TEHRAN-- A new survey reveals half of Americans say their national news organizations “mislead and misinform them”.

The joint study published by the Knight Foundation and Gallup has also revealed that half of Americans believe that major U.S. news organizations are trying to persuade the public to “adopt a particular point of view” with the bias coverage of their reporting.

As little as 26% of Americans “have a favorable opinion” of their news media.

The survey goes beyond other research that also showed a low level of trust in the U.S. media, but this poll stretches to a new level where half of the American population believes there is a deliberate intention to deceive public opinion.

This is the lowest confidence level ever. Five years ago, surveys also showed a low level of trust in the media.

But these are strikingly worrying statistics in which Americans believe U.S. news outlets are acting to purposely misguide them.

In other words, U.S. citizens are essentially saying that American national media outlets are attempting to deceive them into trusting fake news.

If Americans believe mainstream U.S. news organizations are spreading a campaign of disinformation (and not misinformation), this raises question marks over how the U.S. media is having an impact on misguiding global views with its disinformation campaign.

Officials from different governments have previously slammed U.S. news coverage as a factor that instigates unrest in different regions of the world and the American people’s growing suspicions of U.S. news narratives add further weight to the argument.

Critics have also criticized U.S. mainstream media for using pundits with links to arms manufacturers in a bid to persuade and encourage the American public into supporting Washington’s foreign military adventurism at the expense of their tax money.

This is while pundits who oppose U.S. foreign policy or express a different narrative are being taken off the air or prevented from writing columns for newspapers.

In this modern age of information, reliable news sources are difficult to find in the U.S. and its allies.  

This is while sources of news outlets from countries in West Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, and beyond which offer an audience with different narratives have been taken off the airwaves or heavily censored on social media platforms. 

If an audience has only one narrative, is that not a form of brainwashing? 

The Knight Foundation says it joined hands with Gallup as part of an academic initiative launched in 2017 to address the decline in trust for journalism and other democratic institutions.

In its latest joint publication, the survey has documented that only 26% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the news media, the lowest level Gallup and Knight have recorded in the past five years.

This is while 53% of the American population (more than half of the nation) do not hold a favorable view of their news outlets.

With the new survey highlighting how the nation's cynicism of U.S. media is growing, the Knight Foundation pointed out that “democracy in America relies on an independent press to inform citizens with accurate information. Yet today, two forces pose significant challenges to this function: the growing struggle of news organizations to maintain financial independence and the growing distrust of news among the public.”

For example, the research reports that “81 percent of Americans in 2020 said the news media was ‘critical’ or ‘very important’ to democracy. 

In August 2022, a Quinnipiac University poll reported that 67% of Americans believe the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapse, up from 58% in January.”

Across all political affiliations, more Americans say they hold an unfavorable opinion of the news media compared to a survey conducted in late 2019-early 2020. 

This rise is especially significant among independent voters who have no political affiliation to either the Republican Party or the Democrats.

Perceptions of political bias in news coverage have also increased, with independents again driving the trend, followed by Republicans, then Democrats.

Furthermore, the younger generation continues to hold more negative perceptions of the news media than older generations, which is in line with previous studies.

Gallup’s long-term trend on this measure hit a record low in 2020 when the share of Americans with no confidence in the news media surpassed that of people with at least some confidence for the first time in 40 years. 

Research from the American Views 2020 report by Gallup and Knight showed that Americans were “very concerned” about increasing political bias in news coverage and the perception that news organizations “push an agenda.”

Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, 50% said they disagreed while only 25% agreed, the latest study found.

Similarly, 52% disagreed with a statement that those spreading national news “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers, and listeners,” the study found. It said 23% of respondents believed the journalists were acting in the public's best interests.

“That was pretty striking for us,” said Sarah Fioroni, a consultant for Gallup. The findings showed a depth of distrust and bad feelings that go beyond the foundations and processes of journalism, she said.

Journalists need to go beyond emphasizing transparency and accuracy to show the impact of their reporting on the public, the study said.

“Americans don’t seem to think that the national news organizations care about the overall impact of their reporting on the society,” said John Sands, Knight’s senior director for media and democracy.

Whereas Americans are increasingly losing faith and distancing themselves from national news coverage, the study found they have more trust in local news.

65 percent said that local news organizations report the news accurately and fairly to the public, and more than half of Americans say most local news organizations can be relied on to deliver the information they need.

53 percent believe most local news organizations care about how their reporting affects their community broadly, and 47 percent believe most local news organizations care about the best interests of their readers, viewers, and listeners.

44 percent of Americans say local news organizations do not intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public.

But the study indicates more Americans are on top of the news than ever before with (1) the ability of many people to instantly get their news from a device they hold in their hand, (2) the rapid pace of the news cycle and (3) an increased number of news sources.

According to the survey, these factors also appear to bring problems as they overload Americans with news information. The study said 61 percent of Americans believe these factors make it harder to stay informed, while 37 percent said it's easier.

In an indication of how people are distancing themselves from national media for their news, 58 percent said they relied on the internet while, 31 percent said television, 7 percent said radio and only 3 percent mentioned printed newspapers or magazines.

As for the younger generation aged 18 to 25 years old, a massive 88 percent said they got their news online, the survey found.

While 72 percent say national news organizations have the resources and opportunity to report the news accurately and fairly to the public, only 35 percent
say they can rely on most national news organizations to deliver the accurate information they need.

The study also found that half or more Americans report difficulty in sorting out facts and being well-informed. 

61 percent say the increase in information today makes it harder to be well-informed.

50 percent say there is so much bias in the U.S. news media that it is often difficult to sort out the facts.

The other results from this study as well as others indicate that most Americans think news organizations prioritize business needs above their public duty. 

Overall, it's a disturbing example of how the U.S. establishment uses the media to exploit the American public, especially considering when only 23% of respondents believe the media is covering news with an attempt to deceive them.