American Exceptionalism Gone Wonky. Again.
In the United States, in contrast, the judgment citizens hold of the media, along increasingly with everything else, turns on one's identification with a political tribe.
A fairly recently released Pew Research Center survey measures how the public of some thirty-eight countries of various constitutional types perceive the fairness and accuracy of their respective nations’ news media in their political coverage. The survey reveals that the American public ranks in the lower-middle of the international pack in its evaluation of the media’s fairness and accuracy. This suggests that American cynicism of the news media, while pronounced and a legitimate point of concern, is far from a global extreme.
Thus far.
What is worth noting, however, is two ways in which the United States stands apart from most other countries. One such point of difference concerns who is satisfied with news coverage in each country. To quote, “In most countries, people who support the political party currently in power are more satisfied with the performance of their news media than those who do not support the governing party.” In most countries. Of the thirty-eight countries polled, the public in thirty-five countries followed this pattern. The United States, in contrast, was one of just three nations (along with Israel and Australia) in which supporters of the political party in power are less satisfied with the quality of media coverage. No nation’s supporters of the party in power are more dissatisfied with their nation’s political media coverage than are American Republicans.
A second even more striking point of difference involves partisanship’s role in shaping perception of the news. Quite remarkably, the partisan gap for evaluating the quality of news is greater in the United States than in any other country. And by a long shot.
In light of the survey results it seems reasonable to surmise that in most countries the public’s evaluation of the media turns on general public satisfaction with political governance. Surely such contentment is also linked in complicated but significant ways with general sense of overall well-being and trust in public institutions. More trust in government translates, at least roughly, into more trust of the media. This does not entail a logically necessary connection, but it’s quite possible it entails a powerful psychological connection.
In the United States, in contrast, the judgment citizens hold of the media, along increasingly with everything else, turns on one’s identification with a political tribe. Full stop. This dynamic bodes ill for the United States. Widely held perceptions of a politicized media viewed to be at odds with the government–whether such perceptions are grounded in reality or not—virtually begs opportunistic elected officials to curry public favor by excoriating the press. This may lead to an embattled media in reality. In the face of ongoing attacks on journalistic integrity or First Amendment freedoms, the media would feel the lure of increasingly powerful incentives to drop even the pretense of journalistic objectivity.
And on and on it could go, a cycle of deepening public cynicism and declining trust in all public institutions.
In other words, Roger Ailes, Newt Gingrich, and Rush Limbaugh (3 of the 4 Horsemen) succeeded in reaching the goal they started working on in the 90’s.
More and more, I’m glad I don’t have children.
As I said few days ago, it’s time to ask if it’s possible to have both FOX News and democracy.
@gVOR08: Last week kevin drum said:
Every condition you need for fascism exists currently in the US except two:
1) a serious economic downturn
2) a dude who really really wants to be a dictator and schemes to do it.
We’ve seen here and elsewhere that the Trumpers would happily follow along with any lie, any normbreaking, any lawbreaking, any corruption, any Trumper propaganda no matter how absurd and humiliating, any police abuse of others, anything Trump wants.
The only reason we’re not marching straight to fascism right now is that the economy is generally fine, and Trump is more a lazy and stupid narcissist than a competent, power-hungry schemer.
Does American Exceptionalism refer to Exceptional Corruption?
@gVOR08:..As I said few days ago, it’s time to ask if it’s possible to have both FOX News and democracy.
Yes. Yes you did.
I am still curious if you have a remedy for this dilemma.
We have a cultural divide mirrored in our politics. There’s the dominant, vibrant culture, essentially liberal culture – free speech, free press, reproductive choice, BLM, gay marriage, transgender folk in the military, legal weed, secularism etc… That culture has advanced by leaps and bounds.
And then there’s the fossil culture, the culture of relics: Confederate flags and statues, megachurches, the Old Testament, guns, subordinate women and macho men, small towns, backyard barbecues and opioids.
The dominant culture has plowed right through the fossil culture, like a cavalry charge through disorganized infantry. Now the infantry are regrouping, forming a square, and they’ve grabbed a loudmouth sergeant they like because he curses the officers behind their backs and made him their Colonel.
Stalemate for now. The stalemate will be broken in about nine months unless someone arrests the loudmouth sergeant before then.
I really doubt that this is a general problem. People who identify as Republicans seem incapable of judging a news source beyond “Do they support my team?” I really don’t see the Independents and the Dems drinking the same koolaid
@teve tory: Yeah, but Ted Cruz is waiting in the wings. I think he might pull of the transition.
Cruz is scary but doesn’t have trump’s appeal. We’ve def seen from his base that they’ll throw away any principle for powet.
@teve tory: “Every condition you need for fascism exists currently in the US except two: 1) a serious economic downturn”
Oopsie. And then there was one.
The stock market isn’t the economy, but I do expect a recession in the next couple of years.
More than once I have noted the decline in the quality, respect, and professionalism of many news media outlets. Most are giving slanted propaganda instead of the facts. The news now has to be sensationalized: “breaking news” (it isn’t). Many of the commentators now resort to berating and hollering at their guests and each other. I used to watch CNN and am saddened at their shocking decline in the last few years. Their lack of professionalism would not have occurred under Ted Turner’s watch.
I have moved on to alternative sources that report the news, offering interesting information, and a positive atmosphere that the whole family can watch.
No doubt that the news industry is undergoing a total transformation, a reformation of sorts. We miss Conkrite, Brinkley, Reasoner, Murrow, Smith, and the amazing Charles Kuralt. We miss professionals.
Most are giving slanted propaganda instead of the facts.
See Fox News
“We distort. You run and hide.”