Culture Trust in news collapses to historic low

Americans' confidence in newspapers and television news has plummeted to an all-time low, according to the latest annual Gallup survey of trust in U.S. institutions.
Why it matters: The erosion of trust in media is one of the most significant signs of deepening polarization in America.

• Political party affiliation has become the primary driver of opinions about the media's trustworthiness, as Gallup has noted.
• A 2021 poll from Pew Research Center found that Republicans are far less likely to trust media sources that are considered "mainstream."

Details: Television news is today considered the second-least trusted institution in the country, following Congress, according to the poll.

• While other institutions have also experienced precipitous declines, including banks and the medical system, others — like small business and the military — have held steady over the past few decades.

By the numbers: The trust fall in the news media been driven mostly by Republicans, according to the data.

• Just 5% of Republicans said they had "a great deal or quite a lot of confidence" in newspapers, compared to 35% of Democrats.
• Only 8% of Republicans said they had "a great deal or quite a lot of confidence" in TV news, compared to 20% of Democrats.
• Independents' views are generally closer to Republicans'.

The big picture: The media trust gap between Democrats and Republicans began to widen during the the Bush and Obama administrations, but grew dramatically during the Trump era and has continued to widen.

• Censorship and media bias have become a rallying cry among conservatives, prompting a slew of new media and tech investments, including alternative social media networks, entertainment companies and podcast networks.

Americans' trust in mass media

Between the lines: The lack of trust in traditional news institutions is growing as partisan voices become more accessible online.

• Data and experts suggest the public struggles to distinguish fact-based journalism from opinion content online.
• The standards used by traditional media outlets — like fact-checking, bylines, datelines, and corrections — have not been fully-adopted by online news commentators on blogs, podcasts and social media.

Yes, but: The internet can't be fully blamed for the erosion of media trust. And distrust in traditional institutions could force them to reckon with institutional problems, like a lack of diversity.

• Semafor's Ben Smith noted on stage Thursday at an event in Washington that the "single most important factor" in media distrust was "the horrible coverage" in the run-up to the Iraq war and "the disastrous media coverage in the years after 9/11," when television and newspapers were still the dominant forms of news.
• Politico founding editor and editorial chairman John Harris reminded Smith on stage that "in the old days," a handful of people at a small number of outlets had all the agenda-setting power and they "would’ve all been white men."
• "All of us have biases and that maybe true objectivity is, what does your newsroom look like? How diverse is it?" said Al Jazeera English host Femi Oke at the event.

Article

 

[Stabmaster Arson]

Press came to our lab this one time.
Us: ‘so we have these mice that usually die of cancer in 100 days and now after we knocked out this other gene they live to 200 days which is still dying early for a mouse, but it means that other gene is a potential chemo target. Here is a press release written in words of two syllables or less that can explain it to the retarded, and even you.’
Media: LAB CURES CaNCER AND DEATH!
I refused to be interviewed or photographed because I knew they do it. The guy was almost in tears becasue he wanted the ‘female scientist’ angle.

Do you guys give the mice cancer? Not going to get into the ethics of it here and now, I've just long suspected that governments give people cancer who are troublesome. I'd be interested to know if there's a way to do it in a lab.

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

• Just 5% of Republicans said they had "a great deal or quite a lot of confidence" in newspapers, compared to 35% of Democrats.

What the fuck is wrong with Democrats? No wonder they keep falling for hoaxes.

 

[Fomo Hoire]

Press came to our lab this one time.
Us: ‘so we have these mice that usually often die of cancer in 100 days and now after we knocked out this other gene they live to 200 days which is still dying early for a mouse, but it means that other gene is a potential might be a good future chemo target. Here is a press release written in words of two syllables sounds or less that can explain it to the retarded high school dropouts, and even you.’
Media Press: LAB CURES CaNCER AND DEATH!
I refused to be interviewed talk to them or photographed let them take pictures of me because I knew they do it. The guy was almost in tears becasue he wanted the ‘female scientist big brain person’ angle.

Edited changed to use words of two syllables sounds or less, because I didn't realize it would hurt so much to do.

I don't envy whoever the person that actually really has to write those reports.

 

[TowinKarz]

Remember when CNN spent months talking about flight MH370 and they had that ridiculous timer counting down the 17 days until the battery in the black box ran out which made no sense as nobody knew when then plane actually crashed?

Or when Don Lemonhead suggested a super natural explanation?

It wasn't supernatural, black holes are a scientific thing!

OWNED BY MEDIA FACT CHECKING!!!

 

[Potatoherder]

At this point all you can somewhat trust is local news.

But only on certain local issues and if you have some prior knowledge to back up what they say. Anything on the national level is controlled by corporate and even local stuff is skewed. Here the local TV stations and papers all lied about local covid numbers to sell the panic. To date under 500 in total have died in the county but you'd think that number was in the 10s of thousands if you followed the news.

 

[Otterly]

But only on certain local issues and if you have some prior knowledge to back up what they say. Anything on the national level is controlled by corporate and even local stuff is skewed. Here the local TV stations and papers all lied about local covid numbers to sell the panic. To date under 500 in total have died in the county but you'd think that number was in the 10s of thousands if you followed the news.

