New York, NY. Recently poll results were released indicating Americans believe the press intentionally misrepresent news events and are prejudiced towards one political party’s ideology over the other.
According to the poll, 62 percent of Americans believe that the media favors one party over the other, while only 27 percent believe it favors neither party. The poll was conducted by the well respected Gallup firm and has an error possibility of plus or minus 3% points.
The Gallup poll asked respondents, composed of everyday American citizens chosen at random, is there a media bias towards one political party? and if so, which party does it favor? The answers indicate how Americans have little trust or faith in the American media: 64 percent said the media favors Democrats, and 22 percent said it favors Republicans.
In demonstrable proof the loss of credibility by the American press is indeed real, Gallup notes that in 2003, the last time they asked the question, Americans were about evenly divided on media bias. They were also about evenly divided when Gallup first asked the question in 1995.
In December 2000, during the election recount between former President George W. Bush and his opponent, former Vice President Al Gore, just over half of Americans responded 51 percent saying the media had a partisan bias, while 41 said it did not.
Gallup notes that Americans who say that the media favors one party have consistently believed that it favors Democrats. The poll further confirmed that 55 percent of Americans say news stories are “often inaccurate,” while only 36 percent say that American news organizations generally report stories correctly.