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| Gallup: Public Confidence in Papers, TV News Falls to All-Time Low | ||
| 2005-06-10 | ||
Public trust in newspapers and television news continued to decline in Gallup's annual survey of "public confidence in major institutions" in the United States, reaching an all-time low this year. Those having a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in newspapers dipped from 30% to 28% in one year, the same total for television. The previous low for newspapers was 29% in 1994. Since 2000, confidence in newspapers has declined from 37% to 28%, and TV from 36% to 28%, according to the poll.
Confidence in the presidency plunged from 52% to 44%, with Congress and the criminal-justice system also suffering 8% drops. Confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court fell from 46% to 41%. The 22% confidence rating for Congress is its lowest in eight years, and self-identified Republicans have only a slightly more positive view of the institution than do Democrats. The military topped the poll with a 74% confidence rating, with the police at 63% and organized religion at 53%.
Looking at the newspaper numbers, of those surveyed, 24% say they have "very little" confidence in them, while 1% said "none." By far the highest number, 46%, said "some," with 28% expressing strong confidence. | ||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 Jeeebus way good. Fear God and Dreadnaught. |
| Posted by: Fischer 2005-06-10 19:17 |
| #4 They still print newspapers? how... er.... quaint. Even FOX news is repleat with the 'fluff' pieces. I dont give a shait about Michael Jackson - throw him in genpop and let nature take its course. I dont care about that woman who disappeared in Aruba - if she was homely or ugly do you think they would even mention it? Yet Fox news talks about little else. And J-lo can date my son's poopy diaper for all I care. I read the sports page the other day -- The reporter was trying *real* *hard* to make his stories sound relevent to the existance of the universe. I dont mind sport - even watch it - but its gets far, far, too much attention. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-06-10 17:54 |
| #3 Yesssss..... The Washington Post has started handing out a free "Express" paper every day. It takes about five minutes to read all the news on few pages with news. The rest is ads, sports, (which is OK, I just don't follow it) and the celebrity fluff - seemingly more than sports. There are a number of teasers to buy the Post (Read the FULL story today in the Post). |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-06-10 15:12 |
| #2 Taking political bias out of the equation, the main problem that newspapers and TV news face are that they're junk. What's in the news typically? 1. Celebrity trials 2. Missing attractive women (doesn't anyone ugly ever disappear?) 3. Celebrity romances 4. Missing attractive children (don't ugly children ever get snatched?) 5. Celebrity drug overdoses And then the 1 page of the newspaper actually devoted to something "meaningful" reads like a term paper scratched out the night before by a high school sophomore beating a deadline. There are a few topics that I know very well, and I can tell you that the articles I read on those subjects in the newspaper are usually riddled with errors or misconceptions. I'm sure the rest of you have seen similar things. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2005-06-10 15:06 |
| #1 Looking at the newspaper numbers, of those surveyed, 24% say they have "very little" confidence in them, while 1% said "none." By far the highest number, 46%, said "some," with 28% expressing strong confidence. Now the way "A new study shows 71% of the people don't have much confidence in the newspapers, but that includes papers without the political agendas of the NY Times, Boston Globe, and LA Times." Howdayalikethat? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-06-10 14:35 |