"Trust And Bias In The Media"

In a recent nation wide poll researchers found that less than 20% (19.6) of Americans said that they believe all or most of the news reported by the news media. A slightly larger number, 23.9% said that they believe little or none of the reporting. Slightly more than half (55.3%) said that they relieve some media news reporting.

These numbers indicate that the news media is even less trusted than Congress! It looks like there really is something lower than the belly of a snake.

The poll conducted by Sacred Heart University, found that the most trusted TV news organization s were (in descending order):

Fox News (27.0%)
CNN (14.6%)
NBC News (10.9%)
ABC News (7.0%)
Local News (6.9%)
CBS News (6.8%)
MSNBC (4.0%)
PBS News (3.0%)
CNBC (0.6%)
CBN (0.5%)

It is interesting that Fox News, which is attacked constantly by the mainstream liberal news outlets, is trusted over their nearest competitor by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

The vast majority of Americans (87.6%) believe strongly or somewhat strongly that the news media attempts to influence public opinion.

(The author notes that this is clearly the case with blatant manipulation of reporting relative to the 2008 presidential candidates!)

Nearly as many Americans (86.0%) believe strongly or somewhat strongly that the news media attempts to influence public policy.

The study also covered how Americans perceive bias among the various new media. Only 40.7% were satisfied with the balance of reporting.

Fox News was the only organization that was rated as conservative or somewhat conservative (48.7%). Fox News also was rated liberal or somewhat liberal with a rating of 22.3%. With these numbers, Fox clearly wins the battle for most balanced

By 4:1 margin, Americans surveyed see The New York Times (41.9% to 11.8%) and National Public Radio (40.3% to 11.2%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative

By a 3:1 margin, Americans see news media journalists and broadcasters (45.4% to 15.7%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative.

By a 2:1, Americans see CNN (44.9% to 18.4%) and MSNBC (38.8% to 15.8%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative.

It would seem that America’s mainstream news media is seen more as propagandist than reporters. This is in large part attributable to the fact that journalists and broadcasters are no longer the safe guard of democracy but have become the purveyors of socialism and the manipulators of truth..