Please note the inclusion of this post in the “Random Thoughts” category. Last night, I caught links on Instapundit and Memeorandum to a Gallup survey showing that Americans’ Confidence in Television News Drops to New Low.
What struck me was not the headline number, but a chart just below showing that “25% of adults who express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in newspapers is down slightly from 28% last year. Confidence in newspapers is now half of what it was at its peak of 51% in 1979.” Note the area I circled in read showing when confidence in newspapers experienced its steepest drop.
Right at the beginning of the Reagan era. Was it the negative coverage of the Gipper’s economic plan contrasted with its positive results that led to this sudden decline?
“This year’s updates”, observes Gallup’s Lyman Morales
. . . mark a setback from last year for both television news and newspapers, when Americans appeared to be regaining some confidence in these institutions, though they are more in line with 2007-2010 readings.
Could it be that people see the coverage of the presidential campaign as skewed?
Looking at the numbers, Ace asks:
Is there any other industry that has fared as poorly as the media these last 20 years? Can you think of an entire industry (well, not entire, but you know, 90%) so discredited and exposed as fundamentally corrupt and dishonest over this timeframe?
NB: Americans’ confidence in newspapers declined steadily during George W. Bush’s term in office. Was that due to the rise of the Internet or the decline of objectivity?
There’s a growing sense out there that the mainstream news media is out of touch with reality. Since their business — supposedly — is reporting reality, this leaves them with no valid function.
People still seek entertainment that is basically what it claims to be. We really don’t want or need to be entertained by the news. But that’s what the media super-brains believe we want, so we get nonsense: political races covered like sporting events or soap operas.
We know the difference, and they don’t. That’s why we no longer trust them.
The MSM treated Reagan like he was senile old fool or a threat to the United States because he wasn’t kissing the Soviet Union’s ass. They will never give Reagan the due that he is the cause for the Soviet Union’s downfall.
I like seeing the MSM become more & more irrelevant daily thanks to Fox News & other alternative media on the internet.
If you lived through the 80’s, you may remember that the drumbeat of the times was that Reagan was going to start a nuclear war with the Soviets. It was just a given. It wasn’t just the news media; popular culture was infused with it, with mini-series like “The Day After,” and popular music like “I Melt With You” “Land of Confusion,” and “Two Tribes.”
It. Never. Happened.
I think a lot of people… the brighter people… left the eighties with a firm mistrust of media who had done nothing but lie to them throughout Reagan’s presidency. The only people who trust the MFM now are people who want the narrative to be true because it advances their agenda; but even they know it’s a lie.
I wonder if many of them have not crossed the line and believe the lie? They seem so ready to start clapping their ears and declaring: “I can’t and won’t hear you.” If they were knew they were living a lie, they would clap their ears and declare: “I shouldn’t hear you, because you endanger my ideology.” Lemmings don’t jockey for a place at the rear.
I love it when the lib who has been trapped finally squeaks: “Well, we will just have to agree to disagree.” I twist the knife by asking: “What is it again that we are in disagreement over?” He has shifted the topic so many times he can’t exactly recall. So, he says we disagree on “everything.” Great! If he does not know the principle on which he stands in disagreement, how does that make him principled? He is living a lie he tells himself over and over and he seeks the company that gives him reaffirmation. When his cocoon is threatened he weaves more gossamer threads to repel the invasion of his feel good delusion which he mistakes for nirvana.
One of Republican Arizona Governor Brewer’s (who is fan enough of the Tea Party to go out of her way to protect their flag) appointees quits to protest her decision to strip benefits from the domestic partners of gay state and university employees.
http://azdailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/brewer-stance-on-gay-benefits-prompts-resignation/article_cb675be7-5243-5fb0-8462-d5175841a82b.html
It’s non-sequetor boy to the rescue!
Meanwhile, in Missouri, Hateful Republican Sex Police Once Again Invade the Sacred Intimacy of the Bedroom.
I do think the spread of information, even misinformation from people like Levi, does erode the ‘trust in the press’. The attacks on Fox News, the MSNBC editing, the CNN burying stories for Saddam, all of those erode trust.
I mean you look at the “There were no WMD!” arguments. 30 years ago, there wouldn’t have been anything to say. Now, you can just point people to the news to contradict the arguments.
Likewise, we’d have had a war criminal in the White House, and a smarmy snake in the Observatory, if the internet hadn’t existed to spread the truth of the fake TNG documents.
“Was it the negative coverage of the Gipper’s economic plan contrasted with its positive results that led to this sudden decline?”
It’s hard to make that case. The decline began before the 1980 election year and reversed itself before Reagan’s recovery began. In other words, the Reagan’s positive results came after the decline — which means it’s unlikely the contrast contributed to the decline in confidence, because the contrast didn’t yet exist.