Majority of journalists worried about press freedom restrictions
72% of journalists are worried about the development of the news industry using negative when asked to describe it. 57% are extremely or very concerned about future restrictions of press freedom. 71% say made up news and information is a very big problem for the country compared to 50% of adults who say the same.
These are results of a survey comprising close to 12 000 US journalist and published by the Washington-based Pew Research Center.
Americans on the whole are significantly more likely to say the news media is doing a bad job than a good job. 65% of journalists say news organizations do a very or somewhat good job reporting the news accurately, 35% of the public agrees, while 43% of US adults say journalists do a bad job of this.
Despite their worries, 70% say they are very or somewhat satisfied with their job and 77% would pursue a career in journalism again. 75% are extremely or very proud of their work.
At the same time, four-in-ten journalists say that news organizations are generally doing a bad job managing or correcting misinformation.
“A large majority of journalists say they come across misinformation at least sometimes when they are working on a story, and while most say they are confident in their ability to recognize it, about a quarter of reporting journalists (26%) say they have unknowingly reported on a story that was later found to contain false information”, the study says.
The survey asked journalists what they think is the best approach to coverage when a public figure makes a false statement. 64% say the best approach is to “report on the statement because it is important for the public to know about” rather than to “not report on the statement because it gives attention to the falsehoods and the public figure” (32%).
“Still, there is no consensus that opposing views always warrant equal coverage. What historically may have been considered a standard norm of journalism (and even a requirement for broadcast stations in their election coverage) seems, in today’s political environment, to be facing a reevaluation as heated debate ensues around the issue of “bothsidesism” – whether news outlets should be committed to always giving equal attention to all sides of an issue”, the Pew concludes.
55% say that in reporting the news, every side does not always deserve equal coverage while 44% say journalists should always strive to give every side equal coverage.
“On the other hand, journalists express wide support for another long-standing norm of journalism: keeping their own views out of their reporting. 82% say journalists should do this, although there is far less consensus over whether journalists meet this standard. Just 55% think journalists are largely able to keep their views out of their reporting, while 43% say journalists are often unable to.”
Even as they recognize audience leanings, journalists express deep concerns over political sorting in news consumption habits, with three-quarters of those surveyed saying it is a major problem when people with the same political views get their news from the same news organizations, the survey says.
“The American public, however, appears much less worried: Roughly four-in-ten US adults (39%) say this a major problem.”
“The survey’s results show that journalists recognize that the public views them and their work with deep skepticism. When asked what one word they think the public would use to describe the news industry these days, journalists overwhelmingly give negative responses, with many predicting that the public would describe the news media as “inaccurate,” “untrustworthy,” “biased” or “partisan.”
Only 14% of journalists surveyed say they think the US public has a great deal or fair amount of trust in the information it gets from news organizations these days. 44% believe that Americans as a whole have some trust, 42% say little to no trust.
“When a similar question was posed to the general public, 29% of US adults say they have at least a fair amount of trust in the information they get from news outlets, while 27% say they have some trust and 44% have little to none.
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