ChrisWeigant.com

Dismal Media Poll Numbers

[ Posted Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 – 16:50 UTC ]

The mainstream media love to use opinion poll numbers to highlight the American public's disapproval of certain persons and institutions. But there's one poll number they never seem to get around to adequately reporting: their own. There's a reason for this, and it is a simple one. The media doesn't report their own poll numbers because their poll numbers stink, and it's less embarrassing to just ignore this fact rather than to report it.

A wire report today confirmed this, once again. This story focused on new Gallup poll numbers which showed public confidence in newspapers at 28 percent, and in television news at 27 percent. But while the wire report attempted to put these numbers in the brightest possible light, the fact remains that poll numbers this dismal show that roughly three-fourths of the public doesn't have much (if any) confidence in the news media.

Of course, it's anyone's guess why the public has so little confidence in the media. Bloggers routinely offer up detailed analyses of why the mainstream media (or, in their parlance, the "MSM") isn't living up to what it could be. In fact, this is one of the few areas of agreement between the ultra-polarized Lefty blogosphere and the Righty blogosphere -- both almost universally agree that the MSM is simply incapable of doing their job. Of course, the two sides differ on what precisely is wrong with the media (and on what could be done to improve it), but both sides agree that excoriation is the only possible intelligent response.

The public, or around three-fourths of them, seems to agree. Gallup asked a slightly different question in a poll on honesty and ethics in various professions, and the media scored even lower. Only 22 percent rated the ethics and honesty of newspaper reporters as "high" or "very high" -- which put them right in front of local politicians and lawyers. Television reporters scored one point higher (23 percent), in a tie with bankers.

There is one institution which regularly scores lower in the public's eye than journalists, though -- the United States Congress. It doesn't even really matter which party is in control, either -- Congress' approval rating is always pretty dismal. In the last Gallup poll which asked the question, only 17 percent of the public approved of the job Congress is doing, while a whopping 76 percent disapproved.

The poll numbers for Congress, though, are occasionally mentioned in the media, usually with derision. "Congress' Approval Sinks To New Low" is a fun headline to write, after all. Not as much fun as writing "Media Only Trusted By One In Four Americans," I guess.

Media obsession with poll numbers is going to become frenzied as we head into the next presidential election cycle. Lots of time and energy will be spent scrutinizing this poll or that. Kindly advice to politicians and political parties will flow forth from the punditocracy, complete with helpful suggestions for improving the poll numbers.

My only wish is that the media spent a tiny, tiny fraction of all that time and energy engaged in self-examination, in a sort of "physician, heal thyself" moment. I'm sure that plenty of ideas exist as to how to improve the news media, and I'm sure a lively debate of the possible ways that the media could improve its standing with the public would be instructive to all concerned. What I'm less sure of, though, is that it will ever happen.

 

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

 

9 Comments on “Dismal Media Poll Numbers”

  1. [1] 
    Osborne Ink wrote:

    It will not happen, Chris. If it did, Breitbutt would be the most ignored man in MSM history.

  2. [2] 
    Michale wrote:

    "IT.... IS.... ALLLLIIIIVVEEEE!!!"
    -Bill Murray, STRIPES

    :D

    In fact, this is one of the few areas of agreement between the ultra-polarized Lefty blogosphere and the Righty blogosphere -- both almost universally agree that the MSM is simply incapable of doing their job. Of course, the two sides differ on what precisely is wrong with the media (and on what could be done to improve it)

    Actually, this is not entirely accurate..

    Yes, the Left and the Right agree that the MSM is fracked.

    And the Left and the Right ALSO agree on what is wrong with the Media.. The Left and the Right agree that it is the media's ideological slant and bias that is at fault..

    Where the difference lies is in the direction of that slant..

    And, sorry to say, but in this case, the facts clearly show that the majority of the media bias slants Left....

    Yes, you have an outlier or two that slant right, but the clear majority of the Media slants Left.

    This has been undeniably proven as factual.

    Matt,

    It will not happen, Chris. If it did, Breitbutt would be the most ignored man in MSM history.

    Just as if it happened, the likes of Huffington, Maddow, Matthews would ALSO be the most ignored people in history.

    That's the problem, Matt that you never seem to quite grasp..

    Every slur or slam you hurl at the Right, 9 times out of 10, equally applies to the Left.. :D

    But getting back to the Left, I think the problem stems from jealousy..

    The Left would LOVE to have a Breitbart or a Limbaugh or a Beck or a Palin..

    The Left would LOVE to have a Tea Party that is an undeniable influence on the political process..

    The Hysterical Left is insanely jealous that they simply cannot connect to Joe Q SixPack the way that the Right can..

    "... and so it goes and so it goes and so will you soon, I suppose...."
    -Billy Joel, AND SO IT GOES

    It's good to be back..... :D

    Michale.....

  3. [3] 
    Michale wrote:

    Ooops, audio ads are back...

    Resolve Hi Traffic Carpet Foam

    and

    LeGaga (whatever that is)...

    Just FYI....

    Michale.....

  4. [4] 
    akadjian wrote:

    Welcome back, Michale!

    Was a bit worried when we hadn't heard from you in a few days.

    As to what we'd love to have, I think we'd love to have the unlimited corporate funding without the corporate strings attached :)

    -David

    "They proved that if you quit smoking, it will prolong your life. What they haven't proved is that a prolonged life is a good thing. I haven't seen the stats on that yet." - Bill Hicks

  5. [5] 
    Michale wrote:

    Welcome back, Michale!

    Was a bit worried when we hadn't heard from you in a few days.

    Thanx.. :D Yea, it was tough for a while there. 4 days in ICU hooked up to every kind of machine imaginable.. Then three days in a regular room..

    But, what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. :D

    As to what we'd love to have, I think we'd love to have the unlimited corporate funding without the corporate strings attached :)

    All the bennys w/o any of the attached responsibility...

    That's called "Utopia"... If only.. :D

    I'de settle for the corporations doing their fair share to help get this country back on it's feet and an administration who doesn't vilify business at every ooppurtunity and would give said corporations such stability as to make it possible for corporations to do their fair share..

    But, apparently, that is also called "Utopia"..... :^/

    "They proved that if you quit smoking, it will prolong your life. What they haven't proved is that a prolonged life is a good thing. I haven't seen the stats on that yet." - Bill Hicks

    Now THAT was funny!! :D

    Michale.....

  6. [6] 
    Michale wrote:

    Ooops, forgot to mention...

    Unemployment ticked up to 9.2%.

    Doesn't bode well for the home team...

    Michale.....

  7. [7] 
    akadjian wrote:

    Yea, it was tough for a while there. 4 days in ICU hooked up to every kind of machine imaginable. Then three days in a regular room.

    Yech. I hates hospitals. Hope 'ya gave 'em some hell!

  8. [8] 
    Michale wrote:

    Hope 'ya gave 'em some hell!

    Nope... No sponge baths for me.. :^(

    hehehehehehehe

    Michale.....

  9. [9] 
    Michale wrote:

    Something though was pretty interesting..

    Several of the Banter Wire sites were banned from the hospital's WiFi system..

    I couldn't access Marsh, Cesca, Matt and a couple others..

    Thought that was kinda weird.

    Thank gods, CW.COM was accessible or I would have pissed a major biatch!! :D

    It was nice to read the goings on, even if I didn't feel up to responding...

    Michale.....

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