Is the public losing trust in news?

By Sean Previl

With news media becoming more prevalent across a variety of mediums, a recent poll by The MediaPlex shows that the public no longer trusts that their news is remaining factual and unbiased.

The poll showed 72 per cent believe there is some form of bias in news media.

Colin Rowley, 22, a political science student at the University of Toronto, said he believes media is biased because advertisers influence their direction.

“There’s selective reporting to appease advertisers,” said Rowley. “If a company is a subsidiary of a larger company, you can expect more favourable reviews of their products or events or less overall coverage of competitors.”

Windsor resident Eugene Di Rocco, 35, said he believes political parties can also hold sway over the direction a newsroom takes due to their financial support.

“Political parties inject so much money into media and so you have different news medias that are supported by that party,” said Di Rocco. “So the news that you’re given is basically scripted and approved by people to make sure that it’s benefitting them.”

The results further showed 43 per cent of those who found bias in news said they believed no form of news is factual, with 31 per cent of the “news is bias” group finding only newspapers unbiased and 26 per cent found television and radio as more truthful as opposed to print.

Di Rocco said the reason for thesevarying results may come from how visual and audio news is usually given and what people have to ask themselves while watching or listening to the information.

“You tend to get first hand knowledge, but you also get a lot of exaggeration,” said Di Rocco.  “It’s a matter of not getting one account, you have to get 15, 20, 25 accounts to say ‘okay, what’s real and what’s bullshit.’”

While results showed 72 per cent found bias in their news, there was still 28 per cent that said they believed local news is truthful.

Christine Smith, 57, said no matter what medium she’s receiving her news from, it gives accurate information of what is occurring in the city.

“These people go to school to be educated in journalism and with that comes an added sense that they’re not going to lie to the public,” said Smith. “I have yet to see any of Windsor’s journalists caught in huge lies.”

The poll also suggested online news, which had a 97 per cent rate for news intake, was seen as biased but at a lower rate, with 69 per cent finding some type of bias and 31 per cent having no issue.

Smith said she thinks online media, which can include social networking sites, can be beneficial for its ability to give up to date news as it happens.

“Social media let’s you know what’s happening in your community as it happens rather than waiting for the six o’clock news,” said Smith.

Di Rocco said the issue with relying on online or even newsin general is, aside from broadcast television, it takes away the human connection.

“It’s hard to lie to a person’s face,” said Di Rocco. “But it’s a lot easier to lie over the phone and it is even easier to lie to a person through print.”

The poll of 80 Windsorites was conducted Nov. 18 to 29 and was composed of 40 surveys done online and 40 through personal interaction.