The rural blog
Despite the somewhat contentious relationship many Americans have with news media, most citizens still agree that “media scrutiny keeps politicians from doing things they shouldn’t do,” Sarah Naseer reports at a press conference. Pew Research Center Survey performed and released this year.
This view has remained constant over the past forty years, even as the preferences of the majority parties of government have changed.
The Pew Research Center began “asking Americans since the mid-1980s about the role of the news media in investigating and reporting on government officials to hold them accountable,” Naseer explains. “That was about ten years later The Washington PostCoverage of the Watergate scandal contributed to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.”
In Pew’s 2024 survey, about “three-quarters of Americans (74%) said criticism from news organizations keeps political leaders from doing things that shouldn’t be done, while far fewer (24%) said this type of control keeps leaders from doing things that shouldn’t be done.” stops you from doing things. their work,” reports Naseer. “The last time such a large share of Americans expressed the view that media criticism helps hold political leaders accountable was in 2016, just before (Donald) Trump was elected for the first time.”
The survey also asked respondents whether “they generally view the news media as fair to all sides when it comes to reporting on politics and social issues, or whether they think the media tends to favor one side,” adds Close your eyes.
“About three-quarters of American adults (77%) say news organizations tend to favor one side when presenting news on political and social issues. Far fewer (22%) believe that news organizations treat all parties fairly. Surveys dating back nearly forty years show that most Americans view reporting as one-sidedly biased.”
Throughout the survey’s 40-year history, political parties have consistently held different views on media fairness, with Republicans more likely to think the media favors one side more than Democrats.
Naseer reports: “In this year’s survey, about nine-in-ten Republicans (88%) say news organizations tend to favor one side when presenting news on political and social issues, compared to 67% of the Democrats.”
The Rural Blog is a service of the University of Kentucky Institute for Rural Journalism.
