Former President Donald Trump spent four years complaining about “fake news,” and that the national press corps were the “enemy of the people.”
The media returned the favor by denouncing Trump as a tyrannical threat to the republic and unfit for office for noting its lopsided, liberal bias against him and his followers.
It turns out, however, that Americans may have listened more to Trump than the media, which got a double drubbing from the public in recent days, according to two public opinion polls.
On Friday, the right-leaning Rasmussen Reports released a survey of 1,000 Americans, and found they “overwhelmingly believe ‘fake news’ is a problem, and a majority agree with former President Donald Trump that the media have become ‘the enemy of the people.’”
According to Rasmussen, 58 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” agree that the national media are worthy of the title.
Comparatively, only 36 percent disagreed.
Not surprisingly, conservatives (81 percent) and Republicans (76 percent) – and they are not the same thing – sided with Trump.
Liberals and Democrats rejected the idea, although perhaps by smaller margins than expected.
Among liberals, 30 percent accepted the “enemy” argument, while among Democrats, 37 percent did.
Meanwhile, when asked about “fake” news, 83 percent overall called it a “serious” or “somewhat” a problem. Regarding ideology, 91 percent of conservatives felt that way, while 73 percent of liberals did.
Aside from Rasmussen, Reuters also delivered bad news for the Fourth Estate.
In late June, Reuters released a survey of 92,000 people worldwide that found America ranked dead last among 46 nations when it came to public trust in its news providers.
Just 29 percent of Americans admitted that they trust the media, based on reporting about events in 2020.
“These findings highlight the challenges of translating 2020’s surging news usage into long-term trust-building in the highly polarised American market,” Reuters’ analysts noted.
For comparison, Finland ranked highest in trust at 65 percent, followed by Portugal and Kenya, both at 61 percent.
The closest to the U.S. were France, Slovakia, and Hungary – all at 30 percent.
What’s interesting is the amount of grievance that goes around.
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, one author of the report, told the Poynter Institute that in America young women, black and Hispanic Americans, and conservatives all do not feel the media covers them fairly.
However you slice it, Americans don’t have much faith in the news or those who bring it to them.
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