A recent poll reveals that 50% of Americans believe that major news networks deliberately provide false information or try to sway their viewers to agree with their viewpoint.
Gallup and the Knight Foundation issued a study on Wednesday showing that an alarming number of people feel there is an aim to spread misinformation in the US media, according to AP News.
Half of those polled disagreed with the notion that major US media networks do not intentionally spread false information. According to the results, just 25% of people were in agreement.
The survey concluded that 52% disagreed that national news disseminators "care about the best interests of their readers, viewers, and listeners." Only 23% of those polled felt that the media were really serving the public interest.
Gallup consultant Sarah Fioroni remarked that the result was "striking," as the data displayed a level of mistrust and animosity against US media that goes beyond the basics and procedures of journalism.
One encouraging result of the survey is that Americans trust local news more than national news, per ABC News. The research recommended that members of the US media demonstrate the public's effect beyond openness and accuracy.
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Journalists Should Go Beyond Objectivity
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University recognizes the serious problems in the media industry and has come up with a bold strategy to fix them.
Leonard Downie, Jr., a journalism professor and former executive editor of the Washington Post, and Andrew Heyward, a research professor at Cronkite, announced the release of their report aiming to restore the public's faith in US media.
The report suggested that US media employment should represent not only racial and gender diversity, but also persons with varied "economic, educational, religious, geographic, and social backgrounds," as per a report from AZ Central.
The newsroom should have numerous competing viewpoints that must be performed professionally to prevent misinformation and enable reporters to provide unique views based on personal experiences without becoming activists.
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