Americans continue to distrust newspapers and television news
Confidence in US newspapers and television news continues to be abysmal, according to a recent Gallup poll. On average, only 25 percent of US adults reported having a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers, while only 22 percent reported having a similar degree of confidence in television news. The results were part of the annual Confidence in Institutions survey conducted in July 2010 by Gallup.
American confidence in these mainstream news sources has declined considerably since 1990. Newspapers enjoyed a confidence level of 39 percent in 1990. Television news could boast an enviable 46 percent confidence level as of 1993. Ironically, confidence in television news has fallen faster and further than confidence in newspapers. I take some measure of comfort in this statistic since I work as a newspaper journalist rather than as a broadcast journalist!
The good news – for those who are willing to adapt
The survey does include a surprising bright spot. I expected confidence to be highest among the 65+ age demographic. However, the 65+ demographic is a distant second place for confidence in the news – and only marginally greater than that among other adults. The demographic with the greatest degree of confidence in the news media is 18- to 29-year-old adults! This surprised me as I expected the young adult demographic to be the most cynical of mainstream news sources. According to this survey, 49 percent of adults in the 18- to 29-year-old demographic identify themselves as having a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers! The news for television news is not nearly so positive though, with only 24 percent of the same young-adult demographic expressing confidence in television news.
This information identifies an opportunity that newspaper publishers cannot afford to miss. Young adults, in dramatically greater numbers than any other adult demographic, trust their newspaper. Twice the number of these young adults trust the newspaper as trust the television news. This represents an opportunity for newspaper publishers to capture a young audience who may well continue to be readers for the next 50 years. However, I suspect this confidence could easily be lost if newspapers are not careful to deliver unbiased, accurate news. Following the tabloid path that much of cable news has followed (and too many mainstream daily newspapers have also followed) could quickly erode the confidence of young adults.
The 18- to 29-year-old demographic is also a technologically savvy group. Rupert Murdoch has been quoted for referring to Apple’s new iPad as being a “game-changer” for the news media industry. Murdoch may be right with is assessment. Both Murdoch and Apple have track records of knowing where consumers will want to spend their money. The iPad stands to revolutionize the tablet market and, in turn, open new opportunities for news organizations that currently struggle to remain profitable in an Internet economy.
The biggest challenge for the news industry to cash in on this tech-savvy demographic may be that while 18- to 29-year-olds trust newspapers they also read national newspapers the least. The question will be whether national newspapers with the resources to deploy cutting-edge digital content options can win the readership of this demographic or, alternatively, if local newspapers are able to adapt to the digital age and successfully and profitably deliver their digital information product to a demographic that trusts the newspaper considerably more than the television competition.
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