I think this is one big divide between cities and small towns/villages. If you live in a town of 2000 people, you know everyone a few degrees removed. If the press tells you 500 people are dead you can go and look for yourself. You know 500 people haven’t died, you know they’re lying.
If you live in a city of millions, you don’t know 99.99% of them. If the press tells you 50,000 are dead then how do you verify? You can’t. So people just believe it. You can get away with much bigger lies in a hive.

 

[Screw Danlon]

 

[Kermit Jizz]

Can't imagine why

 

[Zero Day Defense]

>16%
>11%
Rookie numbers. We gotta dump those numbers down to single digits.

Why stop at 0%?

 

[God of Nothing]

I think this is one big divide between cities and small towns/villages. If you live in a town of 2000 people, you know everyone a few degrees removed. If the press tells you 500 people are dead you can go and look for yourself. You know 500 people haven’t died, you know they’re lying.
If you live in a city of millions, you don’t know 99.99% of them. If the press tells you 50,000 are dead then how do you verify? You can’t. So people just believe it. You can get away with much bigger lies in a hive.

I find it's a lot easier to tell the truth depending on what the people you know actually talk about. Something real happened? They likely heard it from a friend of a friend who was there. Not real? No one gives a shit. Something happened but no one talking about it? Look it up to see if there's actual evidence, photographic or testimonial, of the place or from people who actually live there.

Kind of like that retardedly fake raped and pregnant 10 year old story. Where are the pictures, oh so noble and accurate news companies? Where is the police report? None? Oh no, you lied. How fucking surprising.

 

[Well Intentioned]

The thing is, journalism has virtually always had a history of being less than reputable. Folks want to pretend that there was some glorious, halcyon days where journalists were honorable scribes devoted to sharing the truth and informing the masses when that was never the case. Also, the idea of 'objective' journalism is a fucking flawed one. No matter what your perspective or intentions are, you're going to be having some bias or subjectivity creep into your reporting. It's impossible and a ridiculous standard.

It's better to describe journalism as a quagmire of bullshit with small islands of folks endeavoring to actually provide solid, reliable journalism. Unfortunately, the problem is that the hackneyed methods are far easier to churn out, generate a better response and so forth. Or it has been. Now, folks are more informed and media savvy than they've ever been.

Also, there's just a general apathy/distaste for 'credible' or solid journalism. One site I liked to visit, longform.org, used to be a curated site of in-depth, long form reporting. They stopped doing that this year.

Yes, but: The internet can't be fully blamed for the erosion of media trust. And distrust in traditional institutions could force them to reckon with institutional problems, like a lack of diversity.

Distrust in traditional institutions exists because a) you haven't gotten with the fucking times, b) you're putting a priority on 'diversity hires' over qualified hires, c) you're in cost cutting mode, downsizing departments and outsourcing shit like local reporting to cities thousands of miles away, d) you're in the business of agenda setting vs investigating/reporting (eg, the New York Times.)

The navel gazing in this is ridiculous.

 

[God of Nothing]

The thing is, journalism has virtually always had a history of being less than reputable. Folks want to pretend that there was some glorious, halcyon days where journalists were honorable scribes devoted to sharing the truth and informing the masses when that was never the case. Also, the idea of 'objective' journalism is a fucking flawed one. No matter what your perspective or intentions are, you're going to be having some bias or subjectivity creep into your reporting. It's impossible and a ridiculous standard.

It's better to describe journalism as a quagmire of bullshit with small islands of folks endeavoring to actually provide solid, reliable journalism. Unfortunately, the problem is that the hackneyed methods are far easier to churn out, generate a better response and so forth. Or it has been. Now, folks are more informed and media savvy than they've ever been.

Also, there's just a general apathy/distaste for 'credible' or solid journalism. One site I liked to visit, longform.org, used to be a curated site of in-depth, long form reporting. They stopped doing that this year.



Distrust in traditional institutions exists because a) you haven't gotten with the fucking times, b) you're putting a priority on 'diversity hires' over qualified hires, c) you're in cost cutting mode, downsizing departments and outsourcing shit like local reporting to cities thousands of miles away, d) you're in the business of agenda setting vs investigating/reporting (eg, the New York Times.)

The navel gazing in this is ridiculous.

how dare you have a functional brain and refuse to eat our brain slop and add to our advertisement revenue
don't you know people who trust the news are smarter and more moral on average?

 

[Well Intentioned]

how dare you have a functional brain and refuse to eat our brain slop and add to our advertisement revenue

I dunno about functional, but I do have a bit of experience in the world of journalism and am old enough to have seen sorta pre and post Internet and the changes/impact it's had.

don't you know people who trust the news are smarter and more moral on average?

This sort of tribalism is the shit that I hate (not meaning to slag you, as I get you're mocking folks.) Folks should be encouraged to think critically and not, as you said, just lap up the brain slop.

