The latest Pew survey is out and it doesn't tell us anything that we don't already know: Americans don't trust the press.
Specific to this poll, more Americans who get their news from the internet don't trust the press.
The internet news audience – roughly a quarter of all Americans – tends to be younger and better educated than the public as a whole. People who rely on the internet as their main news source express relatively unfavorable opinions of mainstream news sources and are among the most critical of press performance. As many as 38% of those who rely mostly on the internet for news say they have an unfavorable opinion of cable news networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, compared with 25% of the public overall, and just 17% of television news viewers.
The internet news audience is particularly likely to criticize news organizations for their lack of empathy, their failure to "stand up for America," and political bias. Roughly two-thirds (68%) of those who get most of their news from the internet say that news organizations do not care about the people they report on, and 53% believe that news organizations are too critical of America. By comparison, smaller percentages of the general public fault the press for not caring about people they report on (53%), and being too critical of America (43%).
These findings aren't really surprising. From Rathergate to the Scott Beauchamp debacle, bloggers have been crucial in debunking various media myths. Those who get their news from internet sources have every reason to distrust the MSM. The bias of traditional media becomes more apparent every day.
This isn't to say that all internet news sources are the same. I wouldn't say, for example, that the 9/11 truthers are harbingers of truth. But, for the most part, people who get their news off the internet seem to be more current and informed than people who don't, partcularly about certain issues.
Cable news is notoriously bad for giving the impression of presenting lots of news when, in fact, they are producing the same stories over and over again. And, as has been pointed out (although in a rather partisan manner) with Fox News, they make errors (calling people Democrats who are Republicans, for example). Perhaps that's the nature of breaking news; there will always be corrections and misinformation that make it to print or broadcast.
But the Pew study shows that most people tolerate the occasional mistake, particularly when it is acknowledged. What they definitely dislike is bias, where a story isn't told in a manner that is fair to all sides. Republicans are more likely to see bias than Democrats.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted July 25-29 among 1,503 adults, finds a continuing pattern of deep partisan differences in public views of news organizations and their performance. Far more than twice as many Republicans as Democrats say news organizations are too critical of America (63% vs. 23%), and there is virtually no measure of press values or performance on which there is not a substantial gap in the views of partisans.
There's not really anything unusual in the findings, other than the idea that viewers are becoming more critical and more partisan. I think this might be a result of our 24/7 news and opinion cycle. There's so much information and opinion to be had that few bogus stories florish. As Michelle Malkin noted, think how different history would have been had the internet been around when John Kerry was speaking on Vietnam to Congress.
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