US poll shows news media's reputation reaches record low amongst public

Posted by Helena Humphrey on September 14, 2009 at 12:09 PM

As the revenue generated by news media falls on hard times, so too has its reputation; that's according to the results of a poll released by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press on Sunday, as reported by the Associated Press.

Almost two-thirds of US citizens interviewed in the recent poll are now of the opinion that both written and broadcast news stories are often inaccurate, bringing the level of public distrust in news media to an all time low since 1985, when the first study of public perceptions of the media was conducted.

The dire results beg the question as to what are the contributing factors to such levels of scepticism?

Whilst it is widely acknowledged that there is a growing distrust in the press, the way the questions in the poll were phrased would have done little to generate a positive response: in the poll there was no differentiation between internet bloggers and reporters employed by newspapers and broadcasters, making the actual meaning of the term "news media" distinctly ambiguous.

That aside, the results do indicate that U.S. newspapers and broadcasters may be guilty of alienating their audiences, as they struggle to cope in financial difficulties. Michael Dimock, an associate director for the center, highlighted that although the research didn't look to specifically measure to what extent fewer newspapers and staff cutbacks at news organisations are affecting people's perceptions of news media, they are likely to have played a substantial part.

It's not all bad news for the media, however. 82 percent of those interviewed commented that it would be a significant loss if local TV news was dropped - and 74 percent said it would be a great disappointment to lose their local newspaper.

Source: Associated Press via European Journalism Centre