re962714@ohio.edu
There is no question that the Internet and social media have greatly impacted how we receive our news. They give users easy and quick access to any network and any story they may want to see. Many companies have come to rely almost exclusively on the Internet as their main medium, shifting away from newspapers and magazines.
Yet, despite the ease the Internet gives not only the consumer, but the journalist as well, public opinion towards the media has continually declined. Many factors could have contributed to this decline, but the rise of Internet-based media seems to be at the forefront.
Statistics on Media Trust
According to polls performed by Gallup, trust in the media has declined steadily since the Watergate scandal during the Nixon presidency. Media trust was at it highest in 1976, reaching 72%, yet a 2016 poll shows that only 32% of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of trust towards the media. While this can be viewed as a slight outlier, as media trust always plummets during an election year, the number is still staggering.
A 2018 poll by Gallup shows that 62% of Americans believe that news is biased, 44% said it is inaccurate, and 39% said it is misinformation. With nearly half of Americans believing the news they see is inaccurate, it can leave one to question what has caused this mistrust.
Politics' Effect on Media Trust
With the election of Donald Trump, America has become more politically divided than we have in years, leading many journalists to "choose sides." Major news networks such as MSNBC and CNN typically lean left while Fox News typically leans right. This has lead members of both political parties to believe that the opposing networks are unreliable. Political bias, while nearly impossible to avoid, has certainly led to some media mistrust.
Donald Trump's "war" which he has waged against mainstream media has also lead to a great deal of mistrust within the Republican party. The 2016 Gallup poll showed that only 14% of Republicans viewed the media favorably, directly related to the President's statements about the media.
However, divide has been commonplace in American politics since the dawn of our democracy, making it seem clear that there is more to the rapid decline in media trust.
Social Media's Effect on Media Trust
Social media has, without a doubt, changed the landscape on how we receive news, and how journalists can break a story. A story could blow up and spread around the world in a matter of minutes, but there are certainly downfalls to this as well.
With the demanding speed associated with news on social media and the Internet, it can often be a competition to be the first to break a story. This can lead to preventable mistakes and information that is not completely accurate.
There is also a great deal of bias associated with social media, as it is often opinion based, and not based solely on the facts of the story. This has led to serious mistrust. In the same Gallup poll mentioned earlier, it shows that 80% of people believe social media is biased, 64% believe it is inaccurate, and 65% believe it is misinformation, a significant increase over standard media.
With the significant increase in social media-based news, and the decline in trust towards the media, one could assume that Internet, and more specifically, social media has led to the poor opinion the population has towards the media, but this cannot be confirmed. Time could show that a younger generation trusts social media-based news, and the public opinion of journalists could improve, but, without a doubt, the current media-civilian relationship is in shambles.
 |
| Image via radioreference.com |
No comments:
Post a Comment