Not only is the political media biased, but it’s sending consumers searching for “news that is accurate, opinions that are vital and debate that is sincere,” according to a new survey that polled on a quote pulled from the resignation letter of the New York Times’s Bari Weiss.
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey found continued dismissal of the media as biased, twice as much by Republicans, 87%, than Democrats, 42%.
It said that 63% “believe most major news organizations in this country have their own political agenda.” Just 27% said news organizations “generally remain impartial.”
The poll followed the resignation of Weiss earlier this week. She issued a scathing letter that said the New York Times has caught clickbait fever and writes only for the liberal audience.
She wrote, “Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions. I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.”
Of her line that the American public, as a result, is searching for more accurate news, 58% agreed, said Rasmussen.
What’s more, nearly half of likely voters said the media is trying to block President Trump’s agenda. “Just 30% of voters trust the political news they’re getting, and 44% believe most reporters are trying to block President Trump’s agenda. By contrast, 48% thought most reporters were trying to help President Obama pass his agenda in 2010,” read the analysis.
