As they behave as if they are a vaunted industry the press is roundly dismissed by  the general public.

In yet another example of the mainstream media continuing to lose ground with the general public a recent survey conducted by Ipsos shows that the trust the general public holds in the media is exceedingly low, and dropping. The British survey firm asked respondents to rate their level of trust in a particular field, and the returns are dismal for those plying their trade in journalism.

At the top of the list are some of the expected fields. Nurses and doctors are in the top two positions, each standing with over 90% trust approval. Ranked just below them are engineers, and teachers. The telling aspect is seen at the bottom of the list. 

Advertising Executives are in the basement, with only 15% trust found from the public and just barely ranking better are Politicians, at a dismal 16%. Then, just a couple of places above are Journalists, severely underwater with a lowly 23% trust rating. There is a slight difference found, curiously, with on-air newscasters, who came in with a still unimpressive 50% trust approval. 

.@ICE_engineers My now annual good news tweet – engineers are among the most trusted professions (3rd top in this graphic) via @IpsosMORI Veracity Index | Details: https://t.co/iBXZomuLLj pic.twitter.com/lI3lCCWXFC

— Ben Marshall (@BenM_IM) November 26, 2020

These are not just poor results; for both Journalists and the Newscasters the bad numbers are a dropoff from previous years. The Newscasters had not previously been lower than 60% going back decades, averaging 65-75% approval. As for the Journalists they have occupied a lower strata for some time, but have even managed to underperform from that lowly position. In the past couple of years they whittled off four percentage points, with over 70% of respondents now regarding them as untrustworthy. 

This is the state of our current media. They pose as if they are the influence makers and how they usher in what is the correct and proper way of regarding the world. The truth — a word with which they seem perpetually in battle — is something they will never want to acknowledge. Their influence is not anywhere near where they assume it to be, which makes their posturing and condescension all the more difficult to tolerate. 

When the press occupies a level of trust with the public that is barely above that of politicians and ad executives they should do something they will never attempt — self examining what their problems are with the population.