WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four in 10 Americans say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This ties the historical lows on this measure set in 2014 and 2012. Prior to 2004, slight majorities of Americans said they trusted the mass media, such as newspapers, TV and radio.
Americans’ confidence in the media has slowly eroded from a high of 55% in 1998 and 1999. Since 2007, the majority of Americans have had little or no trust in the mass media. Trust has typically dipped in election years, including 2004, 2008, 2012 and last year. However, 2015 is not a major election year.
This decline follows the same trajectory as Americans’ confidence inmany institutions and their declining trust in the federal government’s ability to handle domestic and international problems over the same time period.
Trust in the Mass Media Has Fallen More Sharply Among Those Younger Than 50
Trust in the media continues to be significantly lower among Americans aged 18 to 49 than among those 50 and older, continuing a pattern evident since 2012. Prior to 2012, these groups’ trust levels were more similar, with a few exceptions between 2005 and 2008.
Trust Among Democrats Remains Low, but Higher Than Among Republicans
For more than a decade, Republicans and independents have been significantly less likely than Democrats to trust the media. This pattern continues in the latest survey. In 2014, Gallup found that trust among Democrats fell to a 14-year low of 54%, and this figure is essentially unchanged at 55% this year. While more Democrats than Republicans continue to say they trust the media, the percentage of Republicans who report that they trust the mass media increased slightly this year, from 27% to 32%. This increase was offset, however, by a decrease in independents reporting trust, from 38% to 33%.
Bottom Line
Americans’ trust level in the media has drifted downward over the past decade. The same forces behind the drop in trust in government more generally, as well confidence in many U.S. institutions, may also be at work with the media. But some of the loss in trust may have been self-inflicted. Major venerable news organizations have been caught making serious mistakes in the past several years, including the scandal involving former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams in 2015 that some of his firsthand accounts of news events had been exaggerated or “misremembered.”
Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/185927/americans-trust-media-remains-historical-low.aspx
Can’t tell it by commenters on Yahoo.
Most of them are trolls. 😉
I suspect that a lot of people SAY they don’t trust the mainstream media, and they may even truly believe that they don’t. But they still lack skepticism, critical thinking skills, and/or the drive to seek out facts for themselves. So they still end up being influenced by the MSM without even realizing it.
I think the Gallup organization released this nonsense to increase people’s trust in the media by claiming more people trust it than actually do.
This is a laughable limited hang-out:
“Major venerable news organizations have been caught making serious mistakes in the past several years, including the scandal involving former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams in 2015 that some of his firsthand accounts of news events had been exaggerated or ‘misremembered.’ ”
We’re not talking about “serious mistakes”, or a lying anchorman. The problem is a sophisticated propaganda machine that maintains the illusion of competition by being broken into many outlets and channels, but still delivers the same false reality to the U.S. population, and constantly manipulates their opinions by orchestrating traumatic events, and presenting these staged theatrics as factual news.
And now I’m sure the Gallup organization is owned by Zionists too.
“Four in 10 Americans say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.”
IF true (doubtful), that would be the eight hr.+ a day vidiots.
I’d be guessin’ half that (or less) would be likelier.
“Four in 10 Americans say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.”
Really? Come to my neighborhood and I’ll show you that Zero in 20 Americans say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/185720/half-continue-say-gov-immediate-threat.aspx?g_source=Politics&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles
And growing…but I am sure more so than is reported.