New Poll Hits Media Hard As Americans See Journalists Losing ‘Influence,’ Are Split On What A Journalist Even Is
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
New polling out Wednesday found many Americans view journalists as losing “influence” in the digital age, and many can’t even agree on what exactly a journalist is today.
Pew Research released a lengthy survey covering how Americans view the media and members of the media today. The poll, conducted earlier this year in April, was conducted among more than 9,000 Americans who took part in a survey. The margin of error is 1.3%.
According to the results, Americans are split on what they view as journalists in today’s world of podcasting, newsletters, YouTube, etc. Focus groups conducted by Pew Research found that people generally named news anchors like Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper when asked whom they consider to be journalists. Even the fictional character Clark Kent was named by some.
The polling found that Americans are most likely to view reporters for newspapers, television, and radio as journalists. A total of 79% of respondents said writing for a newspaper or news website makes someone a journalist, while 60% said reporting or hosting a news program on TV does. People who report news on the radio are viewed as journalists by 59% of people, according to the research.
Things become more split when it comes to podcasting and pundits. Podcast hosts who report or comment on news are journalists, according to 46% of respondents, but 28% say they are not, while 26% were not sure. People who write a newsletter about the news were viewed as journalists by 40% of people, while 30% disagreed. Another 25% were unsure.
Americans named honesty, intelligence, and authenticity as the most important qualities for a journalist, but the data also shows Americans are not viewing the media as all that influential in society today.
According to the polling, just 15% of people believe journalists are “gaining influence” today. Another 49% believe they are losing influence, while 36% see them as remaining stagnant in the culture.
One respondent who took part in Pew Research’s focus groups argued there is too much “tweaking” of the truth to fit certain audiences.
“There are a handful of journalists, the ones that we say we trust, that I think are doing the right thing, following what the code of journalism should be,” he said. “But the others in today’s world are all about clicks, eyeballs, money, things like that, and they don’t necessarily mind tweaking the truth to suit their audience or their advertisers.”
