GALLUP: Survey Finds Huge Gap Between How Republicans and Democrats View Media

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Editor&Publisher

GALLUP: Survey Finds Huge Gap Between How Republicans and Democrats View Media
By E&P Staff
Published: October 08, 2007

NEW YORK A new Gallup poll released today shows a wide gap between how Republicans and Democrats view the mass media. Nearly 3 in 4 Republicans say the media is "too liberal." But overall, Gallup's director Frank Newport reports, "less than half of Americans, regardless of partisanship, have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media."

Newport explains: "Republicans in America today remain deeply distrustful of the national news media -- in sharp contrast to Democrats, who have a great deal more trust in the media's accuracy." Exactly twice as many Democrats (66%) express some faith in the media compared with Republicans (33%).

More than twice as many Americans say the news media are too liberal (45%) rather than too conservative (18%). But Newport adds: "Americans' views of the bias in news media are highly related -- as would be expected -- to underlying political orientation." Some 22% of Democrats find the media "too conservative," but this is a much lower number than the Republican assertion (77%) (that the media is too "liberal").

The survey of 1,010 adult Americans, taken in mid-September, revealed that only 9% of Americans say they have a great deal of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news "fully, accurately, and fairly," while another 38% say they have a "fair amount" of trust in the media to do this. This total of 47% trust stands in contrast to the Gallup finding in 1976 which pegged it at 72%....

Read more: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003655051

[BrklynLib at work]

1. Ironic how the sheeple buy into the idea that the media..almost totally under the thumb of RW

entrepreneurs and peopled by their toadies...is too liberal.
Gee..wonder where they get tht idea from????????????? Could it be from THE MEDIA!!!??

The image that comes to me is of a snake eating its own tail....

[aquart]

12. Maybe it comes from their fellow Americans calling them "sheeple."

It's superior and contemptuous.

[sufrommich]

18. It's horrible.

I rarely read with any seriousness once that term is used.It reeks of hatred for people in general and says a lot more about the poster than he or she knows.

[harun]

31. Are you kidding me?

The media is drumming right wing talking points into right wing people all day and right wing people think the media is overwhelmingly Liberal biased?

If they can't flick their brain on for a few minutes to take a break from the kool-aid then they deserver to be called the sheeple.

[rAVES]

2. You have to laugh.....

"Republicans in America today remain deeply distrustful of the national news media"

I mean... they get a healthy dose of warmongering filth off the MSM.. AND lots still believe that Sadam was in one of the planes that killed a million people on 9/11....

[truthisfreedom]

3. They're not asking the right questions.

What we really know is that the media is being used as a delivery system for administration propaganda, and the real truth is being suppressed.

[Beartracks]

13. Ah, remember investigative journalism?

Journalists used to find out what was going on and tell us about it. NOW... what passes for most journalism is talking heads telling us what OTHER people say is going on. It allows for a WHOLE lot less accountability, i.e. "We didn't get the story wrong, we only reported what so-and-so said!"

Made up example:

Old News Report -- Watergate Break-In Staged!
New News Report -- White House Says Surge Is Working


P.S. Come to think of it, I guess some investigative work is still being done by <shudder> tabloid Britney-hounds... :silly:

[leftist_not_liberal]

35. News War

Watergate's echoes reverberate throughout PBS' "News War"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/arts/television/13frie.html

The first program in the four-part "News War" series, which airs tonight,
concentrates in part on White House efforts to manipulate coverage for
political ends during the prelude to the Iraq invasion. On the show, *Bob
Woodward* admits his blunder in believing that Iraq probably had weapons of
mass destruction. "I think I dropped the ball here. I should have pushed
much, much harder." * Judith Miller*, he says, "had the wrong sources. The
excuse can't be 'I'm only as good as my sources.'"

|| Producer *Arun Rath*
discusses http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/02/tv_arun_rath_an.html


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/preview/


SF Chronicle:

The timing couldn't be better for the four-part "Frontline" series "News
War" premiering tonight on PBS. Not only does tonight's first episode
explain why non-journalists should care about the Valerie Wilson leak
investigation trial unfolding in a Washington, D.C., courtroom -- it uses
the probing, contextualized "Frontline" style to answer a question on a lot
of lips:

What's wrong with the American media?

Readers didn't need a week of front-page stories about diaper-wearing
astronauts and the alleged cultural significance of Anna Nicole Smith to
tell them that the Fourth Estate is having an identity crisis. There's also
last week's Pentagon inspector general report criticizing the Bush
administration's manipulation of prewar intelligence, reminding Americans
that most of the Beltway media danced to the White House's drumbeat to the
Iraq war four years ago.

