posted May 25, 2017 02:44 PM            

Poll: Majority says mainstream media publishes fake news
Jonathan Easley
05/24/17

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the mainstream press is full of fake news, a sentiment that is held by a majority of voters across the ideological spectrum.

According to data from the latest Harvard-Harris poll, which was provided exclusively to The Hill, 65 percent of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media.

That number includes 80 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats. Eighty-four percent of voters said it is hard to know what news to believe online.

“Much of the media is now just another part of the partisan divide in the country with Republicans not trusting the ‘mainstream’ media and Democrats seeing them as reflecting their beliefs,” said Harvard-Harris co-director Mark Penn. “Every major institution from the presidency to the courts is now seen as operating in a partisan fashion in one direction or the other.”

President Trump has railed against the “fake news” media, casting the press as the “opposition party” and opening the White House to once-fringe outlets, to the frustration of the mainstream press.

The president’s critics have accused him of using the “fake news” moniker for any story that casts him in a negative light.

Many conservatives believe the media has dramatically loosened its reporting standards when it comes to Trump, taking an anything-goes approach and running with anonymously sourced material that it would never print about a more traditional Republican or Democratic administration.

A cottage industry of conservative media critics has sprung up online to draw attention to the salacious details about Trump that spread across social media or are aggregated countless times before they’re revealed to be mischaracterized or untrue.

The net affect is that Trump’s image, and public trust in the media, are at all-time lows.

Trump’s job approval rating is at 45 percent approval and 55 percent disapproval in the latest Harvard-Harris survey. Gallup’s annual survey on public trust in the media — conducted before the election — found that only 32 percent trusted the press.

However, the Harvard-Harris survey found that 60 percent of all voters believe Trump is treating the press unfairly. Only 48 percent said the media is treating Trump unfairly.

“Voters show concern about direct attacks on the media by the president even when they have questions about it,” Penn said.

The Trump administration has been dogged by an unprecedented string of government leaks in recent weeks that have played out in the major newspapers, including media stories about the president asking fired FBI Director James Comey to pull back from an investigation and another about how he revealed classified information about a terrorist plot to Russian diplomats during an Oval Office meeting.

At hearings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, former CIA director John Brennan and director of national intelligence Dan Coats expressed deep concerns with the leaks, which were printed in the New York Times and Washington Post, respectively.

Seventy-four percent of voters say the leaks are a serious matter that should be investigated, including 84 percent of Democrats.

However, 62 percent say that journalistic organizations that publish information — even if it is received illegally, through hacking — should be protected by law.

“It is very clear in the poll that overwhelming majorities of the country take leaks and potential political unmasking of members of the Trump campaign in wiretapped conversations merit full and even independent investigation,” Penn said.

The Harvard-Harris online survey of 2,006 registered voters was conducted between May 17 and May 20. The partisan breakdown is 36 percent Democrat, 32 percent Republican, 29 percent independent and 3 percent other. The poll uses a methodology that doesn't produce a traditional margin of error.

posted May 25, 2017 03:14 PM            

Shhhh! Donald Trump is Doing Well
Melissa Mackenzie
May 22, 2017

The Many Ways the Media Manipulates News

Media bias infects coverage of Republicans in general and President Trump in particular a couple ways:

1.Outright lies that may or may not be quietly corrected later [Ivanka receive $1,000,000 just like the Clinton Foundation]

2.Vague innuendo and damning implications from unnamed sources [Anything Russia]

3.Distorting facts or situations [Melania Trump won’t be a real First Lady]

4.Taking statements or actions out-of-context or not reporting context [PTSD with soldiers]

5.Over-emphasizing a small, throwaway story and making it huge [Donald Trump’s ketchup on steak]

6.Not reporting positive stories at all…

It’s this last category of media bias that’s affecting the Trump overseas trip.

Donald Trump gave a solid, compelling speech in Saudi Arabia. He was welcomed warmly. He was treated respectfully. Both Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump made cultural inroads with their dress, communication, and connection to people there.

On Twitter, the habitat for media bottom-dwellers, it was nigh unto silent. Because there wasn’t anything negative to say, the media said nothing at all. There were no gaffes to jeer. There were no missteps. There was grace, competence, and a relatively dignified exchange there.

Today, the children who call themselves journalists got distracted by a literal shining orb. The advantage of talking about the orb is that the media doesn’t have to report the positive substance that happened in Saudi Arabia.

The children are also making memes out of President Trump saying a prayer at the West Wall. It’s easier to do that than to acknowledge that this was a historic trip by a United States president.

