Guest Post by Martin Armstrong
Gallup first began asking if Americans trusted the mainstream media in 1972. America’s trust and confidence in mainstream media stood at its highest level back in 1976 at 72%. Of course, that was due to the investigative journalism regarding Vietnam, and naturally Woodward and Berstein, with the Watergate scandal. Following that period, the media began to attack the right with Reagan. By the late 1990s, the Americans’ trust in the media fell steadily into the low to mid 50% level.
Following 2005, the trust in mainstream media dropped into the mid 40% range. It has consistently been below a majority level ever since the 2007 economic decline. However, after the 2016 election and the extreme bias for Hillary, where virtually 99% of mainstream media deliberately tried to manipulate the people to vote for Hillary, the trust factor has collapsed to 32%. When they polled just conservative Republicans, it was 14%. So the 32% level is the average American.
Our models on the confidence in American mainstream media using the Gallup Poll data projects a sharp decline into 2019/2020, which is the bottom of the current 8.6-year Economic Confidence Model. This will be 43 years from high. Note that 2007 was 31 years from that peak. It was 2007 and the collapse in the economy that has marked the collapse in public confidence in government and the media.
We should expect that the media will viciously attack Donald Trump in a futile effort to cling to some level of importance and to desperately try to demonstrate that they were not wrong with 99% of the media endorsing Hillary. But the media willingly conspired to make Hillary president. They will now try to vindicate themselves by trashing Trump at every possible chance. They will now fuel the civil divide and help lay the foundation for the collapse of the United States itself by turning left against right. Even the New York Post wrote that what they were witnessing was the end of journalism. They will do everything to try to change Congress in 2018. It appears that will be their last stand. The younger generation does not buy newspapers and magazines. Their end is near.
Trump summoned the mainstream TV media to Trump Tower for a meeting. Whether he can persuade them to stop the supporting of civil unrest remains to be seen. Lester Holt, Charlie Rose, George Stephanopoulos and Wolf Blitzer all headed to this private meeting. All have demonstrated outrageous bias and have disgraced the very purpose of a free press as they all tried to influence the people rather than report the news. Even Saturday Night Live made fun of how biased mainstream media has been.
32% seems awfully high, unless there were a large number of registered Democrats in the poll.
Media lies and fabrications have been going on ever since there were “journalists” (I use that term loosely).
From “Remember the Maine” in the Spanish-American war (actually a powder magazine explosion–not an attack) to walter duranty’s extolling the “virtues” of communism while one of the greatest “artificially-engineered (by communists)” famines in the Ukraine” was taking place, in order to force the “collectivization” of privately-held farms, to walter cronkite outright lying about American military effectiveness during the 1968 Vietnam “Tet offensive” (in which much enemy life was lost) journalism has always been a “nasty craft”. In cronkite’s case, the North Vietnamese were ready to settle (and capitulate) until cronkite’s lies about the supposed American “defeat” were publicized. Cronkite’s lies gave the North Vietnamese new resolve, as they realized that they had the American “news media” on their side (as they later admitted). There has always been a certain sympathy for communism and totalitarianism in the so-called “mainstream media”. All one has to do is to look at the journalists fawning over Cuba’s Fidel Castro and how wonderful life is in that communist “paradise”.
Look at NBC’s rigging of GMC truck gas tanks to explode and the “doctoring” of George Zimmerman’s 911 dispatcher conversation to make him appear “racist”. Showing “young trayvon’s” picture as a 12-year-old rather than his current facebook “thug” picture is journalistic malpractice of the highest order.
Journalists HATE the internet because it exposes their “profession” for what it really is…with the internet, anyone can be a true journalist. This is why the same “mainstream media” is calling for the “licensing” of journalists–something that would have been unheard of (and treasonous) in previous decades…
Professional journalism is its own worst enemy…
My trust in the MSM sits at about negative 100%. I feel dirty just for watching the 15 minutes or so that I watched on (s)election night. I only tuned in to see the epic beatdown on their faces.
I was going to say 32% was too high, but Kakoda beat me to it.
I stopped believe the MSM lies about 10 years ago.
Don’t worry, Associated Lügenpresse has issued guidelines in their stylebook on how to reverse this: Lie harder.
https://blog.ap.org/behind-the-news/writing-about-the-alt-right
Devils writing about angels, or even about humans, about which they know even less.
Operation Mockingbird
Before Clinton, Broadcast stations were required to offer equal time on issues as part of their FCC license and to “serve the community”. The FCC had a formula.
Now, stations don’t have to do jack shit, and the consolidation wiped out thousands of jobs. We’re paying for that now with this pack of corporate shills that wouldn’t know journalism if it bit them in the ass. And this is coming from a guy who created a daily local cable tv news show because we had no local broadcast station. News/weather/sports, all local.
Says a pollster.
I’m not sure if that’s ironic or just pathetic.
My parents (silent gen) still watch and somewhat believe the media; mainly fox. I constantly have to beat them up verbally when they start spewing some shit I know came from Faux.
I would imagine many of the older boomers and silent gen people are the main purveyors of the MSM. Because it is what they grew up with and is what they know. IMO possibly the majority of gen X’ers on down are the ones against the MSM. I stopped watching MSM after the ’08 and their treatment of Ron Paul. The only reason I may turn them on is if there is something major going on and only for an hour or so because they go into speculation mode after that.
Is it possible that 32% of the people are that stupid?