Lesson 3: Journalism's Obligations to the Public it Serves
Public Perception of the Media
A 2019 poll by Columbia Journalism Review and Reuters found that Americans trust journalists as an institution less than they trust the military, law enforcement, universities, the Supreme Court and the Executive Branch. Of the institutions included in the survey, journalism was only trusted more than Congress. Ouch!
Figure 3.5. Confidence in Institutions. Source: https://www.cjr.org/special_report/how-does-journalism-happen-poll.php
Chart titled “Confidence in Institutions" with survery results from the question “Would you say you have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in the people running this institution?”
The chart measures whether people have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in a number of different institutions.
The Military has the highest level of “great deal of confidence."
Law Enforcement, Universities, and the Supreme Court show mixed responses, with the majory selecting only some confidence, suggesting moderate trust.
The Executive Branch, The Press, and Congress have mostly hardly any confidence, reflecting low levels of trust.
A 2018 poll conducted by The Knight Foundation found a similar negative perception: 33% of Americans have a somewhat or very favorable view on the press, 23% have a neutral view, and 43% have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of the press.
Figure 3.6. Opinion of Media.
Breaking the Knight Foundation results down to look at specific demographics, we can see that older people, people of color and Democrats have a more favorable view of the media than younger people, Caucasians and Republicans or Independents.
Table 3.3. Overall Opinion of News Media, by Age, Race and Party Identification
Demographic
Favorable
Neutral
Unfavorable
All
33%
23%
43%
18–29 years old
22%
31%
45%
30–49 years old
29%
26%
44%
50–64 years old
35%
20%
44%
65+ years old
43%
15%
39%
White
28%
20%
51%
Black
51%
26%
21%
Hispanic
38%
29%
32%
Democrat
54%
26%
18%
Independent
25%
25%
48%
Republican
15%
16%
68%
A breakdown of the results from the CJR/Reuters poll show similar results reflecting political affiliation, race, and age.
Results from a survey by Columbia Journalism Review about the confidence in the press by different political and racial demographics. Recipients were asked the question "would you say you have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in the people running the press?" The results are presented as 5 bar graphs with the following results:
The majority of Democrats have either a great deal of or some confidence in the press, with 25% reporting hardly any confidence at all.
Roughly two thirds of Republicans have hardly any confidence in the press.
Half of white people have hardly any confidence in the press, with a quarter and even less having some and a great deal of confidence respectively.
About one third of black people have some confidence in the press.
About one third of hispanics have some confidence, while slightly more have no confidence.
Results from a survey by Columbia Journalism Review about the confidence in the press by different generations and type of living environment. Recipients were asked the question "would you say you have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in the people running the press?" The results are presented as 5 bar graphs with the following results:
Almost half of millenials have hardly any confidence at all in the press, while about a third have some confidence and less than a quarter a great deal of confidence.
The results are roughly the same with Gen X and Baby Boomer's, though boomers have even less confidence.
Roughly a third of urban respondents had hardly any confidence while about a quarter had a great deal. Close to half of suburban respondents had hardly any confidence and only about one eight had a great deal of confidence. For rural respondents just over 50% had hardly any confidence while a quarter had some.
As Nazario noted, the public doesn’t always understand the role of journalists in society and the industry hasn’t always done a good job of explaining itself. Newsroom leaders take a lot for granted about public understanding, so they share part of the blame.
The public doesn’t always differentiate between fact-based reporting and opinion columns and blogs.
While the public probably understands that it’s “news” when a plane crashes and not when it lands safely, such a definition leads to claims of always focusing on the negative.
Journalists are sometimes viewed as “community spoilers” for pointing out problems. But how can those problems get fixed if reporters don’t focus attention on them?
The text offers a laundry list of the ways journalists invite public scorn. Some are real faults, others perceived. You can find suggestions to combat public misperceptions in the SPJ Code of Ethics under the heading of "Be Accountable."
