Pew Research reports that American look at the media and biased and lacking independence. According to its latest survey, “Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate.”
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press’ biennial media attitudes survey was conducted between July 22 and July 26 among 1,506 adults reached on landlines and cell phones.
Old-line major media suffered significantly. The view that publications like The New York Times (NYT) and Wall Street Journal (NWS) are partisan are at unusually high levels. Only 29% of those surveyed had a favorable view of the Times and 32% of the WSJ.
Television still dominates the market as the public’s major information source with 71% of people saying the get their national news from the medium. The internet has passed newspapers in the category, 42% to 33%. This is bound to increase the belief that the days of print media are numbered, although 41% of those surveyed said they got their local news from papers.
The 20-year trend of belief in the media as a reasonable source of news is stunningly poor. In 1985, 55% of the people participating in the Pew poll said news organizations get their facts straight. Today that figure is 29%.
Looking at the data, one cannot help but notice the sharp and ongoing increase in the internet as a major news source. Traditional media can fight that by moving content online, but they face internet-only news sources which are already established. That makes the task of old media remaining viable a hard row to hoe.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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