Where President Obama was promoted as a god of diplomacy and regality, President Trump is reduced to a cartoon.

And so it goes.

I had dinner with some Republican friends Friday night who voted for but didn’t particularly like Donald Trump. Today, far from being fed up with the President, they’re livid with the press. White hot hatred might be too mild an assessment of their rage toward a media they feel is hypocritical, unfair, and overtly biased. These folks are mild political followers. Yet they’re furious.

Why is it that the media cannot just cover the President straight? Why must the reporting be shrill, nasty, biting, and all-too-often, false?

Through his unconventional candidacy then presidency, Donald Trump has provoked the media into revealing themselves for the bitter partisans they are. While all of D.C. enjoys the chaos and fomenting distrust, Americans are disgusted with the media.

The media believes they’re in the driver seat again. Their nasty ways are helping Trump even as they seek to destroy him.

http://spectator.org/shhhh-donald-trump-is-doing-well/

"Their nasty ways are helping Trump even as they seek to destroy him".

posted May 25, 2017 04:47 PM            

However, the Harvard-Harris survey found that 60 percent of all voters believe Trump is treating the press unfairly. Only 48 percent said the media is treating Trump unfairly.

posted May 25, 2017 11:50 PM            

But they're fine with the Trumpettes not doing so

It was Trump who pushed shock and outrage that the Clintons took donations for human rights work from the Saudis.

But its fine for Trumpco to take their money just for profit and its fine when the Saudis donate to a foundation Ivanka supports. Who cares if its her foundation. Same donors.

Trump gave a "great speech" where he totally sucked up to the "wonderful" people he excoriated during his campaign. He started by saying its not our job to tell them how to run their countries and ended by doing just that.

It was "apologetic" for a tall man, Obama, to bow low to a shorter man, the Saudi King but not for Trump, another tall man, to kneel..

Its disgraceful that Obama has Dijon on his burger but stupid (and fake) for anyone to mention Trump eating twice as much ice cream as he gives his guests

It was Rupert Murdoch who defended his lying News outlets including Fox by declaring there's "no law the news has to be truth"

Its heroic of Assange to protect his sources

But when the NYT does so it's proof that they're fake

All news requires discernment in the reading. But some people think only the stories they don't like are fake.. and our current president is a prime example.

Heres some fake news

Trump claimed the Times and Post are losing readers.. their circulation has shot up since they refused to be intimidated by the insults of your fearless leader.

Also interesting that the OP here was presented as a condemnation of the corporate media.. but the poster ignored the fact that more people think the Prez's treatment is a bigger problem than the media itself.

Oh and i noticed today that in defending against claims that the Russians interfered in our election it was insisted that no voting was tampered with.

So what happened to all those fake votes that gave HRC the popular majority?

posted May 26, 2017 12:48 AM            

So you said.

So he bowed. Courtesy( not curtsie) to a smaller man.

I was disappointed that the Obama regime went along with the Saudis and MI complex as much as they did and continued to do business with SaudArabia.

posted May 26, 2017 07:32 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Randall:
Did Russians tamper with voting machines? Yes or no? Did undocumented immigrants vote? Do they vote Democrat? Bonus Question: Why do you think Dems are against voter ID laws?

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This isn`t kindergarten. The issues are not black and white but more complex than that Randall.

No blood evidence, no dna yet here is enough circumstancial evidence to hang em all.

I never dreamed I`d see the day you would defend Putin for the ilk of a shady businessman.

posted May 26, 2017 09:36 AM            

Even 53% of democrats recognize they're being fed a steady diet of Fake News.

That speaks volumes about the 47% of democrats who don't recognize Fake News when they see it.

posted May 26, 2017 03:05 PM            

Again jwhop ignores the fact that more people find DTs assault on the press disturbing than they do the actual press coverage. Perhaps because they can tell when they are being lied to despite your belief that the average reader is a moron?

posted May 26, 2017 03:14 PM            

I don't believe anyone has suggested the Russians hacked voting machines, tho there were many complaints during primaries and election of machines altering people's votes and party registrations and they weren't all to Clinton by a long shot.

ALL I have said is that innocent people should be welcoming, not badmouthing, investigation. DT makes himself look bad by trying to discredit what hasn't even been suggested.. that he is thr culprit. That is not the same as saying he is guilty.. but it raises suspicion.

posted May 26, 2017 04:50 PM            

quote:

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I don't believe anyone has suggested the Russians hacked voting machines,

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Exactly. It`s another grade school diversion.

posted May 27, 2017 03:41 AM            

Day One
Repeal Obamacare
Crush ISIS