Distrust of Media Hits an All-Time High

A new Gallup poll released on Friday shows that Americans' faith in the media has hit a new low, with 60 percent expressing “not much” faith or no faith “at all” in the media, compared with 40 percent who said they had either a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of faith in the media to report the news accurately.

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The survey also shows that negativity towards the media is at an all-time high for a presidential year and continues a pattern in which negativity increases every election year when compared to the prior year. The 20 percent gap between the negative and positive views is the highest Gallup has seen since they began regularly asking the question in the 1990’s. When Gallup asked this question three times in the 1970’s, trust in the media was as high as 72%, or nearly double where it stands today. According to Gallup the results are largely party driven, with 31 percent of independents and 26 percent of Republicans expressing trust in the media, compared to 56 percent of Democrats who said they had a “great deal or “fair amount” of trust in the media. Despite their general lack of trust, more Republicans (44%) than Democrats (39%) say they are following the news closely. This may be due to the relentless assault by the liberal media on conservatives and Republicans, which may have increased their interest in keeping tabs on the media. The media have no one to blame but themselves, after years of inaccurate reporting, fake stories and plagiarism, which have plagued the industry. This has caused the public to question whether the media are reporting the news or turning it into an opportunity to editorialize and, therefore, sway public opinion.