New Gallup Poll Says Americans Are Tuning TV News Out

PJMedia ^ | July 12, 2012 | Ed Driscoll

[lbryce]

At Big Journalism, William Bigelow writes, “According to a new Gallup poll measuring Americans’ confidence in television news, the level is the lowest since the poll was begun in 1993:”

21% of adults expressed a great deal of confidence in television news reporting. No wonder CNN’s ratings are in the toilet.

Gallup tested 16 institutions, including newspapers, and TV news ranked 11th. Newspapers were ranked 10th. There was an interesting divide among those on the left; Democrats were the most confident in television news of all the groups surveyed (now there’s a shock) but postgraduates, who are more generally Democrats, had the least confidence in the TV news industry. This would tend to imply that well-educated people were more distrustful of what was spoon-fed them by the TV media, while those who were lower-income Democrats didn’t question the TV media’s bias toward the left. Advertisement

A very important statistic showed that moderates were much less confident than they were in 2008, which could mean a great deal in the November election because if the moderates view the TV news with suspicion, they will be less likely to vote for Barack Obama.

At Newsbusters, Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center isn’t exactly shocked by this report:

So what could possibly account for this drop? The answer is simple: the networks refuse to Tell the Truth, and the American people are sick and tired of it. Even liberals (19 percent) and moderates (20 percent) have lost faith in TV news, although, not surprisingly, self-identified Democrats have the highest confidence at 34 percent compared to 17 percent for Republicans and 17 percent for Independents. This shouldn’t come as any shock given the media’s torrid love affair with Democrat superhero Barack Obama.

[WKUHilltopper]

There’s news on the news? What will they come up with next?

[personalaccts]

I watch fox and friends while I get ready for work in the mornings but that’s it. Rush, Internet....

[kearnyirish2]

I can’t believe she isn’t sacrificed to keep up the pretense of credibility; she embarassed herself and the network.

[kearnyirish2]

That’s a good point; she’s costing them viewers (and what little credibility remains), though.

[ronnie raygun]

The babble chatter gets me a bit sick. We know what we have to do in November. The worry is these cretans will not go quietly and thier actions on a daily basis need to be monitored especially after thier loss in November. I can see them handing over all our security documents to our enemies world wide for a start.

[thulldud]

I can see them handing over all our security documents to our enemies world wide for a start.

Are there any left that haven't been?

[kearnyirish2]

They’ve already made clear their intentions as far as selling us out to the international Comintern; I believe that will hurt them badly in November. Obama didn’t fundamentally transform the US from what it was in Jim Crow days; he has transformed it from what it was 10 years ago, and most people pine for those days (and will vote - there is too much to lose by not voting, and many have spent four years wishing they had).