The Patriot Post® · Americans' Trust in Media Hits Bottom

Americans don’t trust the mainstream news media, which should come as a surprise to almost no one. However, new data from Reuters’ latest Digital News Report shows the degree to which Americans don’t trust the MSM, at least in relation to people in the rest of the world — the U.S. comes in dead last, ranking 46th out of 46.

Again, unsurprisingly, the report observes, “Cable news channels Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC have some of the highest levels of distrust.” Furthermore, the report notes that news consumption among the American populace dropped by 11% after Donald Trump exited the White House. As we noted recently, CNN has been hardest hit by the lack of an outrageous “villain.” “While many remain very engaged,” the report states, “we find signs that others are turning away from the news media and in some cases avoiding news altogether. Interest in news has fallen sharply in the United States following the election of President [Joe] Biden — especially with right-leaning groups.”

Biden just isn’t nearly as interesting as the Bad Orange Man.

According to the survey, just 55% of the U.S. population currently maintains an interest in the news. Reuters speculates that the absence of Trump, the waning COVID pandemic, less frequent BLM rioting, and the lack of political diversity in the MSM has turned off many folks.

Wait a minute — was that “lack of political diversity”? Could it really be that there’s a gross bias toward Democrats in the mainstream media? Could Reuters be on the verge of committing journalism with this amazing discovery?

As we have repeatedly pointed out, Americans don’t trust the media because the MSM has demonstrated itself to be untrustworthy and exceedingly politically biased, especially against conservatives. Trump once famously called the media “the true Enemy of the People,” which predictably sent journalists everywhere into hysterics. But he was absolutely right.

Over the last several decades, the MSM in the U.S. has aligned itself with the Democrat Party, and media outlets push decidedly leftist political narratives rather than striving to report the news without bias. So, when Trump called the media the enemy of the people, he was accurately observing the fact that much of the MSM was willing to peddle leftist spin, propaganda, and outright fake news, not for the sake of informing the American public but for misleading and manipulating the public. This is the action of enemies, not friends. Many Americans don’t trust the media because they’ve seen “journalists” for what they are — a bunch of politically minded activists willing to push outright lies if it gets their preferred politicians into power.

In light of this, it’s actually positive and reassuring that just 29% of Americans trust the MSM. Whereas most people in most other nations are limited to news reported from state-run media — outlets clearly disseminating a government’s preferred narrative — Americans enjoy the protections and privileges of the First Amendment, which works to prevent such centralized control of news and information. Therefore, the fact that people don’t blindly trust the news media is a feature rather than a bug. Freedom of the press guarantees a diversity of views and ensures a genuine ability for speaking truth to power — a refrain the Left loves to invoke while doing the opposite.

While much of the MSM wrings its collective hands over Americans’ refusal to trust its coverage of news, the fault lies almost entirely with the partisan clowns who constantly churn out fake news. The fact that MSM outlets peddle a politically biased narrative that dictates coverage of events should be enough to dissuade anyone from taking their word as true and credible. If the MSM starts reporting the news with the only agenda being the honest relaying of facts, then they’ll begin to gain back the trust of the American people.

Instead, the Leftmedia stands in opposition to everything upon which this country was founded. It seems that little has changed since Thomas Jefferson lamented that “newspapers … serve as chimnies to carry off noxious vapors and smoke.”