Study: ‘Informed’ Republicans distrust the media in large numbers

As national media organizations contemplate how to mitigate their trust deficit with the American people, a solution emerges from the 2018 Poynter Media Trust Survey: Bag the coverage of President Donald Trump and Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency, and go wall-to-wall on zoning hearings, bus-route changes, liquor-license revocations and softball games. Local news, that is. The survey, after all, shows that people trust sources of local reporting far more than national outlets. The numbers: Whereas 76 percent of Americans register a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in local television news and 73 percent feel likewise about local newspapers, the corresponding numbers for network news and national newspapers are 55 percent and 59 percent, respectively. There’s no great mystery to this dynamic: When people see firetrucks clustered around the corner, and then read a write-up in the newspaper, they’re inclined to believe the latter. So-called “high-knowledge” Democrats have a 98 percent trust rating vs. 11 percent for Republicans. 

[Erik Wemple is a media critic with the Washington Post]