...

"In my early life, it never came up that the news was slanted or that the
business was under pressure," said Goldman, 86. The Richard and Rhoda
Goldman Foundation eventually gave $1.5 million to the "News War" project,
one of the largest individual donations in "Frontline's" 24 years, and more
than half of the $2.5 million budget. Goldman said, "We were influenced by
Orville. He's a very persuasive guy. And Lowell has a very good reputation."
The series is a co-production with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of
Journalism, where Bergman teaches investigative journalism.

The challenge now is getting people -- especially those younger than 40 --
to tune into a 41/2-hour PBS documentary, not usually a neon come-hither to
younger audiences.

"Most of the country doesn't really care about anything other than local
news and a little entertainment," Schell said. "And I don't really worry
about having everybody eat their broccoli."

But he hopes the series' appeal will ripple outward from the nation's
intelligentsia to "those who desperately care about having a free press able
to deliver accurate information."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/13/DDGRFO28SJ1.DTL

[KansDem]

4. Another American institution in the crapper...

This total of 47% trust stands in contrast to the Gallup finding in 1976 which pegged it at 72%

By a strange coincidence, I just came from a cafe inside a large office building. Outside the cafe were three flat TeeVee screens. They were tuned to CNN.

Screen No. 1: "Chicago marathon runner dies of heat" The videographer was trying desperately to get "up close and personal" with a runner lying on the sidewalk (I don't know if this runner was the one who died). It looked like he was competing with the first-aid crew for access to the subject.

Screen No. 2: "Another baggy pants crackdown" Two bimbos were discussing the latest "baggy pants" controversy.

Screen No. 3: I didn't hang around long enough to assess this one.

I'm still surprised that conservatives sill view the media with distrust, considering the whoring they've been doing for Bush and his administration:

Republicans in America today remain deeply distrustful of the national news media -- in sharp contrast to Democrats, who have a great deal more trust in the media's accuracy." Exactly twice as many Democrats (66%) express some faith in the media compared with Republicans (33%).

Perhaps they're still reeling from the Reagan/Bush years when the media became synonymous with "liberal."

Democrats (liberals and progressives) have always believed information is the key to a healthy society, and since the media, for better or worse, are still the purveyors of "information," I'm not surprised that twice as many Dems as Repubs trust the media.

[xchrom]

5. i no longer believe that republick party people distrust the media. --

i'm pretty sure that they know their own kind runs the media -- and they repeat for the sake of the continuing threat -- and that's all.

when i hear one of those asswipes on c-span -- i laugh.

they know it's a lie -- but because they are conservative -- well -- they are more entitled to be believed than any one else.

[depakid]

7. This is also Gallup

Which is notorious for manipulating data and methodology to influence public opinion rather than reflect it. Indeed, they're sometimes held up as an example of how not to do research.

[xchrom]

8. indeed -- and it's important to look to see who does the polling -- quite right.

[Doctor_J]

15. They are also ever vigilant because they want the coverage to be perfect

any report on global warming, corporate crime, White House abuses, etc. is taken to be extreme liberal bias, because they expect that EVERYTHING on the air should be approved by Rove.

[xchrom]

23. it's the perfect storm for them isn't it?

there are a set number of issues that the republick party rank and file suddenly start frothing at the mouth over -- gay - liberal media, global warming - liberal media, war in iraq - liberal media and on and on.

the leaders merely have to step in and mouth phrases that sets right wing hair on fire.

easy.

[riona]

6. I'm not seeing a large DU representation in this poll

:rofl:

[superconnected]

9. You'd have to wonder what kind of propaganda the RW wants the media to only repeat.

The truth is, the rw brain has a big gap in it.

If I ever make millions, I will be donating money to testing the iq difference between the republicans and the dems.

I'm positive it exists. I'll place a bet that there is a 15 point gap where Republicans are coming in with an average IQ of 85.

We already know of the college education gap. It's time to test their IQ and start finding out WHY they are stuck in a very narrow thought range.

[tandem5]

10. okay so I have a few questions...

if I'm in the bizzaro universe, which it appears that I am, how do I get to the regular one? And, secondly, do I have to rub-out my parallel self, myself, or are there some people I can call?

