According to a recently conducted poll, the level of faith in mass media among the American public appears to be hitting a new all-time low. This outcome is part of a gradual but steady downturn in the public’s opinion of mass media that’s been on-going since 2016. The decline is accented when looking at the numbers gathered by Gallup in their recent poll conducted from September 3-15.
Interestingly enough, while trust in nationwide news sources is plummeting, faith in local and state government reports seems to maintain a more stable and higher level of confidence. The implications of this divergence are worth exploring, especially given the rapidly changing media landscape.
In an attempt to measure this shift, Gallup asked respondents, ‘To what extent do you believe in the veracity and fairness of the news as reported by mass media outlets such as newspapers, TV, and radio?’ The responses were rather disheartening.
Only about 31% of Americans expressed having a ‘significant’ or ‘satisfactory’ amount of trust in mass media. That’s down slightly from last year, when 32% responded positively to the same question. This slight decrease might give rise to concern about the reliability and accuracy of mass media in the minds of Americans.
Of the remaining respondents, 33% of them expressed having ‘rather little’ faith in the credibility of the mass media’s news reporting. The key question here is – what are the potential ramifications of such skepticism?
Perhaps even more worrying, the survey showed that 36% professed to having absolutely no trust in the mass media. This figure matches the responses from the previous year, hinting at an enduring sentiment of disillusionment with the media amongst a substantial segment of the American populace.
Gallup has been periodically tracking this measure of public trust in media since as far back as 1972. In 1972, there was an unprecedented high level of confidence in news outlets. Seventy percent of the population had ‘significant’ or ‘fair’ confidence in the accuracy of the news they were consuming.
In stark contrast to the present day, the 1972 study found as few as 6% of Americans confessed to have no trust at all in media. This has intensified over time, and the shift in attitude is astonishing.
An evident partisan divide exists in responses, with Republicans historically and currently displaying the least trust in mainstream media. Shockingly, merely 12% of this demographic expressed a ‘significant’ or ‘fair amount of trust’ in media reporting.
Independents fell in the middle, with 27% stating a level of trust in the media. The question now arises – what has led to this relative level of scepticism amongst Independents, and how does this color their consumption of news?
However, in encouraging news for media outlets, Democrats appear the most receptive, expressing 54% confidence in the accuracy of news. It would be insightful to view this high level of confidence in media through the lens of an increasingly polarized political landscape.
Regrettably, the level of trust in the media is the lowest it’s been since Gallup began surveying public opinion back in 1972. This of course raises pertinent questions about both the causes and consequences of such a steady decline in public confidence.
Intriguingly, the most significant drop in trust is observed among those who identify as Republicans. A staggering fall from 68% trust in media in 1972 to just 12% now adds a new dimension to the discussion about media trust and potential factors influencing these changes.
Finally, on a rather intriguing note, public trust in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives also seems to be waning, running neck and neck in the race for public confidence with a sobering 34% of Americans expressing considerable trust in them.