Big business gets a higher favorable rating from the public than the news media. In fact the Public Affairs Council finds that only the federal government gets lower marks than the news media.
"A new survey finds that the federal government is the only sector that people like less than the media. The survey was about how Americans view big businesses. Fifty-four percent viewed news media somewhat or very favorably, while 44 percent said their overall opinion of news media was not favorable."Here's the breakdown:
5 comments:
I'm not sure that I can buy the results of this thing. It appears accurate in its reflection of a generally low regard for federal gov., but the figures for state and local gov., particularly the local numbers, seem inordinately high.
Given that local government has totally screwed up the I-5 bridge, the Sellwood bridge, and the fact that Clackamas county voters have twice, and in resounding numbers, turned against their county commissioners, it seems unlikely that nearly 70% of folks think local government is all that great.
If you split the results by philosophic leanings or party identification, I would think the unfavorables toward the news media would be far higher among conservatives for a host of reasons, among which would be the liberal lean of MSM reporting, their tilting of reporting, their efforts to generate news through polling questions and what have you, their reticence to simply report the news. The Politico handling of the Cain controversy would be a case in point. Now of course the media deny all this and claim to be impartial, but their own voting records and the manner in which they are routinely booed at the Republican debates back up my point.
Max, I agree that this poll seems to place state and local governments too high. Also the news media (especially if, as Rasmussen reports, 61% of American are angry with the media). http://terrancethisisstupidstuff.blogspot.com/2011/06/61-angry-at-media.html
But, since it is the only poll I've seen lately that has a head-to-head match up between big business and the news media, it's the only apples to apples comparison I've got for an "occupy" headline.
JN, absolutely right that conservatives are the most fed up with the media. What's interesting is that there is a certain percentage of the left also fed up. They think the media is crony to the moderate left and doesn't ask hard questions (like on drone assassinations, killing American citizen overseas, Afghanistan surge, big business bailouts).
I suppose the real problem with the news media is that they are absolutely unprincipled. Their friends get a pass, and their enemies get grilled irrespective of the policies implemented.
Former Oregonian columnist, then editor, Jonathan Nicholas, inadvertently spilled the beans during an interview a few years back: When asked what motivated him to go into journalism, Nicholas replied, "I wanted to make a difference."
That is NOT what journalism is supposed to be about.
Max, I just saw the Oregonian "news" story on its circulation gain of 1.6% from last year. (I'm just about to do a post on it.)
Interesting that they failed to note either the 6.7% 6 month decline reported by ABC or the change in measurement that ABC started using a year ago that caused the spike in circulation which I noted in my reporting.
http://terrancethisisstupidstuff.blogspot.com/2011/11/oregonian-continues-to-lose-readers.html
Heh. Who is the professional?
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