In January in a Gallup poll they found in the USA 54% of Democrats have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of the media. Republicans, however, have a 68% unfavourable view of the media.

Six months later the situation is even worse for US news media houses.

Two new Gallup polls have found that wide swaths of the American population believe that the media is biased, inaccurate and full of misinformation – just as President Donald Trump says. One poll found that 62% of U.S. adults believe that the news they see in newspapers, on television or hear on the radio is biased and that 44% say it’s inaccurate.

An accompanying poll found that 39% of Americans believe that the news they see on television, read in newspapers or hear on the radio is misinformation, which is defined as “stories that are made up or cannot be verified as accurate but are presented to readers as if they are accurate.”

SOURCE: https://deadline.com/2018/06/fake-news-gallup-poll-americans-believe-news-is-biased-inaccurate-1202414504/

Watching a news story last week on CNN the headline was “Russian spy had strong links to Trump”

The Russian spy is Maria Butina and has now been charged with espionage.

Her strong links were actually to the National Rifle Association but in the context of the story I should say she had extra strong links to them.

Her strong links to Donald Trump turned out to be she attended some of his rallies before the election and actually asked him a question at one. A second strong tie was when she was seen with three hundred other ‘guests’ at a banquet Trump was at. The report didn’t say how near Butina’s body was to Trump but if it had been even 50 foot away it would have been said as “near”. The third time was at a Press Conference where she asked a question.

Butina did meet with Donald Trump Jr., briefly.

It’s this nonsense that makes me wince and worry.

I am no lover of Donald Trump but I am ashamed of the bias reporting executed by the majority of the media that is so obvious a fourth grade school child can see through it.

It must stop.

In an article on the website M – medium.com they give “10 Reasons Why American Trust In The Media Is At An All-Time Low”

The ten are:

1. Americans think the media is key to democracy — but many can’t name an objective news source.

2. Perceptions of the media vary depending on political affiliation.

3. More sources make it harder than ever to be well informed.

4. Concern over “fake news” is high.

5. Perceptions of what constitutes “fake news” vary.

6. Public divided on who is responsible for informing citizens, individuals or the media.

7. Many Americans get their news from social media, but most don’t view it positively.

8. Americans report sharing news mostly with people they know agree with them.

9. Public is divided on whether platforms should be regulated.

10. Peoples’ trust in the media is highly influenced by partisanship.

You can read the whole article at: https://medium.com/trust-media-and-democracy/10-reasons-why-americans-dont-trust-the-media-d0630c125b9e

Thankfully none of the media houses here have gone down the US media road as yet. Mainly, because none, or so we are led to believe, owned by large corporations here.

What I do hope is the news just announced the “Cayman Islands welcomes record 1.3 million visitors in first half of 2018” gets as much air play on Rooster 101 as the detrimental headlines uttered by the back bench MLAs who park themselves by the Radio Station to appear on the morning talk show also carried by Cayman27 and Island24.

If Rooster persist in their present strategy they are going down the US road.

I forgive Editorials because they are slanted, yes, but we do know they are an opinion.

All of us in the media should be worried. Otherwise we might as well join social media.