By Eric Freedman

Americans’ trust in the media remains at a record low, a new Gallup poll reports, with only 31% of those surveyed expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the press.

That is a lower confidence rate for the press than for Congress, federal courts and respondents’ own state and local government.

The high point in trust in the media came in the 1970s at 68% to 72% of those polled, according to Gallup.

The latest findings are troubling on their face at a time when the news media is under partisan attack as an “enemy of the people,” when reporters are threatened and physically assaulted simply for doing their jobs and when politicians propose curbing the First Amendment freedom of the press and the public’s freedom of expression.

It’s especially troubling for those of us who report on environmental, science and health issues and who are witnessing a decline in trust in science and scientists.

The news media has an obligation to report accurately on scientific advances and research discoveries.

And there is a troubling trend in public attitudes on such topics as anti-vaccination misinformation campaigns, diet and pseudo-health fads, and unfounded skepticism about the reality and adverse impacts of human-influenced climate change and climate disruption.

These dreary findings reflect widespread public uncertainty and confusion about what “the media” are and the need to recognize the essential role the press plays in a democratic society.

Do critics of the media who took part in the Gallup survey:

• Think only of mainstream news organizations such as the Washington Post, Associated Press, National Public Radio and CBS News that strive for fairness, accuracy, balance and ethical reporting of the news?
• Include in their definition of “the media” the array of alternative community newspapers, local cable shows and nonprofit online news outlets such as Bridge Michigan in our state and ProPublica nationally that do investigative and in-depth reporting on important issues?
• Consider well-respected and long-established publications and broadcasts like Business Week, Nova and National Geographic as part of “the media” they condemn?
• Regard the internet or social media as the creator of a story or news analysis or do they look into the credibility of wherever a story or news analysis originated from?
• Treat openly partisan news outlets like Breitbart News Service as part of that same “media?”

A new study by the nonprofit Pew Research Center found that 73% of those it surveyed said they’ve seen inaccurate news coverage about the 2024 election at least “somewhat often.” Slightly more than half said they generally find it difficult to determine what is true.

“As Americans navigate the abundance of information about the presidential election, many of them are seeing news they think is inaccurate – and having a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction,” the center reported.

I wonder whether those who criticize “the media” differentiate in their minds between news coverage on one hand and opinion pages and columns on the other hand.

I see no partisan bias in the news reporting when I read the Detroit News – which leans right and Republican on its editorial page – and the Detroit Free Press – which leans left and Democratic on its editorial page. The same when I read the editorially conservative Wall Street Journal and the editorially liberal New York Times.

For journalists and press outlets, a good story is a good story. News is news. Fact-based, ethical reporting is fact-based, ethical reporting. Integrity is integrity.

When I was a reporter in the Lansing bureau of the Detroit News, I nodded politely if a legislator praised an editorial in my paper. And if a lawmaker criticized an editorial, I politely explained that I – as a reporter – had no input in or influence on the paper’s editorial opinions, and then proceeded with my interview.

Despite the lack of confidence in “the media” as reported by Gallup and despite the decline in paid circulation, the public still relies heavily on “the media” for news and information.

Where else can they learn the views of community college board candidates, results of their children’s high school track meets, schedules for upcoming band concerts, county planning board decisions, drunken driving arrests, restaurant openings and business closings?

Meanwhile on the positive side, an estimated 85% of adults in Michigan read newspapers in print or online, according to a 2023 market study by Coda Ventures in partnership with Michigan Press Association Services. That works out to about 5 million readers.

Among them, the study said, 77% are younger than 65, 91% vote in local elections and 82% vote in state and national elections.

And especially important to those of us who believe in democratic values, government and corporate transparency and the need for an informed public, 91% feel they owe a responsibility to shape the future of their communities.

Eric Freedman is director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and a professor of journalism at Michigan State University.