7%

A new Gallup Poll shows that just 7% of of adults in this country have “a great deal” of trust in the media.

7%!!!!

Between 1972 and 1976, 68% to 72% of Americans expressed trust in the mass media.

Do you know what we didn’t have back in the 70’s?

Cable News.

Cable news has done more to divide this country than Donald Trump or any other politician in Washington, D.C.

When I talk to people outside the business and ask them about TV news, most start to go off and talk about the “liberal media” or the “right-wing media.”

As we get further into the conversation, it is clear that they are talking about cable news and lumping the rest of the people working in TV with them.

As we continue to talk and I bring up local TV news, they admit to having more trust in what the local news says. The same with the local newspaper.

In my findings there is a perception that local news isn’t as good as it once was, but it does seem that viewers have much more trust in local, than they do in national or cable news.

I would love to see a survey company like Gallup dive a bit deeper on the subject of the media. Because, let’s be honest, cable news has hurt not only the media, but our country as a whole.