Are you among the Americans who maintain genuine trust in the media to be fair, accurate and unbiased? If so, you're part of what looks to be an increasingly exclusive club:
Americans' trust in the media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly has edged down four percentage points since last year to 36%, making this year's reading the second lowest in Gallup's trend.
In all, 7% of U.S. adults say they have "a great deal" and 29% "a fair amount" of trust and confidence in newspapers, television and radio news reporting -- which, combined, is four points above the 32% record low in 2016, amid the divisive presidential election campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In addition, 29% of the public currently registers "not very much" trust and 34% have "none at all."
There's really only one word that can sum up those numbers:
Now, as Gallup notes, when political differences are accounted for, the results diverge sharply along party lines: Just 11% of Republicans trust the media, while 68% of Democrats do. But even the Democratic numbers have declined notably in recent years, as have those of Independents.
Bottom line: After years of naked partisanship, activism disguised as journalism, and completely biased coverage, people are overwhelmingly wary to trust the media. Can you blame them? No, you cannot.
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