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Media Mistrust
By Laura Knoy on Thursday, September 17, 2009.
A new study from the Pew Research Center for People and the Press finds that public confidence in how accurate the press has reached its lowest level in twenty years. More folks say news organizations fail to report all the facts, project political biases, and succumb to the influence of the powerful. We’ll explore why Americans feel this way and ask what it says about the future of journalism.
Guests
- Megan Garber, news innovation beat reporter at the Columbia Journalism Review
- Michael Dimock, Associate Director at the Pew Research Center for People and the Press
We'll also hear from
- James Pindell, longtime New Hampshire political reporter and author of the political news website NHPoliticalReport.com
- Jeff Bartlett, General Manager of WMUR-TV
- TBA
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I am 57, regestered independant, voted democratic last time around. I have never wnated to comment more than today. It is NOT accuracy or bias that is upsetting. It is content.
You had a gentelman on a few months ago who used to work at CNN. He commented that the US CNN brodcast was not the same as broadcast elsewhere in the world. WHY? Are we really so interverted?
Points
1. All broadcasts including npr to a fault spend too much time day after day if something sensational occurred and forget about all other news events that should be reported.
2. Broadcats reference persons and not topics well. The facts are what is the issue, and what do significant groups or organizatgions have to say about it, pro and con, both side. Not just what a political figure says. Get on with all the facts y ou can cram in in the alloted time and let us think about the issue.
Last comment, Public radio on the morning and nightly news braodcasts (all tings considered) are slowly falling into that trap and mold.
I lost faith in the media during the build-up to the Iraq war and the bogus hype over WMD's. Major news organizations were over zealous in gaming news stories that supported the War in Iraq without really doing any investigative journalism. The motivation was corporate profits due to high ratings.
Also I believe due to the unfortunate financial success of FOX news and it's style of "journalim" the bar was lowered for other news agency to mimick FOX.
Megan,
I see it as "Shock" journalism, more entertainment and less news reporting..
Do you feel that the public's trust in the media is due in part to the "Right Wing" media extremists who's mission is to slander, bias and destroy the character of the people they report on. The Glen Beck's, Rush Limbaugh's, Sean Hannity's and Don Immus's are continually crossing the ethical and moral media guidelines and giving the media profession a bad image in the public's eye. The public are turned off and begin to mistrust the content and credibility of the media.....
I think Richard has made a great point, news has become "entertainment" and the truth is now a distant 2nd to ratings.
Mac the Knife along with many American listeners/viewers of the media are on the "short End of the Quality Stick" when being served quality media coverage verses the "FOX Factor" brand of sensational "Shock Jock" "Yellow Tabloid Journalism" fodder in today's media market. On last weekend's DC talk shows the question was, What's fueling the recent DC protests on Healthcare and the Anti Obama racist signage and written slurs, the panelists agreed that the primary source of the negative sentiment was stemming from the FOX media outlets that promote "Hate Mongering" journalism in an attempt to manifest mistruth towards misguided people as an instrument of hate. This “Propaganda of Hate” media format continues to go unchecked by the Media industry and further damages its credibility as a body of “Reporting Truth” in the future.
We have become a society of blamers, it is so much easier to accuse others of making the wrong choices than to take ownership of our own biased decisions. I am so disturbed and discouraged by this trend your guests discussed of people finding media sources that reflect their beliefs. If we never question our own ideas how can we grow as a people or a country? I challenge us the public to become more educated about our news sources, to recognize when it is entertainment and drama rather than fact and then CHANGE the sources we use. We are ultimately responsible for our lives, our government and our nation, if media has become less reliable we can only blame ourselves for creating the demand for such sensational forms of reporting.
Maureen, I agree in the public's responsibility in choice, however I will say that the public tends to err more on the side of poor judgment verses good judgment on choices of media. Your point about being more educated is well taken. I recently read that the current media programs that viewers watch are designed to attract and relate to adults with an 8th grade education. I have raised children who were once 8th graders, and their sense of good judgment in understanding the media they were ingesting along with their lack of social understanding and sense of world affairs convinced me that the media is in a dangerous place with its constituents. This dangerous direction the media is taking its customers has led me to believe that the current mistrust of the media is a direct reflection of that trend. In other words, the media market I call "FOX Factor" is creating their format of Hate and mistruth in order to convince the viewers or listeners they assume are of 8th grade mentalities that fear and mistrust in their worlds is a big threat to their well being. Many listeners and viewers are unfortunately buying into that misinformation.