[DeepModem Mom]

26. Speaking only for myself, I think I'm there, too. If you find out who to call... nt

[keopeli]

11. Not reflected is that Republiks completely trust Faux News and does not consider it to be

part of the mainstream media (they're delusional, of course). Democrats don't consider Faux News to be news and discount it as being part of the mainstream media as well.

In my estimation, Republiks don't trust the media in general, but completely trust Faux News.

While Democrats approach the media as skeptics. It's worth noting there is no Democratic alternative to Faux News which they trust 100%.

So, Republiks complain about the media yet trust Faux News. Democrats complain about the media and don't trust anyone. This result would be the OPPOSITE of the results shown in this survey.

[Doctor_J]

14. Democrats have Battered Spouse Syndrome

and are also not brainwashed. Meanwhile trust of the MSM should be right at 0%.

[pattmarty]

16. No surprise since conservatives have been ranting on this since the 60's.

[JerseygirlCT]

19. Yes, repeat the lie often enough and people will accept it as truth. nt

[OnyxCollie]

17. The current news stream is not reporting what republicks want to believe.

All the made-up stories about torture being condoned by their Great Leader, the mudslinging perpetrated by those Godless liberals that dare question Moses, er, General David Petraeus. I'm sure the republicks would love to see the liberal media hanged for their seditious ways. And broadcast on Faux News, of course.

[TheFarseer]

20. Don't you know the media is full of liberal bias?

The fact that Keith Olberman is on proves it. Hannity is fair and balanced becuase he has liberal guests on. MSNBC is run by communists that put socialist mouthpieces on like Tucker Carlson and Chris Mathhews :sarcasm: OK, I'll give the republicans that Olberman is liberal, but you'd be hard pressed to find another liberal on any of the news networks while Conservatives are growing on trees. It astounds me that some people claim Bill O'Reilly is liberal. I suppose Michael Savage is a moderate then!

[LynnTheDem]

21. So how come FORTY PERCENT (40%) of republics still think Iraq did 911?

Yet less than 20% of Dems & Indies are dumb enough to believe that bullshit?

And how come it's the REPUBLICS who refuse to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine?

If you're a republic, you are stupid, no "maybe" about it.

[Doctor_J]

24. It's the same people who believethe news is liberal

Conservative = deeply ignorant.

[samsingh]

22. how can anyone believe that the news is liberal?

[Mountainman]

25. If the news does a story truthfully and it supports a liberal idea the right want their side

reported as the truth also as if there were two truths. To me fair and balanced is not what we need. We need objectivity.

[DeepModem Mom]

28. My mantra, when complaining to the media: there are not two sides to every story.

Sometimes, there's just the truth.

[agincourt]

27. I have often wondered,

what people would think is a "too conservative" media? Pundits calling for a 500 megaton nuclear war? Shilling for corporations to be able to buy people for organ harvesting at 50 cents on the dollar? Death camps for gays? The death penalty for having a textbook that explains evolution? Might that be "too conservative"? How far would it have to go to please the sheeple? Oh excuse me the american "intellectuals".

[Solon]

29. OK, WTF 2/3rd of Democrats have "some faith" in the media, compared to only a third of Repukes?

Granted the Repukes are too dumb to even realize the Media is on their side, but the amount of Democrats that express this sort of faith is not only disturbing, but explains a lot.

[antiblazer]

30. They can't handle the truth!

[Orsino]

32. This is why we lose.

So many of the people most hurt by creeping corporatism are either unaware of the media problem, or have misdiagnosed it.

[leftist_not_liberal]

33. Oh, that librul media...

Maybe it's time for CBS News to hire a tough ombudsman

A week after "60 Minutes" aired what many considered an infomercial for Clarence Thomas' book, "CBS Sunday Morning" did a "fawning" Lynne Cheney profile -- reported by Rita Braver, whose husband publishes Cheney's books. "No one else at CBS was available to do the Cheney story?" asks Dick Fluhrer.
http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=12887

Lee Rood writes: How nice that Braver has a network at her disposal to help her husband with his advertising.
http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=12886

[Red1]

34. Yeah, But

Those numbers were different before the last election, the rightwings had more faith before the country elected lib majoritys to the house and senate.

[leftist_not_liberal]

36. The CIA and the media -

Originally published in Rolling Stone, October 20, 1977.



How Americas Most Powerful News Media Worked Hand in Glove with the Central Intelligence Agency and Why the Church Committee Covered It Up



THE CIA AND THE MEDIA



BY CARL BERNSTEIN


http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/cia_press.html