.
I come across people all the time...that are totally clueless...about politics.
If true, it is sad its so high.
The follow up question should be:
Do you trust foreign sources to report on American news more than you trust American news outlets.
Because I surely do.
I actually trust some Russian, Hungarian, British and Canadian papers WAY more than I trust our own.
I trust Breitbart and Drudge 10x more than Fox, and Fox is 10x more trustworthy than any other cable or MSM source.
I trust Assange more than I trust our reporters. I trust leaked or hacked information more than I trust our FBI or CIA or State Department or Senate hearings.
What have we come to when we have to turn to sources outside of the US to get the real story?
Since the late 70’s we have been going back and forth to and from Hungary (Magyar for those who know) nearly every summer. Back then, we would bring them newspapers from Austria and they loved them because they were not State newspapers printed by the Soviets. They did not trust soviet propaganda and eagerly sought news from behind the Iron Curtain.
Now, news is pretty free in Russia, and certainly in the Eastern European block nations that once comprised the USSR, and I have to turn to THEM for unbiased reporting?
It’s a sad state of affairs in our nation.
Go Trump!
This is not a matter of belief. It is easy enough to document the bias of the media. Only the 32% who are so leftist that they are incapable of analytical thought or who pay no attention think the media is accurate.
It's Red Hour in Charlotte, btw. And you are not of The Body.
“an institution designed to inform the public”
That statement is based on a series of assumptions which are almost certainly wrong.
Who designed it?
What was their motive?
What is their motive today?
Ozzie and Harriet are dead.
I’m surprised it’s that high.
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