DO AMERICANS TRUST THE MEDIA?@

KEBBA JATTA

November 10, 2012

Americans generally do not trust the media. Many of the people I interviewed expressed the perception that the media is too biased and that they collaborate with politicians and the powerful. The distrust for the media continues to rise throughout the past decade leading to the current low of 60% having no trust in the media, according to the PEW Research Center. Distrust for the media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly has been declining since the late 1990s but reached a new low in 2012 which is also a very divisive election year. According to the GALLUP poll, the sharp decline in media trust in 2012 is caused by the independents and Republicans, which is consistent with the 2008 election-year trend. This, according to GALLUP indicates the Republican distrust of election coverage by the media they often consider liberal. Perhaps for similar reasons, Democrats are more trusting of the media, with 58% trusting the media compared to 26% for Republicans. Along with the decline in media trust is a decline in American’s interest in political news. This is especially interesting in a bitterly contested election year like 2012 where the voters need to rely on the media for facts about the hot-button issues such as the economy, immigration, healthcare, women’s health, and gay marriage.

This high level of distrust in the media in a way undermines our democracy, and it may in the end impact on voter turnout and political participation. Trust in the media, to some extent is tied to the trust in government. When citizens show high approval for the government, they often tend to show similar high approval for the media. At the end of Clinton’s presidency (and its accompanying economic boom) and the terrorist attack in 2001 for example, trust in both government and the media was high, 78% and 54%respectively. However after the start of the Iraq war, trust in both government and the media took a nose-dive and never recovered since then. Public approval for both Congress and the Judiciary also remained dismal during this period.

The sharp decline in media trust from the late 1990s to 2012 and throughout George W. Bush’s rule could be attributed to the media’s perceived complicit in building the case for the Iraq war on the pretext of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

The media enjoyed a similar high public approval during Watergate (Nixon investigations) in 1974 and the McCarthy hearings in 1954. During Watergate in 1974, trust in the media was nearly 80% largely because of the media’s role in uncovering President Nixon’s connection to crimes which led to his resignation. The McCarthy hearings involved an investigation into the conflict between Senator Joseph McCarthy and the United States Army which later became known as the so-called “hunt for communist” in the United States government. The outcome of this investigation severely discredited Senator McCarthy and led to his political downfall.

Therefore it appears that public opinion about the media are formed during major landmark events such as Watergate, the Terrorist attack of September 11, 2011, the Iraq war, etc. The way the media handles these landmark issues goes a long way in influencing public perception of the media. Perhaps also that public understanding of what the media is affects its approval or disapproval. After all, the media is not well defined, and therefore may mean different things to different people. The local media (example Public Broadcasting Service, PBS) is trusted more than the larger cable networks such as the Cable News Network (CNN), FOX news and MSNBC. Perhaps the power , dominance and pervasiveness of these cable networks in terms their reach and twenty four hours coverage contributes to the distrust and public negativity towards them. Many of the people I interviewed on Face book and in the street said they do not trust the media, but added that they trusted the smaller local media more than the larger cable networks. They also expressed their generally favorable perception of the particular media outlet they obtain news from be it CNN, FOX, MSNBC or PBS. Don, a newspaper delivery man for USA-TODAY in Shawnee, Kansas said he does not trust the media but tends to trust KCUR (a subsidiary of PBS in Kansas City) and the Kansas City STAR newspaper more than all others. “I don’t believe the media tells the truth”, he said.  Jason Smith, a University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) graduate in communications studies who did not identify with any news outlet expressed similar distrust for the media. “They are all biased because they always pick sides”, Jason said. Jacqueline, who identified FOX news as her favorite source of news, believes that the media collaborates with the politicians to misinform the public. Jacqueline said, “All the media tells you is what the politicians want them to tell you”.

However, despite the lack of trust for the media; it continues to be the preferred source of news for most people. The media continues to be trusted more than alternative informal sources of information. Many people who criticize the media still rely on the media for information when they need it.

The media’s projection of itself as “fair and balance”, a practice referred to as “false equivalence” does not seem to help its public image either. Giving equal treatment to both sides of controversial and highly divisive issues such as evolution versus creation, climate change, and gay marriage where public perception of the truth is in ‘black and white’ only results in more anger and distrust of the media.

The media’s perceived collaboration among its practitioners ( also called pack journalism or beltway punditry) and with politicians are major reasons for its low public approval.