It seems that the American public increasingly distrusts the news media and feels that it is "too hard on America." A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that people are "overwhelmingly disatisified" with the news.
This study was conducted in early June, just when Democrats were stepping up their criticism of the news media, so perhaps people’s opinions have changed regarding the news with the recent developments of the news leaking scandal. In general, Democrats favored the news media more than Republicans, but the survey also found that Democrats were becoming more critical of the media in recent months; for different reasons. "A majority of Democrats (54 percent) said the coverage has not been critical enough, writes Katherine Seelye in the New York Times about the survey. "That is a substantial jump from a year ago, when only 39 percent held that view."
"Republicans increasingly express the view that the press is excessively critical of the United States," the survey said, with 67 percent agreeing with that statement now compared with 42 percent in July 2002. About a quarter of Democrats say news organizations are too critical, the same level as three years ago, writes Seelye. "Any good will that the news media earned after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, appears to have eroded. In November 2001, fully 69 percent of all respondents said that the news media stood up for America. Only 17 percent found it too critical."
Seelye also writes: "At the same time, 60 percent said that the news media did a good job of protecting democracy while only 19 percent said they were hurting democracy. Now, only 47 percent say the news media protect democracy and 33 percent say they hurt it … A growing political divide is evident behind this response as well. Two years ago, 31 percent of Republicans said that news organizations were hurting democracy; now, 43 percent agree with that view. Democrats have held relatively stable views on the subject, with 56 percent saying the news media help democracy."
