Distrust in Media Hits Record High

Published Saturday, September 22, 2012 A.D. | By Donald R. McClarey

I am shocked, shocked, to report that Gallup finds a steep decrease in faith in ~~unpaid Obama press agents~~ the media.

The record distrust in the media, based on a survey conducted Sept. 6-9, 2012, also means that negativity toward the media is at an all-time high for a presidential election year. This reflects the continuation of a pattern in which negativity increases every election year compared with the year prior. The current gap between negative and positive views — 20 percentage points — is by far the highest Gallup has recorded since it began regularly asking the question in the 1990s. Trust in the media was much higher, and more positive than negative, in the years prior to 2004 — as high as 72% when Gallup asked this question three times in the 1970s.

This year’s decline in media trust is driven by independents and Republicans. The 31% and 26%, respectively, who express a great deal or fair amount of trust are record lows and are down significantly from last year. Republicans’ level of trust this year is similar to what they expressed in the fall of 2008, implying that they are especially critical of election coverage.

Independents are sharply more negative compared with 2008, suggesting the group that is most closely divided between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney is quite dissatisfied with its ability to get fair and accurate news coverage of this election.

More broadly, Republicans continue to express the least trust in the media, while Democrats express the most. Independents’ trust fell below the majority level in 2004 and has continued to steadily decline.

What could possibly explain such a lack of confidence in the ink-stained wretches?

Oh yeah.

9 Responses to Distrust in Media Hits Record High

Thomas Collins says:

Saturday, September 22, 2012 A.D. at 2:53pm

The Anchoress, Elizabeth Scalia (no relation) posted this classic from the Onion on her blog today: http://www.theonion.com/articles/media-having-trouble-finding-right-angle-on-obamas,2703/

Likewise the current issue of On the Media podcast is wrestling wioth the question “Does PR Have a Liberal Bias?”
http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/sep/14/

One of their replies is “We’re no more liberal than TIME or Newsweek.”

Don, is this a defence you would try in a court if liberalism were a crime?
Donald R. McClarey says:

Saturday, September 22, 2012 A.D. at 4:04pm

The Onion story is a true classic Thomas. The only thing funnier than media bias is the denial of it.
Siobhan says:

Saturday, September 22, 2012 A.D. at 5:01pm

Here’s another interesting site showing how the media is lying about the polls. Now, are they covering for planned fraud or if Romney/Ryan win, will the media and the demoncrats claim they “stole” the election?

http://polls2012.blogspot.com/
T. Shaw says:

Saturday, September 22, 2012 A.D. at 8:04pm

It’s been so my entire life.

They simply are democrats with bylines. It’s all liberal propaganda and presenting progressive fictions as facts.

It’s all distortions, distractions, exaggerations, fabrications, misdirections, omissions and outright lies repeated constantly.

“If you don’t read the newspapers you are uninformed. If you read the papers you are misinformed.” Either Twain or Will Rogers, I’m unsure.
Penguins Fan says:

Saturday, September 22, 2012 A.D. at 11:31pm

Worrying about the state of the economy and the future of the country is keeping me up at night. If it were only me I would not be so concerned but I have a wife, two small children and a mortgage, among other obligations.

Bernard Goldberg wrote two books about media bias and they were huge sellers. The alphabet networks parrot whatever the New York Times prints, and we all know that rag has always been biased. The Washington (Com)Post started out as a Democrat party organ, or so I was told by a former Washington, DC coworker.

I dropped the Pittsburgh Tribune Review last year for its’ publisher’s view that Planned Parenthood funding must be continued. I can’t read the Post Gazette. I don’t buy a newspaper and rarely watch news on TV except for the local traffic and weather on the weekday mornings.
Micha Elyi says:

Sunday, September 23, 2012 A.D. at 2:17am

“If you don’t read the newspapers you are uninformed. If you (do) read the papers you are misinformed.” Either Twain or Will Rogers, I’m unsure.

I would have guessed H.L. Mencken. But after some searching of the web, I find this is most often attributed to Mark Twain but the origin appears to be unknown.

And now for some vintage Mencken that is particularly appropriate as we reflect on the current holder of the office of President and the current election season:

As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
–H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Phillip says:

Sunday, September 23, 2012 A.D. at 1:34pm

The media could collectively receive the Walter Duranty Prize for this election cycle’s reporting.
T. Shaw says:

Sunday, September 23, 2012 A.D. at 4:55pm

Things would be different if a Republican was president.

They’d be all over this like stink on poop.

Here’s the story the Obama worshiping stooges with by-lines will never write.

From The London Mail (UK):

“More Americans now commit suicide than are killed in car crashes as miserable economy takes its toll

“Deaths from suicide up 15pc with fears more deaths go unaccounted

“$56m suicide prevention plan being rolled out after shocking statistics”

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2207089/56-million-suicide-prevention-programme-launched-study-reveals-Americans-lives-die-car-crashes.html#ixzz27KdqSGqt
T. Shaw says:

Sunday, September 23, 2012 A.D. at 5:04pm

Here’s the story the Obama worshiping stooges with by-lines will never write.

Obama’s war on coal and electricity generation (quoted at Instapundit):

“Look, folks, I am in this field. I have been for more than 30 years. Losing 36,000 MWs of the most cost-efficient generation capacity in the US is a disaster. You have no idea how bad the increases are going to be. They will be disastrous to the individual energy consumers and apocalyptic to large users – those who create jobs.

“I shudder to think of what this is going to do to grid reliability as well. A lot of those coal plants help support the grid during disruptions. They regularly provide both energy and MVARs (Mega Volt-Ampere Reactive) that keep the grid from collapsing when large loads are added or lost. (That’s about as simple as I can make it and still be understood.) Losing these stabilizers will make it very hard to hold the grid. I pity the load dispatchers.”

If things go the wrong way in NOvember you will need to buy a generator.