The Surprising Reason the Right Doesn’t Trust the News

Journalism has changed measurably since the 1960s, media scholar Matthew Pressman writes, and those changes have altered how we regard the news and why opinion surveys show that fewer and fewer people seem to trust it. The evolution of the press into an adversarial—sometimes activist—institution may have played a role in the declining trust in news media reflected in polls. It’s not just the perceived liberal slant in journalism that puts some readers off. The subject matter of the beats the press now swarms that they once ignored—race, sex, class, inequality, for example—distresses some readers. They blame the messenger for their anxiety by telling pollsters they no long trust the press. It also stands to reason that the press corps’ steady defiance of authority has produced disquiet in some corners. And as political science professor Jonathan Ladd has noted, the proliferation and splintering media into its various ideological flavors have made criticism of the press a staple of the national conversation.

Most public opinion polls consistently show Republicans expressing lower trust in the press than shown by independents or Democrats. It would make for a nifty bit of social science research to get to the bottom of what Republicans so distrust. Surely the interpretative stance taken in many articles by liberal outlets like the New York Times rankle Republicans. But chances are they don’t even have to read the Times to be incensed by it. Add to that the subject matter and routine rejection of authority, and if you’re a Republican, what’s not to hate?

[Jack Shafer is Politico’s senior media writer.]