86 percent of Americans find a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of political bias in media political coverage.
According to a recent report published on 4 August titled, “American Views 2020: Trust, Media and Democracy,” Americans are losing confidence that the news they are getting from media is objective and fact-driven.
The report, conducted by the Gallup/Knight Foundation, cites the lack of trust in American media comes at a time when citizens feel strongly about the importance of good media in a functioning democracy.
Unsurprisingly, the most important factor in how Americans perceive the media is the political party they prefer. “Partisan entrenchment” is clearly on the rise. Lack of faith in objective reporting is consistent across the board over the past two years, but it is most pronounced among Republicans.
According to Sam Gill, Knight’s chief program officer, “This is corrosive for our democracy.”
The number of Americans finding bias in news coverage has risen a dramatic 25 percent since 2007.
While Democrats are highly critical of media (78 percent), among Republicans, the numbers are even more dramatic (94 percent).
In addition to finding media news skewed and objectively unreliable, over three out of every four Americans say the bias is intentional, with print and electronic media “trying to persuade people to adopt a certain viewpoint.”
One important insight emerging from the poll is that in over half of those responding, 56 percent, “admitted to recognizing bias in their own go-to publications.”
Another key finding points to the rise in distrust of American media. The study found those under 30 are much more critical than their older generations. While 44 percent of those over 65 had a favorable opinion of media, only 19 percent under 30 voiced a positive view.
The report concludes the dramatic loss in confidence in media by most Americans “left open the possibility for dangerous false narratives to take root in all segments of society.”
TRENDPOST: This issue’s cover, by Anthony Freda, depicts the state of America’s media and its implications on society.
Currently, whether in the U.S. or around the world, the mainstream media takes political and socioeconomic positions on critical issues rather than reporting the facts and objectively analyzing the implications.
Large segments of society will abandon traditional media and the current, dominant social media monopolies for objective, high-level alternatives.
