When it comes to reporting on important issues like guns, gun ownership and violent crime, the so-called “mainstream” media nearly always comes down on the wrong side of the issue. In fact, you will seldom hear CNN or MSNBC say anything positive about guns or gun ownership, but they’ll blast coverage of the latest mass shooting wall-to-wall for 24 hours straight.
That’s why it was heartening to see a recent report from NRA-ILA detailing a recent study that found 13- to 18-year-old Americans distrust the so-called “mainstream” media even more than adults do—and that’s saying a lot!
The study is called “Biased,” “Bored” and “Bad,” and was published in November by the News Literacy Project (NLP), “nonpartisan education nonprofit that works with teachers, school districts, states and community partners” to ensure that students receive news literacy instruction by the time they graduate from high school.
Some of the interesting takeaways from the research included almost half of teens (45%) said journalists do more to harm democracy than to protect it, only a little over half of teens (56%) believed that journalists and news organizations take journalism standards such as accuracy and fairness seriously in their work, the majority of teens (80%) said that journalists fail to produce information that is more impartial than other content creators online and nearly seven in 10 teens (69%) thought that news organizations intentionally add bias to coverage to advance a specific perspective.
Also of interest is the fact the majority of teens view news media in a negative light.
“An overwhelming majority of teens (84%) express a negative sentiment when asked what word best describes news media these days,” the study’s Key Findings section stated. “Words or phrases teens use most frequently are those synonymous with being inaccurate and deceptive, such as ‘Fake,’ ‘False’ and ‘Lies,’ or invoking chaos and overwhelm, such as ‘Crazy,’ ‘Chaotic’ and ‘Wild.’”
Also of interest is the revelation that more teens believe professional journalists regularly engage in unethical behaviors than they believe journalists regularly engage in standards-based practices.
“Roughly half of teens or more believe that journalists always, almost always or often engage in the following unethical behaviors: ‘give advertisers special treatment’ (49%), ‘make up details, such as quotes’ (50%), pay or do favors for sources’ (51%) or ‘take photos and videos out of context’ (60%),” the section stated. “In contrast, only about a third or a quarter believe that journalists frequently engage in the following standards-based practices: ‘correct errors when they happen’ (23%), ‘gather information from multiple sources’ (29%), ‘confirm facts before reporting them’ (30%) or ‘cover stories to help protect the public’s interests’ (31%).”
Additionally, according to the study, more teens believe journalists are skilled at lying and deceiving than at informing the public.
“When asked to think of one thing they think journalists are doing well, roughly 1 in 3 teens (37%) offer negative feedback, saying things such as lying and deceiving (81 responses) or that journalists don’t do anything well (66 responses),” the study stated. “Among teens who had positive feedback for what journalists are doing well, informing the public (52 responses) and uncovering the truth (46 responses) are most frequently mentioned.”
These findings are particularly interesting when juxtaposed with the most recent Gallup Poll that revealed that overall trust and confidence in mass media has fallen to a new low, as only 28% of respondents felt a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. The vast majority of respondents (70%) said they had either “not very much” confidence or “none at all.”
Ultimately, young Americans’ realization that big media aren’t the go-to source for truth is a good thing for the future of gun rights and the Second Amendment. If they don’t believe “mainstream” media’s lies, perhaps they won’t jump on their anti-gun bandwagon once they have reached voting age.
Read the full article here
