About those honest and trustworthy numbers
by digby
Look who’s got even worse numbers than Clinton:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ trust and confidence in the mass media “to report the news fully, accurately and fairly” has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history, with 32% saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. This is down eight percentage points from last year.
Gallup began asking this question in 1972, and on a yearly basis since 1997. Over the history of the entire trend, Americans’ trust and confidence hit its highest point in 1976, at 72%, in the wake of widely lauded examples of investigative journalism regarding Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. After staying in the low to mid-50s through the late 1990s and into the early years of the new century, Americans’ trust in the media has fallen slowly and steadily. It has consistently been below a majority level since 2007.
Why don’t people feel the press is reporting everything fully and completely? Are they hiding something or do they just have an unusual penchant for malpractice? Inquiring minds want to know.
You’d think they’d be just a tad less sanctimonious with the endless scolding over politicians failing to be “honest and trustworthy.” It’s not like the American people think they’re any better. Maybe they should take a little deeper look into the underlying lack of trust in all institutions instead of attributing the numbers to alleged character flaws of individuals. Certainly they should step back from their defensive crouch and ask themselves if this practice might be contributing to their own battered reputation.
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