A survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press has revealed rising mistrust of the press in the USA. For the second time since 2002, public faith in the credibility of US news outlets has diminished: the ‘positive believability ratings’ for nine out of the thirteen news organisations included in the poll have experienced a sharp decline, recalling a similar downturn experienced between 2002 and 2004.
The survey covered both television and radio broadcasters and newspaper companies and asked 1001 people to rank the believability of individual news organisations on a 4-point scale. A rating of 4 meant that someone accepted “all or most of what the news organisations say” to be true and 1 indicates that an individual believed “almost nothing”. On average 56% of individuals who contributed to the study gave news titles, including USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, a rating of 3-4 points. This figure stood at 62% only two years ago, and demonstrates a considerable drop in public trust in the news media since 2002 when the average positive rating stood at 71%.
