FiveThirtyEight: Why Being 'Anti-Media' Is Now Part Of The GOP Identity

[DonViejo]

FiveThirtyEight

APR. 5, 2021, AT 6:00 AM

By Meredith Conroy

There’s little question that the media is one of the least trusted institutions in Republican circles.

In the past two decades, trust in traditional media has plummeted — especially among Republicans. According to polling from Gallup, since at least the late 1990s, Republicans have been less likely than Democrats (and independents) to say they trust the media. But starting in 2015, trust among Republicans took a nosedive, falling from 32 percent to 10 percent in 2020. (Meanwhile, among Democrats, trust in the media has actually climbed back up, and by quite a bit.)

Part of this is because Republicans are often more vocal in their criticism of the media and have long perceived it as having a liberal bias. But now they are also more likely to say that being “anti-media” is part of their political identity, and this is likely driving the staggering gap in media trust that we are seeing.

Let’s start with Republicans’ media habits. In our fractured media ecosystem, it’s not uncommon for both Republicans and Democrats to seek out news sources that reinforce their political beliefs. And as a new study finds, exposure to media that is partisan — whether liberal or conservative — reduces people’s overall trust in the mainstream press regardless of political party. But what sets Republicans apart at this point is their steady reliance on just one source for all their news: Fox News.

more
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-being-anti-media-is-now-part-of-the-gop-identity/

[inwiththenew]

1. 36% of Independents is more concerning

Everyone knows Republicans don't now and probably never will trust the media. The fact that roughly only 1 in 3 Independents do is more of an issue in my opinion.

[kcr]

2. I don't believe most Independents truly are independent in their thought

I think the majority are conservatives who don't want to be labeled, and this poll is yet more evidence of that.

[BlueNProud]

3. Agnew nattering nabobs of negativity

[Caliman73]

4. Conservatives have really won the battle of framing. This is sad and worrying.

While I understand that all news is biased and that liberalism is a political ideology, that fact that this survey exists is a testimony to the power of the wealthy Conservatives, to control the narrative.

Liberals and conservatives have always existed in American politics. They exist in European politics and around the world. The difference with other parts of the world and the US is that there is an expectation in other countries that news be informative and at least factually accurate to a certain degree. I am sure that there are problems and concerns with media everywhere around the world. Tom Nichols does a pretty good review of problems in US and British media on YouTube.

The problem with media in the US, is that for much of US history, the news attempted to be more or less objective. I am sure there are plenty of examples of bias throughout. In the 1960's & 70's in the wake of Nixon's hatred of the press and the Watergate scandal, Conservatives sought aggressively to develop a media that would promote conservative information (misinformation).

Just think of the framing of the article. "it’s not uncommon for both Republicans and Democrats to seek out news sources that reinforce their political beliefs."

538 is falling for the idea that "everything other than Fox, Newsmax, etc... is 'liberal' and that there is a legitimate concern about conservatives not having a voice". Mainstream media is pretty much corporate media and there is some effort to be objective. Fox, Newsmax, and others have NO INTENTIONS of being objective. They are conservative propaganda. The narrative however, is that "liberal" media is as biased toward one end as Fox and Conservative media is toward the other. That is bullshit, but that has been pounded into the DNA of the media since the 1990's when conservative media hit the air in a significant way.

The reason there is not a HUGE left wing presence in media is because liberals tend to get their information from multiple news sources while 75% of conservatives were only going to Fox. So, before the 1990's everyone was getting their information from the same sources, and arguing the facts. Then Fox came around and 3/4s of conservatives basically abandoned the traditional media and went where they would receive information that fit into their beliefs.

Reality does not comport with conservative ideas about, basically anything, so the Wealthy constructed a bubble where they could feed misinformation to conservatives and maintain political power with a shrinking demographic.