Keller @ Large: Blame Shared For Lack Of Trust In Press

BOSTON (CBS) – I suppose this isn't really news, given the long downward spiral of citizen trust in the news media.

But a new Gallup Poll finds that confidence in the press has reached its all-time low, with only four in ten Americans saying they have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in newspapers, TV and radio reportage.

The last time a majority of us had confidence in the news media was before 2004, and while the numbers tend to improve during non-election years, as Gallup puts it, "something about national elections triggers skepticism about the accuracy of the news media's reporting."

What's going on? I think there's plenty of blame to go around.

As you know if you've ever had intimate knowledge of a story that winds up in the press, there are far too many reporters who bungle key facts, swallow spin, or simply fail to get anywhere near the truth due to incompetence, bias or both.

No one in this business is perfect, yours truly included, but I think most news consumers get that and are simply looking for basic standards of professionalism. Too often, they don't find it.

But I also say the consumers themselves are part of the problem.

Gallup found that partisans seem to want stories that scratch their ideological itch, and don't like it when they don't get it. Liberals think the media is too conservative, conservatives think it's too liberal, and so on.

And then there are people who think that Facebook, Twitter and other social media are actual sources for news, despite being unedited and frequented by trolls.

There's my theory. What's yours?

E-mail me at newstips@cbsboston.com, attention Keller, and I'll share some of your feedback in a future commentary.

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You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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