Walter Cronkite is literally rolling in his grave right now.
A recent survey reveals that the United States rates last, I repeat, at the very bottom in the entire world when it comes to media trust at 29%, which begs the question: there are actually almost 30% of of people in the U.S. who DO trust the media?
It’s gotten so bad that major cable and broadcast networks, along with top newspapers, magazines and online sites don’t even try to be impartial, or ever take a break from their fear-mongering and divisiveness.
Note to the media: Most people are on to you. This survey just validates what many rational, pragmatic, and intelligent news consumers in this country already knew. Most big media outlets have an agenda, and it’s not to make sure they simply and strictly cover the news.
The report came from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford, which is one of the most official sounding polls I’ve ever heard of. What’s interesting is the researchers noted an increase in trust of the media in many countries around the world — most likely due to COVID coverage — but it was the exact opposite in the U.S. where trust of the media sank, also partly because of COVID coverage.
The political polarization obviously contributed to the mistrust, as most major news organizations have drawn a line in the sand, sticking to one biased form of coverage and providing little more than an echo chamber for their viewers and readers who fuel their insatiable one-sided beliefs.
Local newspapers and local newscasts scored higher than national news, but coverage even at the local level has become so polarizing it’s easy to identify the agenda of news leaders there as well.
One thing the study didn’t reveal is the ratings for CNN and MSNBC are down almost 40% in 2021. Americans seem to have made a similar determination as Reuters long ago and decided to do something about it.
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