Poll: Most Americans Think AP is "Confused" About ObamaCare

Not just AP and not just ObamaCare, either; only 29% of Americans think that the media "generally" gets its facts right. That's their lowest mark since such questions were asked, starting in 1985.

SAN FRANCISCO – The news media's credibility is sagging along with its revenue.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the news stories they read, hear and watch are frequently inaccurate, according to a poll released Sunday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press...

The poll didn't distinguish between Internet bloggers and reporters employed by newspapers and broadcasters, leaving the definition of "news media" up to each individual who was questioned. The survey polled 1,506 adults on the phone in late July.

Heh. Get that? They're trying to suggest the public is "confused" about what is meant by "the media," and perhaps this huge level of skepticism and disparagement is due to mistrust of bloggers.

Look, bloggers get stuff wrong all the time. But I really doubt that when the public is knocking "the media," they really mean bloggers.

I think that when the public says "the media" they actually mean "the media."

A small fraction of the public routinely gets its news from blogs.

So, no, AP. When the public says they don't trust you, they mean they don't trust you. They don't mean "Oh I love the AP, they get everything right, but those damned bloggers 'in the media' keep screwing everything up for everyone else so I'll give 'the media' a bad rating."

The survey found that 63 percent of the respondents thought the information they get from the media was often off base. In Pew Research's previous survey, in 2007, 53 percent of the people expressed that doubt about accuracy.

The findings indicate U.S. newspapers and broadcasters could be alienating the audiences they are struggling to keep as they try to survive financial turmoil.

Could be.

But you know whose fault that is? The bloggers.

"The great flood that goes under the heading `news media' has been poisoned by junk blogs, gossip sheets, shout radio and cable-TV partisans that don't deserve to be trusted," Keller told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

...

Carroll hopes the increased scrutiny and accountability fostered by the Internet will lead to better journalism.

Don't count on it. The MSM doubles down on its mistakes. For example, would you believe it? When a poll finds that the public doesn't trust their competence or integrity, they attempt to blame that on bloggers, who are in no one's estimation "the media."

Similarly, only 26 percent of the respondents said the press is careful to avoid bias. The figure was 36 percent in 1985.

Blogs are killing trust in the media, but not in the way the AP laughingly suggests.

74% Say the Media Favors "One Side" in Political/Social Matters: A fraction seem to think the media is biased towards conservatives (I don't believe they really believe that, by the way: they are just lying to push the media further left), but a full 50% say the media favors liberal positions.

posted by Ace at 01:47 PM

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