Media Ranks Dead Last in Confidence Among U.S. Institutions – Even Below Congress

Monica Sanchez | February 27, 2019
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According to a new poll by The Columbia Journalism Review, America’s confidence in the media has sunk to an embarrassing low – ranked dead last among U.S. institutions, even Congress.

The poll, conducted in partnership with Reuters/Ipsos, reveals that the press receives the least amount of confidence (including both answers of “a great deal of confidence” and “only some confidence”) among institutions such as the military, law enforcement, and the Supreme Court.

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While the media has a higher percentage of respondents who say they have a “great deal of confidence” than Congress, in terms of confidence overall, the press ranks last.   

The military ranks the highest, followed by law enforcement, universities, the Supreme Court, the Executive Branch, and then Congress.

Even more, 60 percent of all respondents (54 percent Democrat and 70 percent Republican) “believe reporters get paid by their sources sometimes or very often,” CJR reports.

Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to say they have “hardly any confidence at all” in the media.

Forty-two percent (42%) of Democrats believe the media "does not have a partisan bias," while just 10 percent of Republicans agree.

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The majority of both male and female respondents, regardless of education levels, generations, or employment status, tended to agree in their sore lack of confidence in the press.

Among the most trusted news sources, ABC, CBS, and NBC ranked spots one, two, and three. CNN ranked sixth followed by The New York Times. Fox News ranked eighth.

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Released on Tuesday, the Reuters/Ipsos survey of 4,214 adults was conducted online Dec. 7-10 and has a margin sampling error of two percentage points.

H/T Washington Examiner

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