Can we Trust the Mass Media?

Recently in the Master’s level course I’m taking through Gonzaga University we viewed the documentary film, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (Outfoxed). Outfoxed, produced by Robert Greenwald, was released in 2004. The documentary criticizes Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News Channel (Fox News), claiming he and Fox News advocate right-wing political views. As Fox News refers to itself as “fair and balanced,” the film also accuses Murdoch and the network of being extremely biased.

We also viewed the documentary, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, a 1992 film highlighting Noam Chomsky and his critique of mass media. Chomsky, a world-renown linguist, political activist, and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has spent a large part of his life analyzing mass media and the daily news to determine what drives what is reported to the public. 

Finally, in the last course I completed we viewed, Buying the War, a documentary released in 2007, which studies the press coverage leading up to the war in Iraq. The film discusses at length the role journalists have in reporting stories and rallying the public in support of public opinion. 

Each of these documentaries has caused me to pause and consider the relationship the general public has with the mass media, especially here in the United States. Growing up, people we trusted came into our living room every night to tell us what was happening in the world. Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters, David Brinkley, Jessica Savitch and Peter Jennings were just a few of those my family would rush through supper for. We knew they were bringing us a view of the world that we didn’t have in the tiny town of Eureka, Kansas; we trusted them to bring us the truth about what was happening outside our little “burg.” Now when I look back at things I have to wonder – have times changed so much since I was a child? Was our trust in the media completely misplaced? Or were we simply naïve Midwesterners who couldn’t even fathom that there might be hidden agendas at work?

In the world of communication and media, trust is a key point in determining the consumer’s perception of the world around them According to www.dictionary.com, trust is defined as, “reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.” My parents relied on the integrity of the media; I relied on the integrity of the media. We expected them to tell us the facts about what was going on in the world - to tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I really do believe that up until the past decade-and-a-half, that’s what was reported. Now I’m not so convinced that’s what we get these days.

Each of the films that I mention above makes a very good case for whether the “news” that is reported by major media outlets is fair, accurate, and unbiased. After viewing these films and reviewing additional reports and articles, I don’t believe mass media can be completely trusted; there definitely seem to be underlying agendas at work, whether they are to sway the viewer toward a certain political persuasion, or if it’s simply motivated by the almighty dollar.  

It appears that I’m not alone in my jaded view of whether or not the mass media can be trust. In a Gallup Poll conducted in September, 2010, the percentage of Americans who express not very much trust or none at all in mass media increased by 11% between 1998 and 2010; the percentage of Americans who express a great deal or a fair amount of trust in mass media declined by 10% (www.gallup.com). Another Gallup Poll, also conducted in 2010, found that the trend for Americans’ confidence in newspapers and television news has slowly declined since the early 1990’s. 

The organization, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), is a national media watch group, which has been reporting on censorship and media bias since 1986. The organization works, “to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints… FAIR believes that structural reform is ultimately needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong non-profit sources of information” (www.fair.org, 2011). 

FAIR believes that corporate conglomerates, high-ranking politicians, and people of influence drive what is reported in the news on a national level, which then filters down to the local markets. Representatives from FAIR were quoted several times in the documentary in support of Noam Chomsky and against “big business.” While the national news media aren’t necessarily misstating facts or lying to the general public, they are do seem to be picking and choosing what stories they report, and how much they report. By omitting information, they are causing individuals to get an incorrect perception of the world view. 

The statistics that concern me the most were reported in a 2009 Gallup poll. This poll showed that the people most likely to trust the mass media are younger, non-whites, people who make less than $30,000 a year, and people with a high school education or less. I am fortunate and have opportunities through y education and work that allow me the opportunity to view several news sources to get a better idea of what is actually happening in the world. If I see two stories about the same event, and those stories conflict, I can do research and gather more information, and make a more informed decision about what I believe. That’s not the case with everyone. 

It’s imperative that we, as citizens, reign in mass media and reform that industry. We must force news agencies to cut their ties to the economic and political powers. These powers have effectively put blinders on media agencies, limiting the viewpoints that allow for truly fair, accurate and unbiased reporting.

References

Achbar, M. & Wintonick, P. (Directors) (1992). Manufacturing consent: Noam Chomsky and the media [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from http://www.archive.org/details/manufacturing_consent

Greenwald, R. (Director) (2005). Outfoxed – Rupert Murdoch’s war on journalism [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from http://www.archive.org/details/Outfoxed-RupertMurdochsWarOnJournalism

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (2011, April 16). What’s FAIR? Retrieved from http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=100

 

Morales, L. (2010). Distrust in U.S. media edges up to record high. Retrieved from Gallup’s website: http://www.gallup.com/poll/142133/Confidence-Newspapers-News-Remains-Rarity.aspx

Morales, L. (2010). In U.S., confidence in newspapers, TV news remains a rarity. Retrieved from Gallup’s website: http://www.gallup.com/poll/142133/Confidence-Newspapers-News-Remains-Rarity.aspx

 

Morales, L. (2009). Many Americans remain distrusting of news media. Retrieved from Gallup’s website http://www.gallup.com/poll/123365/Americans-Remain-Distrusting-News-Media.aspx

Moyers, B. S. (2007, April 25). Buying the war [Documentary]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

"trust." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2011. http://www.merriam-webster.com (16 April 2011).