The University of Missouri protesters' recent ousting of media coverage on campus is a symptom of a wider distrust of the news media.
A Gallup poll released this year found that Americans trust the news media to do their jobs less than ever in 2012 and 2014 with just four out of every 10 Americans saying they trust the media.
This downward trend can be felt nearly everywhere recently, especially among Republican presidential candidates who feel they're being treated unfairly in media-hosted debates and in campaign coverage.
The perception of media bias, conservative and liberal alike, is seen not as a possibility within news outlets any longer, as the New York Times' Room for Debate section reported, but an inevitability.
To Washington Times columnist Timothy P. Carney, the problem is mostly a liberal bias that can alienate conservative Americans.
"Clustering of left-of-center viewpoints in the newsroom leads to a cloistering, and thus reporters end up unfamiliar with conservative viewpoints," Carney wrote.
While bias is certainly a possibility for the downturn in public trust in the media, Brooke Gladstone of WNYC's "On the Media" argued that the audience's desires have changed and the news media has likely changed in kind.
"Americans say they want accuracy and impartiality, but the polls suggest that, actually, most of us are seeking affirmation," Gladstone wrote.
For those who think mainstream news outlets are biased, Gladstone says one bright spot is that the Internet has offered them a way to voice their dissatisfaction.
"Now the marginalized can speedily gather, demand recognition and challenge the prevailing narratives," Gladstone wrote. "This happens every day and its far better than the alternative."
A Gallup poll released this year found that Americans trust the news media to do their jobs less than ever in 2012 and 2014 with just four out of every 10 Americans saying they trust the media.
This downward trend can be felt nearly everywhere recently, especially among Republican presidential candidates who feel they're being treated unfairly in media-hosted debates and in campaign coverage.
The perception of media bias, conservative and liberal alike, is seen not as a possibility within news outlets any longer, as the New York Times' Room for Debate section reported, but an inevitability.
To Washington Times columnist Timothy P. Carney, the problem is mostly a liberal bias that can alienate conservative Americans.
"Clustering of left-of-center viewpoints in the newsroom leads to a cloistering, and thus reporters end up unfamiliar with conservative viewpoints," Carney wrote.
While bias is certainly a possibility for the downturn in public trust in the media, Brooke Gladstone of WNYC's "On the Media" argued that the audience's desires have changed and the news media has likely changed in kind.
"Americans say they want accuracy and impartiality, but the polls suggest that, actually, most of us are seeking affirmation," Gladstone wrote.
For those who think mainstream news outlets are biased, Gladstone says one bright spot is that the Internet has offered them a way to voice their dissatisfaction.
"Now the marginalized can speedily gather, demand recognition and challenge the prevailing narratives," Gladstone wrote. "This happens every day and its far better than the alternative."
