‘Biased’: What Americans think of ‘mainstream media’

hello again, and welcome to the latest installment of America speaks right here on straight arrow News, I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and this week, the institution that is supposed to hold everyone else accountable are themselves held accountable, and the results, well, it isn’t pretty I’m referring to the so called mainstream media, and as you’re about to hear, there are a lot of frustrated viewers and readers, some who have changed the channel, canceled their subscriptions, or have simply given up. More Americans than ever are looking for news, not that informs them, but rather that affirms them. So let’s listen in as Americans like you describe the media and offer their advice how to restore its credibility. There’s been a lot of conversation about the role of the media and how it covers politics in general and President Trump in particular, so I want to start with an analysis of the media. What you think of when someone asks you the mainstream media, what word or phrase comes to mind? First, I’m going to walk through all of you. So Hunter, let’s start with you. When you hear the phrase the media, what do you think

deceptive? Jonathan, what do you think tricky?

Donna, biased. Rebecca

encompassing.

Jordan,

sensationalized. Stephen uncertain. Joseph, they latch on to a certain theme, for example, right now it’s a danger to democracy. Obi,

liars,

Eli,

ug, liars.

Danielle, trustworthy.

Tanya, biased.

Pierce propaganda, Chris, Emma Jordan, sensationalized. Michelle, propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. Nancy, dishonest.

Diera,

objective,

almost. All of you have a horrible, horrible opinion of the media.

Nancy, you’re nodding your head. Michelle, you’re nodding your head. What the What the heck went wrong? I you know what? I do not watch any of the new shows. I don’t watch any of the Sunday shows. I don’t watch any current news programs on any channels at all. I used to be a devoted Fox News viewer, and I can’t tell you the last time I put it on Michelle what’s the problem? I don’t like mainstream media because they don’t tell you the truth. I watch Blaze TV, I will watch Fox, daily wire, any of those outlets that are that are telling the truth. A couple of you did say, did get positive answers. Why do you disagree with this analysis? Anybody here?

Well, I will say, I I say sensationalized, but it’s not necessarily a negative. I think that what people,

you know, the viewers like us, sometimes don’t factor in, is that if they were to just view facts verbatim in a monotone voice, no one would watch. You have to make it interesting. Pierce. Is it the fault of the networks, or is the fault of the viewers that the media is the way that it is? It’s definitely the fault of the networks. And I think that journalists let their own bias write the story these days, and people are so quick for click bait and just to get the first story out, whether it’s accurate or not. So I think media is responsible, and I think us as citizens, if we buy into it, I think we’re just as responsible. It very, it feels very in mainstream, feels very one sided. It’s everything, I mean, from talk shows to the news. You know, it all seems like it’s going towards one direction, typically. Tanya, you feel the media is one sided? Yeah, I think Steven mentioned like the New York Times and The Washington Post is reputable. I don’t think of them that way anymore. I think they’re very biased. And most of my media consumption comes from social media anyways, and I have a really hard time distilling out what’s true and not true on social media.

How many of you would say that the issue of truth is now at the core of how we

how we view the media, that you just don’t trust them, who does not trust the media? Raise your hands. You.

Okay, that is the strongest thing that you can say, Donna, why don’t you trust the media? I pretty much agree. I the media seems to have an agenda that they’re pushing. I don’t really feel that they’re reporting the truth.

Definitely,

since the some of the events like you were saying, October 7,

they they have a

they have a storyline, and they just go with it. And I just don’t feel that. They don’t really get any of the facts, and they definitely have an agenda.

Daniel

Do you trust the media?

Danielle does not trust the media. They aren’t accurate in what they report.

Can you give me an example?

Yes, there were some in the mainstream media alleging that the Trump assassination attempt was fake.

And it very clearly was not.

I’m curious who, who in the mainstream media alleged that it was fake. I saw some from MSNBC doing it.

I don’t even MSNBC to be mainstream

media at this point, I do. I would Yes.

Can I interject here? Of course, I I live in Pennsylvania. I actually live in a suburb of Pittsburgh, and I’m not too far from the butler Farm Show where the assassination attempt took place. This is, this is my community. I’m a Butler County gal, and I want to know who, who was it that tried to assassinate Trump, because it’s gone off the media. If his he’s gone, they’re not reporting on it. They’re not nobody’s digging into it. Do we know anything about this person? He tried to assassinate the presidential candidate? And we don’t know anything.

