Jonathan S. Tobin
JNS, Sept. 12, 2024
“… no matter who you plan to vote for in November or what you think of Harris and Trump, the collapse of media credibility must be seen as a potentially lethal threat to American democracy and Jewish life.”
Believe it or not, journalists are not at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to being trusted the least by the American public. According to the most recent annual Gallup poll of attitudes towards various professions, those ranked lower than the press include lawyers, insurance and car salespeople, business executives, stockbrokers, advertisers and (no surprise) politicians. Members of Congress have the dubious distinction of being the worst of the lot with only 6% of the public having a high degree of trust in them.
That 19% of the public still trusts journalists is surprising but nothing to boast about. Indeed, it could be argued that the fact that less than a fifth of the citizenry have faith in what they read, hear and see via the news media is even worse than the low totals for some other professions. After all, you may not trust those who sell you insurance, cars or stocks, but they do sell items that presumably have some value. But if you don’t believe a word you read in The New York Times or hear from, say, ABC News, then nothing they do is worth a cent. Given the vital theoretical role that a free press plays in a functioning democracy in terms of its ability to keep the government and other powerful institutions honest and accountable, a widespread belief that the media is not only untrustworthy but in the pockets of the state undermines any notion that we live in a truly free country. … [To read the full article, click here]