The Astounding Drop in Confidence in the Media and What it Means for Bloggers
Two events that opened the door to blogging and social media include the vast downsizing of the American media (loss of new staff) and the concurrent lack of public confidence in mainstream media.
In essence, these two events opened the door to subject matter experts to provide their analysis and comments on events and newsworthy items.
Research tells us that it’s not just members of the public who turn to blogs and social media sites for information. Members of the media use these sources in increasing numbers.
Data presented below states that the public is regaining some confidence in mainstream media “but” the numbers remain astoundingly low. 28% of Americans express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in newspapers and 27% say the same about television news.
The field remains open to government, associations and nonprofits to offer news and analysis of issues important to their missions through blogs and social media sites.
If we engage in these issues accurately and responsibly and offer all points of view, there’s no reason why we cannot become an increasingly important resource for media and the general public.
Best, Len.
Americans Regain Some Confidence in Newspapers, TV News
Confidence still lags behind levels of trust seen through much of the 1990s and into 2003
by Lymari Morales
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ confidence in newspapers and television news rebounded slightly in the past year, having been stuck at record lows since 2007. The 28% of Americans who express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in newspapers and the 27% who say the same about television news still lag significantly behind the levels of trust seen through much of the 1990s and into 2003.
The findings are from Gallup’s annual update on confidence in institutions, which found few other notable changes from last year. Newspapers and television news rank 10th and 11th in confidence, respectively, among the 16 institutions tested. While the improvement for each is small in absolute terms, it could mark the beginning of the reversal of the trend seen in recent years. The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism’s annual report on The State of the News Media suggests that the state of the media improved in 2010 as content providers found new ways to meet the changing needs of their audiences as well as new revenue models.
Confidence in newspapers and television news increased across most key subgroups, with the biggest across-the-board improvements among 30- to 49-year-olds and men. The views of Americans aged 18 to 29 exhibited the most mixed year-to-year change, with this group showing a 10-point increase in confidence in television news but a 10-point decrease in confidence in newspapers. While members of this group remain among the most confident in each, their views are now on par with those of Democrats and liberals. Republicans also showed inconsistent movement in their opinions, registering a nine-point increase in their confidence in television news and essentially no change in their views of newspapers. Interestingly, considering the highly polarized nature of cable news, all ideological groups increased their trust in television news to about the same degree.
The widespread improvement in confidence in newspapers and television news is good news for these industries, which have struggled through changes in the way audiences consume news and the way advertisers reach those audiences. Gallup’s September update on trust in the mass media more broadly will also help gauge whether the industry as a whole is rebuilding integrity. The new data suggest that audiences may be coming to terms with the new media landscape, granting news organizations a little more goodwill in the process. At the same time, confidence in newspapers and television news still has a lot of room for improvement and young Americans’ mixed mood in 2011 could be a precursor of volatility in years to come.
2 COMMENTS
Comments are closed.
A good guide, Although it could have been longer 😉