AMERICANS AND THE MEDIA – AT 9:09 A.M. ET:  A new, well-done poll by Pew Research Center has bad news for the media.  In increasing numbers, Americans don't trust journalism. 

This is an important poll.  We believe here that press bias played a substantial role in the 2008 election.  If Americans are becoming more discerning about the press, the impact of that bias might be lessened next year.  Might be.  From The Politico: 

Record numbers of Americans consider the news media to be “immoral,” “inaccurate,” and “biased,” a new poll says.

A plurality of Americans, 42 percent, said that the press was “immoral,” compared to 38 percent who viewed the news media as “moral” - a record high according to an annual Pew Research poll on the media.

Americans were evenly divided on whether the news media helps “protect democracy” or “hurts democracy,” with 42 percent for each. The number of people who thought the media hurts democracy was another record high – in the mid-1980s, about twice as many said that news organizations protect democracy.

Americans also believe that news stories are often inaccurate - with 66 percent thinking that, compared with 34 percent in 1985. Only 25 percent of those surveyed think news organizations “get the facts straight.”

And when reporters get the facts wrong, 72 percent of Americans said that they “try to cover up their mistakes” rather than admitting them, yet another record high, according to Pew. Only 18 percent said that reporters were willing to admit their mistakes.

While majorities of Americans said that the news media remained highly professional (57 percent) and care about the quality of their work (68 percent), a historically large percentage of respondents thought that reporters were “not professional (32 percent) and “don’t care about how good a job they do” (31 percent).

By a large margin, respondents said that reporters were “politically biased in their reporting,” with a record high 63 percent agreeing with this view and only 25 percent disagreeing.

And a new Gallup poll reflects the belief that the press tilts leftward:

A significant majority of Americans, 60 percent, also perceive bias in the media. 47 percent said that the media is too liberal, and 13 percent said that that it was too conservative.

Americans have perceived more liberal bias in the media than conservative bias by a large margin since at least 2002, according to Gallup.

COMMENT:  I continue to see liberal bias, although I do think many journalists are aware of the awful reporting of 2008 and are trying to get things reasonably straight.  The most influential newspaper, however, is The New York Times, which is under firm liberal management.  Its regular news stories about Rick Perry, tilted heavily against him, reflect the same tired formula The Times disgraced itself with in 2008 – go after the Republican, and leave Barack alone.

September 23, 2011