Commentary

All The News That's Fit For... Whatever

by Joe Mandese , August 16, 2010

Here's a TV Watch column about a significant news development, but you won't find any links to coverage about it. That's because no major news organizations have covered it. What's the news? It's a new Gallup Poll showing that American's confidence in TV news outlets remains at a record low. That's right, only 22% of U.S. adults say they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in television news coverage, a drop from 23% last year, and matching the all-time low the medium achieved in 2007, according to Gallup.

Confidence in TV news coverage was lowest among older adults -- ages 30 to 49 -- with only 16% rating it highly. And in an interesting paradox, Republicans and conservatives were much more likely to have a low opinion of television news coverage than Democrats or liberals. I consider that a paradox, because Republicans and conservatives now have television news outlets - mainly Fox News, and Fox Business News - that cater to their point of view.

Despite that, only 16% of Republicans said they were very confident in TV news coverage, about half the percentage (31%) of Democrats. Similarly, only 18% of conservatives have a high opinion of TV news coverage, vs. 24% of liberals and 25% of moderates. So the truth is, TV news does have a liberal bias. More liberals are content with the job the medium is doing than are conservatives.

OK, so that's not really news. But I do think that even subtle changes in America's esteem for news organizations should be a core measure of their vitality in an era when news content and information is ubiquitous and available instantaneously, anywhere, anytime.

And that's where the new Gallup Poll, which was released on Friday, gets really interesting, because it suggests that at least part of traditional news media's quagmire is a result of new-media news outlets, many of which still rely on, or at the very least link back to, traditional news organizations - especially newspapers.

"While it is unclear how much respondents factored in the online and cable offshoots of 'newspapers' and 'television news' when assessing their confidence in these institutions, their responses do not provide much encouragement for the media more broadly," the Gallup report noted.

The implications are significant, Gallup noted, because even as trust in traditional media -- TV and newspapers -- continues to erode, much of what Americans are consuming online is coming, either directly or indirectly, from those very same traditional news media outlets.

"With nearly all news organizations struggling to keep up with the up-to-the-minute news cycle and to remain profitable in the process, Americans' low trust in newspapers and television news presents a critical barrier to success," Gallup noted, citing The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism's recent report on the "State of the News Media," which found that 80% of new-media links are to legacy newspapers and broadcast networks.

"Traditional news sources remain the backbone of the media," Gallup concluded, "but so long as roughly three in four Americans remain distrustful, it will be difficult to attract the large and loyal audiences necessary to boost revenues."

journalism, newspapers, tv

3 comments about "All The News That's Fit For... Whatever ".

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Peter Feld from >.<, August 16, 2010 at 11:44 a.m.
Interesting story about trust in TV news sources. So now, how are we supposed to trust an online news source that refers to a change from 23% to 22% in an opinion poll as a "drop"? Low as that rating might be, the two numbers are statistically identical and there is no measurable change since last year.
Reply

Ted Faraone from Faraone Communications, August 16, 2010 at 1:24 p.m.

I am in no way astonished about the low public confidence in TV news, especially among self-identified Republicans and conservatives. First, the right wing still regard the great mass of TV as the "liberal establishment" and look at Fox as the insurgent. Second, coming from three decades on the inside of TV news, I have seen a vast decline in standards in broadcast TV. This is not universal. There are still programs that shine. But it is the rule rather than the exception. The economic pressure under which TV station groups find themselves is largely the cause.

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, August 16, 2010 at 2:16 p.m.

Many time the "news" misses the story. Just one example: the NY congressman who was doing some nutty things including harassment after being part of the military brass for 20 (?) or so years. He did not start the "nuts" part of his life all of a sudden. The story is how he got away with it for all that time before and who were the ones who profited by ignoring the prior crashes and why. Also, why and who imposing their powers to quash the story. And you all know more examples. The news organizations have succumbed to headlines and cowtowing to spastic audiences.