Sixty Percent of Respondents Don’t Trust the Media

Tim Bean

9/21/2012

Did you know there once was a time when the news, now commonly referred to as the media, reported things?  There were investigative reporters who did actually what their titles suggest; they investigated reports on all kinds of things, sports, politics, corporations, etc. etc.; and then they provided the information that they found to the public.  Today we are more provided with editorials by the media, which are merely the opinions of those providing them, but these opinions are all gussied up as factual reportage.  It is then no small wonder that according to a recent Gallup poll that shows 60% of respondents do not trust the media to fully, accurately, or fairly report the news.

I find this poll kind of interesting, because we now have media outlets that are unabashedly biased towards one side or the other.  MSNBC is decidedly on the side of the Democratic Party, Fox News is in lock step with the Republican Party, and CNN; well CNN is something.  So, here we have 60% of respondents to a poll no longer trusting the media, and the media trying to cater their news to specific audiences.  Think about that for a minute.

How can you trust the news to be reported fully, accurately, or fairly if it is “reported” with a particular slant – even if it is a slant you favor?  It ceases being news and starts resembling propaganda.  I can tell you that I hardly watch any of the 24 hour “news”/media outlets, simply because I don’t like the dogged adherence to political leanings when I just want to know the facts.  Not the facts according to left or right, but the facts presented in a calm rational fashion with as little bias as possible.  I say “as little bias” as possible because we are all human and carry our biases around with us wherever we go, so some of it is going to seep into whatever we do.  The key to reportage is to try and suppress that bias as much as possible.  In today’s media the bias is no longer suppressed, but unleashed, and that truly makes honest reportage next to impossible.