Around 77% of Americans believe the mainstream media pushes fake news, according to a recent poll by Monmouth University that’s newsworthy once again after President Trump said that America’s biggest enemy is fake news.
The April poll also found that 42% believe the mainstream media is agenda-driven and reports fake news on purpose to steer public opinion, while 65% believe the term “fake news” also applies to how news outlets make editorial decisions on what to report and what to hide from public scrutiny.
According to Monmouth University:
The belief that major media outlets disseminate fake news at least occasionally has increased among every partisan group over the past year, including Republicans (89% up from 79% in 2017), independents (82% up from 66%), and Democrats (61% up from 43%). In addition to the fact that a clear majority of Democrats now believe that traditional media outlets report fake news at least occasionally, the poll also finds that a majority of Republicans (53%) feel this happens on a regular basis (up from 37% in 2017).
In short, a majority of Democrats no longer trust mainstream media accuracy.
It’s worth noting that of the 803 Americans interviewed by pollsters, only 27% were Republicans. On the other hand, 32% were Democrats and 41% were independents.
On Wednesday, President Trump said that America’s biggest enemy is fake news in response to how the mainstream media downplayed the president’s summit with North Korea:
So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have “begged” for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018
The media’s negative bias was obvious considering that it was only months ago when CNN and other outlets admitted that Trump would go down as a “great president” if he solves the North Korea situation.
The summit was the first step to a solution, yet instead of encouraging the president, CNN’s Jim Acosta did everything he could to disrupt the summit despite the still-simmering war tensions between the two nuclear countries.
According to Fox News:
“Mr. President, how is the meeting going so far, sir?” the Trump-bashing newsman hollered as Trump and Kim exited their conference room at the Capella Hotel following a 35-minute meeting. “Any progress, Mr. President?”
“Chairman Kim, will you denuclearize?” he pressed. “Mr. President, how’s it going so far, sir?”
When Trump finally responded by saying it was going “Very, very good,” Acosta, who was the designated pool reporter assigned to represent U.S. media organizations, seemed encouraged to demand answers from Kim, who is used to a more compliant media.
Even worse, Acosta was the designated pool reporter assigned to represent U.S. media organizations, a fact that bolsters the president’s argument that the mainstream media is America’s greatest enemy, especially if Acosta’s actions steer North Korea away from a more peaceful solution.
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