But, we have shit like the reactions to the 1619 Project (something which I don't think a news outlet should have touched in the first fucking place) and some of the incredibly valid criticism levied against it, when there should be a dialogue getting created and folks actually having a fucking discussion.

But no, it's like we're back in high school and you're hating on the kid who likes Nickelback (or whatever) and doesn't like the 'cool' bands. So fucking stupid.

 

[Beautiful Loser]

Remember when CNN spent months talking about flight MH370 and they had that ridiculous timer counting down the 17 days until the battery in the black box ran out which made no sense as nobody knew when then plane actually crashed?

Or when Don Lemonhead suggested a super natural explanation?

Funny thing, When that Luftwings pilot an hero'd himself and everyone on the plane, they were still running stories about MH370.

 

[God of Nothing]

I dunno about functional, but I do have a bit of experience in the world of journalism and am old enough to have seen sorta pre and post Internet and the changes/impact it's had.



This sort of tribalism is the shit that I hate (not meaning to slag you, as I get you're mocking folks.) Folks should be encouraged to think critically and not, as you said, just lap up the brain slop.

But, we have shit like the reactions to the 1619 Project (something which I don't think a news outlet should have touched in the first fucking place) and some of the incredibly valid criticism levied against it, when there should be a dialogue getting created and folks actually having a fucking discussion.

But no, it's like we're back in high school and you're hating on the kid who likes Nickelback (or whatever) and doesn't like the 'cool' bands. So fucking stupid.

As society gets more infantilized by daddy government, the more retarded we become. I'm not sure whether journalism becoming so bullshit is a result of that or some other kind of behind the scene scheme. Then again, we distrust it now more than ever, which is a good thing.

I suppose it's a wait and see kind of thing. At least one news network had people behind it realize what a massive mistake being partisan pro-disinformation dipshits was.

 

[Well Intentioned]

As society gets more infantilized by daddy government, the more retarded we become. I'm not sure whether journalism becoming so bullshit is a result of that or some other kind of behind the scene scheme. Then again, we distrust it now more than ever, which is a good thing.

But that's the thing.

Journalism has always been bullshit.

A lot of the shit going on nowadays is at the behest of (surprise) big corporations. No different than, say, William Randolf Hearst's newspapers shitting on Citizen Kane and basically attempting to memory-hole it (up to and including trying to convince a studio to buy the masters and then burn them.) Or the squabbles Queen Victoria had with the press back then. EDIT: Or even going back to like when the black plague was a thing and how papers back then tried to politicize it.

The distrust is healthy, but where it becomes concerning (for me) is the reliance/retreat to echo chambers that just parrot the talking points they want. There's no critical thinking going on there, even if there is a distrust or skepticism being exhibited towards more 'traditional' media models.

The bigger issues for me are less and less development of basic analytical and critical thinking skills and the continued encroachment on free speech in general and regulation of the Internet more specifically (cue Null's Where the Sidewalk Ends article.)

Sorry, I'm carefagging this a bit too much, but it is something I'm passionate about.

 

[God of Nothing]

But that's the thing.

Journalism has always been bullshit.

A lot of the shit going on nowadays is at the behest of (surprise) big corporations. No different than, say, William Randolf Hearst's newspapers shitting on Citizen Kane and basically attempting to memory-hole it (up to and including trying to convince a studio to buy the masters and then burn them.) Or the squabbles Queen Victoria had with the press back then. EDIT: Or even going back to like when the black plague was a thing and how papers back then tried to politicize it.

The distrust is healthy, but where it becomes concerning (for me) is the reliance/retreat to echo chambers that just parrot the talking points they want. There's no critical thinking going on there, even if there is a distrust or skepticism being exhibited towards more 'traditional' media models.

The bigger issues for me are less and less development of basic analytical and critical thinking skills and the continued encroachment on free speech in general and regulation of the Internet more specifically (cue Null's Where the Sidewalk Ends article.)

Sorry, I'm carefagging this a bit too much, but it is something I'm passionate about.

I understand. This subject more than any other has a significant influence in how people think and what they think, however negative it might be. I suppose the difference between now and then is how widespread news media was. You had to go out your way to get a newspaper. These days, it's notifications or advertisements on your phone.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

I'm talking about a not involved third party holding the gun. Like some mad villain. "Haha Stabmaster, I have you at my mercy now. I will let you go if you can answer this one question. Who is telling the truth about the Canadian truckers? Is it CNN, or Epic Penis Breath 1488?"

I'd choose Epic Penis Breath 1488 every time and live.

I am not sure I would trust a Journalist if they said they had a loaded gun pointed at me.

The guy was almost in tears becasue he wanted the ‘female scientist’ angle.

@Otterly Did you at least call him a faggot?

 

[mlanguishi]

And I'll gleefully tell everyone that you NEVER talk to the press if you can help it. They'll chop up the interview to make it look like you said shit you didn't.

The only people worse at that than the media are the cops

 

[WonderWino]

I would trust an anonymous poster on a message board with the username "epic penis breath 1488" before any mainstream outlet, even if you had a gun trained on me.

Sounds like you're describing anderson coopers reddit account