The Morning Consult conducted an in depth poll of over 2,000 adults between April 25 and April 26, 2017, and the results are brutal for the mainstream establishment media, which may be why they have either not reported it, or have downplayed it and moved along to another topic as fast as their little fingers could type.
BY THE NUMBERS
The survey results are astounding in what they tell us about how the MSM is perceived, whether they are reporting "fairly" on President Trump's administration (the majority says no), and whether they can be "trusted" in what they are reporting, as well as 51 percent of American adults believing the MSM is "out of touch with everyday Americans," with only 28 percent saying "national political media understands the issues everyday Americans are facing." (Page 39)
The stunner which isn't reported until toward the end of the Morning Consult article on the poll, is that 73 percent of American adults see "fake news" reported by by the "national political media, such as national newspapers or network news broadcasts."
The break down is almost as important as the numbers themselves as 25 percent see "fake news" in the MSM more than once a day, 17 percent seeing it "about once a day," 11 percent say "about once every few days," 7 percent say "about once a week," and 13 percent "less often than once a week." (Page 21)
Just as interesting, considering we have seen the MSM run on non-stop about "social media" and fake news, 75 percent of American adults noting "fake news" on social media such as Fakebook and Twitter. (Page 18)
With a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, that Americans see the MSM in a statistical tie with social media on offering "fake news," blows their whole argument of "fake news influenced the election" right out of the water. Since social media platforms offer links to news from all over the web, including MSM links, the data does not bode well for establishment media.
Another interesting set of statistics in this Morning Consult poll is that while a majority of Americans tend to think search engines, and social media, are responsible for ensuring the public doesn't see "fake news," an even higher majority believe it is "the person reading the news," that is more responsible for doing their own due diligence in ensuring the veracity of the news. ([Page 36)
Last but not least, more Americans trust the Trump administration to tell them the truth than they do the media, 37 to 29 percent. While the Morning Consult calls that "slightly more," in polling and elections, the MSM would be calling a 8 percentage point lead a "landslide."
The break down on that is highly interesting as well, with 74 percent of Republicans trusting President Trump more than the media, but only 54 percent of Democrats trusting the media more than the White House. The partisan break down is to be expected, so it comes down to the Independents, which shows that "more than half saying they didn’t trust national news outlets to cover the White House fairly and that they trusted Trump more."
Full poll results, including three page demographic break downs per question, in their 48 page PDF.
THE AWAKENING MASSES
Frankly while the numbers show how little confidence the public has in the MSM now, it is those last two points mentioned above, which are the most critical. For decades the MSM has held a stranglehold on telling their audience what they should be paying attention to, what they think, basically controlling them and the narrative, and influencing them, and during the 2016 election they realized one critical point.... those days are gone.
Which is we have seen unintended truths come out of media personalities mouths, such as when MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski said on air that President Trump was undermining the media's message and able to "control exactly what people think," before saying "That is the, that is our job."
FLASHBACK February 2017:
That one sentence said it all. The MSM believes it their "job" to "control exactly what people think," and despite multiple media personalities admitting they simply didn't connect with the "heartland" or middle America, they are still trying to control the masses to this day, from their skewed reporting with 88 percent of their reporting about the Trump administration in the first month being "hostile" according to a study by Media Research Center, to this knee jerk "the world is ending" reporting on almost every single action taken by the White House.
Which brings us to an extreme disconnect that I have been noticing of late across the Internet, specifically at Independent news sites and forums and comment sections. The very same people that distrust the MSM, that speak out against it, that acknowledge they constantly treat everything president Trump does like it is the end of the world, will still quote them as evidence of Trump's "betrayal" to his supporters.
Let me offer an example: The media has been gleefully highlighting that President Trump has not pulled out of NAFTA, acting like it was a broken promise, so I received an email which stated "Another Trump reversal and likely BS on his part. It appears he is firmly in bed with the globalist cabal," with a link to a NEWSMAX article which stated "President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries," said the White House."
While I rarely respond to emails from a list serv I did not join, but was added to, I did highlight Trump's Contract with the American Voter, which states clearly "FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205."
First, his contract only stated he would "announce" his intention. He has, multiple times. Secondly, the hyperbole and implication that he betrayed his supporters for not pulling out, in no way reflected the actual promise, which was kept the second he announced his intention, nor the did the emailer even acknowledge that he always intended to renegotiate first, and pull out if he couldn't negotiate a fair deal.
Make no mistake, there are actions he has not carried out, such as naming China a currency manipulator as one example, but the point is, even people that do not trust the media, are allowing the media to manipulate them with "fake news," using it against those that opposed a Clinton presidency, by enraging Trump supporters, until they learn the truth, then doing it over and over again, until they have created the divide between those supporters and Trump.
It is psychological warfare and their desperate attempt to take back control of the narrative, influence Americans and once again "control exactly people think."
The masses are awakening, but at the same time some are still allowing the MSM to manipulate them. It is understandable after decades of media misleading, offering fake news or inaccuraate news that goes viral, then much later simply adding a, "editors note" or a correction when no one will really see it, thereby enforcing a false narrative that is remembered while the truth is forgotten.
The same rule of thumb should be used with the MSM as we recommend with Independent Media, including ANP, always demand links to the writers assertions, then follow those links because a reader may see something they find more important to them than what the writer found to be a priority.
The MSM would rather do the thinking and "control exactly what people think," but we believe that while we also offer our opinions, it is up to readers look at the facts, follow the links to the originating documents or data, research more if what is provided isn't adequate and come to their own conclusions.
That is the difference between the MSM and Independent Media, they don't want you to think, we do.
