Poll Finds Most Distrust Mainstream Media

Special Report - March 12, 2008
Two-thirds of Americans believe that traditional journalism is “out of touch with what they want from news,” and 64 percent are not satisfied with the quality of journalism today, according to a recent "We Media/Zogby" Interactive poll. The national survey, which was released on February 27, found that 48 percent of Americans cite the Internet as their “primary source” for news—an increase from 40 percent in 2007. In addition, 86 percent said that web sites are an “important source of news.” When asked to name their most trusted news source, 32 percent said the Internet, 22 percent said newspapers, 21 percent said television, and 15 percent said radio.
 
Younger Americans were the most likely to cite the Internet as their top news source. For example, 55 percent of adults under age 30 reported they were most likely to get their news from the Internet, compared to 35 percent of seniors (age 65 and older). Respondents who described themselves as “very conservative” were the most likely to report dissatisfaction with traditional journalism, according to the survey (89 percent of this group said traditional journalism was “out of touch.”) In addition, 69 percent of those surveyed said they believed that “media companies are becoming too large and powerful to allow for competition.”

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