In these unprecedented times, with a presidential election and global pandemic impacting millions of lives on a daily basis, accurate and efficient information communication is essential now more than ever. Unfortunately, a recent Gallup poll found that 60% of Americans do not trust mass media to fairly and accurately report the news. What is causing this media distrust and underperformance? How can we trust the media to inform us of vital news in an unbiased and timely manner?

A 2020 Pew Research Center poll found that 80% of Americans think that their news is at least somewhat influenced by financial and corporate interests. Interestingly, a different poll found that Republican trust in mass media hit a record low in 2020, as 58% have “no confidence” in the media at all. For Democrats, this number was only at 6%, with 73% of Democrats agreeing that they trust the media “a fair amount” or “a great deal”.

The same Pew Research Center poll found that many Americans have issues with the lack of transparency in news organizations, especially regarding their funding (72%), conflicts of interest (60%), selection of sources (57%), accuracy (55%), and production (51%). It also found that Republicans were more likely to think that malintent drove media errors, with 60% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents citing the desire to mislead as a major factor contributing to mistakes in the news, compared with 32% of Democrats.

To find out more…

…about how this group contributes to the fight for information quality, I interviewed Alex Kotch, an investigative reporter and contributor to Exposed by CMD, the media group which publishes findings from the original research done by the CMD. Kotch’s reporting follows the money behind the closed doors of political collaborations, and he has investigated firsthand the role that corruption plays in US politics. 

I asked him…

…about the increasing bipartisan polarization in politics, and he explained that the internet has catalyzed the transformation of the media sphere into its toxic, and often misinforming, current state. Kotch also spoke about the domination of well-funded media groups, particularly partisan ones, over independent nonpartisan news, a topic that is particularly salient now, since the media is being dominated by unregulated media monopolies and politicized narratives, many of which are so often focused on competition that the facts of the news take a backseat to the sensationalism of the story.

Popular media is increasingly described with terms like ‘misinformation’, ‘disinformation’ and ‘propaganda’, often used interchangeably. In fact, misinformation refers only to information that is by definition false, incomplete, or misleading, whereas disinformation is false information that is intentionally spread to mislead people. By contrast, propaganda defines information that can be true, but is used intentionally to disparage opposing viewpoints.

Though Americans have seen their fair share of misinformation, especially in the past few months and years, most of the outright disinformation is still found on social media platforms. Mainstream television and online news media, however biased they may be, still largely refrain from telling lies and censoring information. This is not the case in many other countries, like Russia, which still employs propaganda media, has a World Press Freedom ranking of 149 out of 180, and has reports of journalists killed or imprisoned every year.

While the US is not in immediate danger of dropping from the ‘satisfactory’ category and joining Russia in the ‘dangerous’ category of the World Press Freedom Index, it is nonetheless crucial to acknowledge the state of press freedom and media trust in powerful countries like Russia. Comparing the US and Russia in terms of media distrust in their relative contexts illuminates the dangerous path that lies ahead for the US if press freedom is not protected, as well as opportunities for improvement in the ‘satisfactory’ US media sphere, through recognition of the continued struggle for independent news in the ‘dangerous’ Russian media sphere.

In Russia, trust in broadcast media as a source of information dropped 5% since 2016 to 23% in 2020. Russians mainly get their news from the internet, on both official as well as social sites, and television broadcast news. In terms of trust in the media, Russians trust official analytical sites the most at 39%, with television taking 2nd place at 23% and social media sites taking 3rd place with 16%. Interestingly, discussion with other people came in fourth at only 8%, meaning Russians trust people online more than they do people in person. This can make the information finding process even more difficult for Russian journalists.

To hear about what it’s like being a journalist in Russia, I interviewed Dmitry Saltykovsky, a Moscow-based roving journalist and producer who has produced and reported a myriad of international and domestic short and long form news stories, gaining access to hard-to-reach areas, stories, and individuals. His coverage includes international and domestic politics, wars and revolutions, and major events, especially in the ex-USSR region, and he has collaborated with media professionals from renowned programs like Reuters, Vice, and BBC World.

He told me about…

…the biggest issue facing Russian journalism over the past 10 years: self-censorship. In his words “journalism in Russia does not exist”, because it is not actively developing as any creative specialty should be. According to Saltykovsky, Russian journalists practice self-censorship out of fear, knowing that they have few options for work if they choose to speak out against the government, especially if they work for a pro-government news group.

While US media…

…is largely influenced by corporate interests, and dominated with polarizing sensationalism, Russian media is dominated by the Kremlin, and largely perpetuates one narrative while restricting dissenting viewpoints. For this reason, author-style independent journalism has recently gained popularity in Russia, with some of the most popular online news sources being YouTube shows starring known individuals in the Russia media sphere, like Yury Dud and Aleksey Pivovarov. 

Fascinatingly, while US media would likely benefit from distancing itself from social media in order to restore content quality, Russian media is benefiting from its dependence on commonly used social media sites, like Facebook and Instagram, but also Russian sites like Vkontakte and Telegram, to spread their content without a state-approved news channel.

Saltykovsky finally noted that the mere existence of independent and quality content does not guarantee that people, especially the younger generation, will actually read it, let alone act on it. In his view, it is now up to the generation born in the 2000’s to start looking for information, identifying bias, forming their own opinions, and acting to change the media sphere into one that works for them.