May 04, 2006

Blogs Not Trustworthy, But Neither is Mainstream Media New Survey Reveals

A multi-country survey commissioned by the BBC & Reuters reveals that people in the U.S. and the U.K. are generally skeptical about the information read on blogs, but that they are also distrustful of the traditional mainstream media. The good news, though, is that the internet is gaining popularity as a source for news and seems to be more trusted by the younger generation.

Reuters:

The research found that just 25 percent of respondents said they trusted blogs, while 23 percent said they did not trust them....

Online sources were, for example, the first choice among 19 percent aged between 18 and 24, compared to just 3 percent in the 55-64 age range.

"But although it is changing, our research perhaps suggests that this change in Internet usage may not be as fast as some who have been investing in it believe," Miller said.

There is also a stark contrast between those in the U.S. and the U.K. and those living in the rest of the countries surveyed. Citizens of the two English speaking countries are far more distrustful of the mainstream media than are citizens in developing countries. From another Reuters article on the survey:
A 10-country opinion poll for Reuters, the BBC and the Media Centre found British and U.S. consumers out on a limb when it comes to public levels of trust in the media.

Overall trust in the media in Britain has bounced back over the past four years, from a low of 29 percent trusting in 2002 to 47 percent today. But this is still below the 10-country average of 63 percent.

Americans emerged as the most critical of the news media's balance, with 69 percent disagreeing that the media reports all sides of a story.

A similar proportion, 68 percent, thought the media covered too many "bad news" stories.

And how does Reuters interpret why Americans and Brits are so skeptical of their news?
"In this research we did not probe exact reasons for the lower levels of trust, but our instincts as researchers tell us that it's because the U.S. and UK are two countries at war," he added.

The low levels of trust may, he said, be related to perceptions in the U.S. that the media is too close to the government on issues relating to the Iraq war.

This is a typical Leftwing response, which has no basis in reality. Survey after survey show that those who work for the MSM are far to the left of the American center. Journalists also report voting for a Democratic Presidential candidate in far greater numbers than the population. If anything, at least for the American side of the pond, distrust is a product of a media establishment out of touch with mainstream American values--not because the media is to the right, but because it is to the left!

What is so silly about the al Reuters explanation is that the data show that Americans and Brits trust their governments more than they trust the media. So, why would people distrust the media less if it was because they were too cozy with the government?

Further, if the Reuters explanation had any merit, why would the most trusted MSM source in America be the right-of-center FOX News and the centrist CNN (both with 11% in the poll)? In the U.K., the most trusted source of news is the government owned and operated BBC, which 32% say is the most trustworthy!

You can see the raw polling numbers and the original report in PDF format here.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 08:30 AM | |