Research
Pew: Fewer and fewer trust the media
By Diego Vasquez
Sep 14, 2009 - 8:56:05 AM

These days there are more places than ever to get the news, from blogs to Twitter to cable to satellite radio.

Unfortunately, that ubiquity and drive to have things first may be hurting the media.

A new study finds that the public’s trust in the media has hit an all-time low and is down markedly from the last time the study was conducted.

Just 29 percent of 1,506 people surveyed believe that the media “get the facts straight,” according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, down from 37 percent in the most recent survey in 2007.

What’s more, 63 percent say that the news that’s presented is “frequently inaccurate,” the highest level since Pew began the survey 24 years ago.

That’s also way up from two years ago, when 53 percent said articles were often inaccurate.

Pew did not offer its own definition of “news media,” meaning respondents could have been giving equal weight to The Drudge Report or The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

But it’s clear that people believe the media has become more biased, perhaps because of those blogs or because of the increasingly partisan rhetoric on the cable news channels.

Three-quarters of respondents believe that news media shows bias when covering political and social issues, and 74 percent say powerful interests often drive media organizations. Both were the highest in survey history.

What’s somewhat unclear is whether public perception is being shaped by the news media’s actual reporting or whether it’s simply perceptions of that reporting.

News over the past two years of newspapers making huge staff cuts may have subconsciously influenced respondents, who think lesser staffs must do lesser jobs.

Plus, the circulation declines seen in both newspapers and magazines, as well as ratings declines for the network evening news, can be read as either a symptom of the problem or a contributor.

Finally, technology may also be impacting perceptions. Some bloggers have much lower standards for what is acceptable to report online, turning rumors into news.

Traditional news organizations, in their eagerness to be the first on the story, have embraced new technology, but that has led to some public missteps.

CNN was heavily criticized on Sept. 11, for example, after posting a Tweet reading, “BREAKING NEWS: Suspicious boat in river near Obama in DC. Police scanner reports of shots fired. Circumstances unclear.”

It turned out that the Coast Guard was doing a training exercise near where President Barack Obama was delivering a 9/11 memorial.



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