Just 6% Of Americans See The Media As Very Trustworthy, And That's A Good Thing

According to Rasmussen, Americans have a pretty low opinion of the media:

Most voters still get their news from television and consider the news reported by the media generally trustworthy.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of Likely U.S. Voters say they get most of their news from TV, including 32% who get it from cable news networks and 24% who get it from traditional network news. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that another 25% use the Internet as their main source of news, while only 10% still rely on print newspapers. Seven percent (7%) get most of their news from radio.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of all voters regard the news reported by the media as at least somewhat trustworthy, but that includes just six percent who think it is Very Trustworthy. Forty-two percent (42%) don’t trust the news media, with 12% who believe the news it reports is Not At All Trustworthy.

A lot of people may see this as a negative development. They may reference some earlier, golden age of journalism when incorrputible reporters spoke truth to power. They may trash today’s more opinionated, more sensationalist media. But they’re wrong. Journalism and “the media” is about the same as it ever was. The only thing that’s really changed is there’s more of it these days.

It’s good that people don’t trust the media. They shouldn’t. They should question everything they read or hear be it on television, in a newspaper or, ahem, on a blog. Nobody is infallible. Everyone has biases. We’re all flawed human beings. The public needs to decide for itself what is and is not news.