New International Poll on Media Trust Should Be a Wake-Up Call for the American Press
A survey from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is sounding the alarm on the American establishment media.
Americans ranked last for national trust in the media, with only 29 percent of Americans saying they trust them, according to The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
But who can blame these consumers?
Audiences are getting sick of hidden bias in mainstream outlets, which often distorts the truth to prop up their own worldview.
It is impossible to have a news outlet that is completely objective and non-biased, but it is the responsibility of every outlet to be upfront about its slant.
For example, at The Western Journal, we acknowledge the fact that we are a conservative-leaning outlet, and we do not try to hide that from our readers.
Then there are outlets such as CNN that constantly blur the lines between hard news and commentary.
Even more concerning, they do not own the fact that their reporting generally has a liberal bias, but I would be willing to bet they would say that anybody who questions their coverage is a far-right monster who wants to compromise democracy.
Consumers are aware of this antagonistic behavior by most of the major media outlets too — particularly conservatives.
The same Reuters Institute survey found that 75 percent of conservatives felt that their views are misrepresented by the media.
When the most identifiable names in news are constantly attacking Republican politicians, it feels incredibly alienating to half of the country.
Of course, these outlets do not care, as it makes for great ratings.
Former President Donald Trump was their enemy of choice from the moment he came down the Trump Tower escalator in June 2015, and they obsessively covered every move of his presidency.
The “experts” in the media are being proven wrong time and time again. pic.twitter.com/6b4xJlKFkB
— MediaResearchCenter (@theMRC) June 24, 2021
Now that he is out of office, the focus has shifted to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has gained significant ground in conservative circles as the future of the party.
The originally intended goal of the media was to be the government’s watchdog, so scrutiny of politicians should not only be expected but encouraged.
However, when the pressure is only placed on one side of the aisle, consumers eventually catch on to the media’s dirty tricks.
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