In an era of “fake news” finger-pointing and the continuing proliferation of blogs, social media, hacking, disinformation and economic distress in the traditional – legacy – news industry, what do Americans think about their press?
Knight Center director Eric Freedman writes about that and related questions in a Domemagazine.com column that draws from a new Gallup/Knight Foundation survey, “American Views: Trust, Media and Democracy.”
Here are two of the troubling findings from the survey, as Freedman writes in “Too Much Information? Not Enough Trust.”

• Half of those surveyed – down from 68 percent a generation ago – expressed confidence that they’ve got enough sources of information to separate facts from bias in news reports.
• Two-thirds asserted that most news media “do not do a good job of separating fact from opinion.”

The column concludes: “While the citizenry believe the news media still have an essential role in our democratic society, the press must strive to convince them that it’s fulfilling that responsibility.”