Public Mistrust of Media Grows

Harvard researches have had a blinding flash of the obvious:

Cambridge, MA— Most Americans do not trust what they hear or read in media coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign. Poll results just released by the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and the Merriman River Group show that 62% of those surveyed are distrustful of campaign media coverage and that same percentage think that the media does a poor job of separating their own opinions from the facts in their reporting. The public’s trust has not improved since one year ago, when a statistically equivalent 64% said they did not trust the media’s election coverage.

Among the reasons for the lack of trust:

-89% agree or strongly agree that the news media focuses too much on trivial issues
-77% agree or strongly agree that the news media is politically biased
-82% agree or strongly agree that media coverage has too much influence on who Americans vote for
-And, to a large extent, negative coverage appears to be responsible for this influence; 42% say the media has influenced their vote against a candidate through negative coverage, while only 28% say it has influenced their vote for a candidate through positive coverage.

Certainly the media is going to come out of this election a loser no matter who wins. Their endless shilling for Obama, willful ignorance of his background and associations while digging for every little tidbit about Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber, and treating voters like they're idiots will give them even less influence int the future.