The Public Lacks Trust In Journalism And Journalism

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10. In a December 2013 Gallup poll, newspaper reporters and TV reporters ranked slightly above lawyers and slightly below local politicians in terms of the public 's view on honesty and ethical standards. Only 21 percent of those polled said newspaper reporters had very high or high ethical standards, and 20 percent said the same of TV reporters. Write an essay based in mass media theory on why the public lacks trust in journalists and journalism.

What’s the Deal With Media?: Journalism’s Social Responsibility and the Lack of Public Trust

New communications technologies and scandals of reporters fabricating stories have influenced the public’s perception and trust in the media. In 2013, Gallup released a poll that asked Americans to rate the honesty and ethical standards of various professions. Compared to nurses at 82%, only 21% and 20% of Americans found newspaper reporters and TV reporters, respectively, trustworthy and having the highest ethical standards (Swift, 2013). Limited-effects theory and social responsibility theory can help to understand why there is a steady decline of public trust in regards to journalists and journalism.
Technology has changed the way news is disseminated and how quickly media can release its content. …show more content…

Communications theorists Harold Lasswell and Walter Lippmann argued that “media practitioners can’t be trusted to communicate responsibly or to use media effectively to serve vital public needs–especially during times of war or social upheaval (Baran & Davis, 2009, p. 99). This proves to be true, as media receives information about such issues directly from the government. It is ultimately the government’s decision on what will be shared with the media that will then be shared with the public. Society may lose faith in the media’s accuracy because of their partnership with the government, seeing the news as

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