A new set of surveys underlines that public trust in the media has reached a historic low, and engagement with "news" content has plunged in the first half of this year. People don't like news of mass shootings and terrible inflation, and so they are tuning out in droves.
It's not every channel: Axios.com reported that CNN and MSNBC viewership has dropped....but Fox News viewership is still climbing.
Former Time reporter Amanda Ripley confessed in a Washington Post opinion piece that she has tuned out the news because it's too depressing and not fit for "humans." Stories on mass shootings or climate doom just make people (especially women) feel a sense of hopelessness.
The latest Gallup poll on confidence in American institutions found the media reached a historic low in people saying they have a "great deal" of trust in the media. It was just 11 percent for TV news, and 16 percent for newspapers.
In addition, a Pew Research poll found 76 percent of the public wants equal time to both sides of public issues, but only 44 percent of reporters agreed. They can't help but tilt it toward the "right side of history."
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