US: research shows plunging press credibility

Posted by John Burke on March 1, 2005 at 6:01 PM

A study by the Pew Research Center dissects the state of the American media, most notably highlighting the erosion of public confidence in the press, which plummeted from 74% in 1990 to 58% in 2000. In a general comparison of veracity between the press and other institutions, by 2002, over 80% of Americans had a great deal of confidence of or some confidence in other institutions, a statistic dwarfing the 58% who trusted the press. Newspapers have especially lost their readers' trust. In 1985, only 16% of the American public believed little to none of what they read in the paper, a number which exploded to 45% last year. 2003 figures show that 56% of Americans considered most reporting to be inaccurate, up 22 points from 1985. These statistics accompany a proliferation of media sources, including cable news, talk radio, and internet news which has simultaneously caused political bias in the media to become more profound, a fact that could be contributing to the public's increasing distrust, not to mention the numerous media scandals that have recently surfaced.

The study also shows a steady decline in news consumption from newspapers (from 58% in 1993 to 42% in 2004) and nightly network news (from 60% in 1993 to 34% in 2004) and the rising importance of the internet (from 2% in 1996 to 29% in 2004). "Sitting down with the news on a set schedule has become a thing of the past for many time-pressured Americans," the report says, emphasizing the changing habits of readers who increasingly receive news updates throughout the course of the day.

Although these trends haven't seemed to spread beyond the United States quite yet, the relative quickness of their American rise could very well mean that the rest of the world will soon be experiencing the same media developments.

Source: Pew Research Center

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