E&P: Poll: U.S. Public Sees Media as Biased, Inaccurate and Uncaring

[133724]

NEW YORK A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that more than half of Americans say U.S. news organizations are politically biased, inaccurate, and don't care about the people they report on.

Respondents who use the Internet as their main source of news -- which is roughly one quarter of all Americans -- were even harsher with their criticism, the poll reported.

More than two-thirds of the Web users said they felt that news organizations don't care about the people they report on; 59 percent said their reporting was inaccurate; and 64 percent they were politically biased.

Among those who get their news from newspapers and television, criticism of the news organizations was up to 20 percentage points lower than among Internet news audiences, who tend to be younger and better educated than the public as a whole, according to Pew.


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003624349

It looks like MSM really is screwed up...

[AlCzervik]

1. i think the ones that still trusted media gave up after to the run up to the war.

i trust the media like i trust the government.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. two halves of the same thing - which explains the problem originally.

our govt controlled by big business and lobbyists
our media owned by big business.

once you make that connection, everything becomes clear. and scary.

[woo me with science]

2. Why is "caring about me" part of this poll?

News organizations should report the news, objectively. If they start deciding what is best for people, bias ensues.

I don't want my news reporters trying to take care of me. Just report the news, goddammit.

[EarlG]

3. I think it makes sense

The media are supposed to be seekers of the truth. The truth benefits the general public and is an obstacle to those who wish to profit from being able to fool the public - big corporations, incumbent politicians, etc.

When a majority of people in the poll says that the media doesn't care about them, it's because the media these days pretty obviously exists to prop up the big guy at the expense of the little guy. It manifests itself when CNN does things like have "your health" segments sponsored by big pharma, or when Fox News blatantly shills for the administration.

The public can see this. When the people who were polled say the media doesn't care about them, it means they recognize that the media doesn't act as a voice for truth any more, but as a tool of the powerful.

[UpInArms]

6. my favorite example of that was a couple of weeks ago,

ABCSnews was doing a "story" on why the cost of gasoline was so high - then they went to a station "break" that was sponsored by Exxon.

I knew for certain that the "truth" was out there :eyes:

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. It's 'Caring about the people they report on'

In which case, your assessment is quite valid.

If viewers/readers actually believe a news organization should care about them, they have an odd idea of the role of news. Yet, television in particular caters to this concept, as EarlG points out, with segments on health, consumer economics, etc. (In truth, though, those are frequently ad-driven.)

[TahitiNut]

5. More succinctly, people see they're a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

Most folks know, sooner or later, when they're being used.

[dragon82a]

8. Rupert Murdoch Calls Fox News Viewers Morons & White Trash

Rupert Murdoch Calls Fox News Viewers Morons & White Trash

New York, New York - In a conversation with Fox News celebrities, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, that was picked up by an open microphone, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp., repeatedly referred to Fox News viewers as morons and white trash. The incident took place as the three men were sitting together at a benefit dinner for the Ann Coulter defense fund. Apparently, they had been drinking heavily which may account for their lack of restraint and obliviousness to the open microphone that was positioned directly in front of them.

At one point, while addressing O'Reilly and Hannity, Murdoch said, "Can you believe the shit we get away with? Good thing our viewers are dumb as doorknobs or else we would be in trouble." To which, Hannity laughed and then replied, "Yeah, I heard that people who watch Fox News have to wear bibs to catch their drool so their sofas won't be stained by the tobacco juice, and that's just the women." O'Reilly, also laughing, then joined in by saying, "Hey, how many Fox viewers does it take to change a light bulb? None, they all refuse to change the bulb because they prefer living in the dark."

However, the unkindest cut of all that is sure to enrage Fox viewers came at the end of the conversation when Murdoch raised his glass in a toast and said, "God bless trailer park trash and idiots everywhere. Without them Fox News would be nothing and I would not be a billionaire."

After news of the recorded conversation became public, Fox News released the following brief statement, "We encourage our viewers to reject anything they hear or see that does not come directly from Fox News. Fox News is the only source of information you need for Fair and Balanced™ coverage."

[bvar22]

11. Please post a link to your quotes!

It is the tradition around here.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

12. and the link to this is where?

[dragon82a]

13. Hi!...This was all made up about Rupert...

Just a paraody all sorry if it sounded to real.!

:P

[tblue37]

9. I agree with all those opinions--BUT I wonder which direction most

of the poll's respondents assume the political bias goes in? We know the bias is in favor of corporate interests and RW concerns, but after a generation of RW myth-mongering about "liberal media," do people still beleive that the media havea liberal bias?

[glitch]

10. The bias is not conservative or liberal, it's fascist. So everyone sees it.

They just think fascist is bias for the "other" side.

If you were a conservative would you think the bias was conservative? I sure wouldn't. And I damn well know the bias isn't liberal.

They know it's not bias in favor of their views, but they may still believe there are only two possible sides. Then again, more people are getting that there is another player on the field, as this poll and the plunging ratings indicate.