The public’s confidence in how TV and newspapers report the news continues to decline.
A new Gallup Poll (LINK) shows that Americans’ confidence in TV news is at 21%—the lowest since Gallup began polling the category dating back to 1993.
This marks a decline from 27% last year and from a high of 46% when Gallup started tracking confidence in television news in 1993. It should be noted the poll was conducted in June before Fox News and CNN erroneously reported the recent Supreme Court decision regarding ObamaCare.
The Gallup Poll analyzing confidence in newspapers was also polled and came in at the second-lowest level since 1974 at 25%, down from 28% last year, and not far from the all-time low of 22 in 2007. Confidence in newspapers is now half of what it was at its peak of 51% in 1979.
In a list of confidence in institutions newspapers finished 10th with TV news in 11th.
That seems high.
I wonder what the confidence level for the Internet’s so-called “news” is. I have a cousin who pretty much swears by the Internet and distrusts virtually everything else. I tend to be in the opposite corner, maintaining at least some allegiance to print journalism and less to TV and radio.
Local news with their teasers, ridiculous “we’ll tell you how” stories, and scraping the barrel during sweeps, are more of a sidesshow than journalism. There are some fine reporters in this town but they sound ridculous with their theatrics. If there is a positive during this drought, it’s the silence of the tv meteorologists who think they are the real show.