Americans’ trust in the national news media is low and getting worse. Mainstream journalism has lost the respect of much of the public, though soul-searching and changes by the industry could reverse this trend.
A new study by Media Insight Project funded by The Associated Press and the University of Chicago found bedrock journalism values are respected less by much of the general public than other competing moral values. For example, the study reported that “people who put more emphasis on authority and loyalty tend to be more skeptical about fundamental journalism principles.” A mere 11% of Americans fully support all five of the journalism values tested. The study advises journalists to rethink how they frame their content to better resonate with broader audiences.
This new study doesn’t surprise conservatives like me at all. A Gallup public opinion survey of Americans’ trust in institutions released near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic found eight of the nine institutions studied received a majority positive ratings — led by U.S. hospitals, with 88% approval. The media ranked dead last, and only the media received more negative than positive marks.
Tracking the nosedive in the media’s reputation, Gallup’s editor in chief Mohamed Younis told me that Gallup polling in the time of President Richard Nixon’s impeachment showed 70% of Americans had confidence in the honesty of the media, yet today, only 40% of Americans say the same. Gallup has tracked a general decline in trust, but the drop is most pronounced among Republicans. When we spoke, Younis said 41% of independents approve of the media’s work during the COVID-19 crisis, compared to 68% of Democrats but just 16% of Republicans.
A 2018 poll by Monmouth University found 77% of Americans believe that traditional media outlets publish fake news, an increase from 2017, when 63% of respondents said the same. Journalists would be wise to understand that a stunning 65% of Americans, according to Monmouth, said fake news applies to how media outlets make editorial decisions, while just 25% said fake news applies solely to media outlets spreading inaccurate information.
That means the term “fake news” is a much broader concept for most Americans than just misreporting facts — it has to do with newsrooms’ value judgments about what to publish and air. Conservatives often feel as though the media refuses to give full context and equal representation of conservative people and ideas — this is what many people mean when they say “fake news.”
In 2020, Monmouth also found that 76% of Republicans believed social media giants — which give millions of dollars to news outlets to create content and are widely responsible for spreading news media stories — could be held liable for bias in handling user content. The study found that then-President Donald Trump’s executive order to examine how social media sites could be held liable for bias was supported by 46% of independents and just 16% of Democrats. This vast discrepancy in how Republicans vs. Democrats view social media bias suggests news organizations should think carefully about how their partnerships with tech firms lead some audiences to feel they are being treated unfairly.
Part of the media’s value gaps can be explained by data from Pew Research, which in 2004 surveyed more than 500 reporters and editors. It found 34% of those in the national media identified themselves as liberal, but only 7% conservative. This contrasted with the 20% of the general public who described themselves as liberal and 33% as conservative. A 2014 survey by Indiana University found that only 7.1% of journalists called themselves Republicans, but 28.1% self-identified as Democrats. Are most journalists aware of this lopsided worldview among their ranks?
Part of journalists’ blind spots could stem from what another Pew study found: Americans from the Midwest and South — which generally have more conservative social mores — are severely underrepresented in online journalism. Pew’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data found workers from the South make up 37% of all American workers but just 21% of internet news publishing and broadcasting workers. And Midwestern workers comprise 22% of the American workforce overall but just 10% of online journalists.
Beyond the digital newsroom, more broadly speaking, one in five U.S. newsroom employees live in New York, Los Angeles or Washington, D.C., yet those three cities are home to only 13% of all U.S. workers, according to Pew.
Progressives in the media these days speak of “equity” and “inclusion,” but the question is whether they’ll include better ideological diversity in their work moving forward. America’s national unity depends upon it.
Carrie Sheffield is a senior fellow at Independent Women’s Forum. She served as national editor for Accuracy In Media tackling media bias. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.