How many of you consider Fox News to be mainstream? Raise your hands.

45678,

of you. Half of you. Okay,

let me ask you. I want to ask specific points. Do you think that the mainstream media mistreats Donald Trump. Do you think that they hold him accountable? You can just vote at the same time mistreats. I don’t think they because so I post on x. I’m a very, very avid poster on x, and not only poster, but I look at x and read everything that’s coming through. So a good example would be with what happened with the the plane crash today in Toronto, Canada, the mainstream media

basically latched on to some way, somehow this a part of the cause was Trump’s

cutting of some of the FAA positions. And now that’s just ludicrous, and they all latched on to that. And then, even when somebody, including myself, would try to correct that, they would either ignore it, or they would repost the same thing, knowing that there’s no direct, direct or they call you name connection all they call you names. That seems to be the go to Yeah, and they let and the MSM latched on to that narrative, even if, maybe by now they stop. But for the first couple of hours, it was all Trump’s fault, and it just doesn’t make sense. Mm, hmm. Tanya, your evaluation of the mainstream media is, I think it’s very biased. If I look at since Donald Trump came into office, or even when he was running, they wanted him to fail from day one, and I think they protected Joe Biden even when he should not have been president, and he clearly was struggling. Rebecca, is that a fair critique, or is that biased critique?

It’s hard to say.

I’m have a hard time answering that objectively.

I don’t think they were biased against Trump at all. I think it would be hard to say that, honestly, that Trump didn’t set himself up for the media to be against him.

Um, Aldi, your reaction to that? I mean, I kind of don’t disagree with Rebecca because, I mean, Trump did say he doesn’t like the media. I mean, he set that out right in this first term. So it’s kind of like, I’m not surprised that the media, the mainstream media, is against them

and Frank, if I quickly, can I quickly add, let’s not forget that Trump also said that he intends to go after the media, right? I think that that gets lost in the comments.

Conversation. So we need to when we’re talking about fairness, and oh, they don’t really like Trump. I think that, yes, of course there are going to be some people who are biased, but for the most part, the media I from what I witness, and even as a left winger and left wing media, they actually are intentional about being much more accurate to what he does, and if what he does is crap, then that’s just that’s his fault, not theirs. I got three words for you. Russian collusion hoax. How many years did they parrot that every single station? Same exact thing. So don’t tell me the and that was the Washington Post and The New York Times, and they should get their Pulitzers pulled for it, because it was all a lie. How about Hunter Biden’s laptop? Let’s, let’s talk about that

again. Where’s the investigative journalism? They didn’t, they didn’t tell us the truth about it. It was we were lied to. My opinion, in my opinion, Trump was was to the point about as far as Trump bring it upon him himself. I think you could somewhat say that in the first term, because his tweets were too much and too disrespectful and and I voted for him the first time too. But his tweets, I kind of I squirmed every time he sent out a tweet that has not been the case this time around. I mean, he has maybe sent, I don’t know, a handful of tweets that I squirmed on, but the rest, he’s been spot on, and he’s also been very open, including those with with musk, very open about what they’re doing. I see a president that’s a lot more patient with the media this time around.

Okay, this, let me ask you, this,

isn’t it true that the White House decided to remove the access of the Associated Press? Yes, one.

White House press briefings, even though it is one of the largest sources

outlets. Isn’t that true? And don’t do any of you have a concern about that? Or do you? Because they refuse to call the Gulf of Mexico, which is now the Gulf of America, they refused to call it that, even though everything has been changed to that you don’t think we’re entitled to free speech. But Biden got, he took

medias too. He they it was like 400 that he banned, that they reinstated recently, I think you misunderstand free speech. I’m going to disagree with the with the AP. I would not have I would let the AP in.

I was just going to say, I’ll be the one to as a Trumpster to go against that. I don’t think that the AP should be banned. To me, that’s petty and and we don’t, we don’t have time for petty. We we need to take care of some more critical items. But I also like that Trump is allowing alternate media sources into the into the press pool, which, which did not happen before. I also want to talk about, how about the four years that the media covered for Joe Biden’s failings, for his cognitive decline? They they were, they were in on the game. Well, what’s his favorite ice cream flavor? Yeah, we had a media told us how incompetent our president was, and how cognitively defined he was, how physically declining he was, that they covered for him. They covered for him. They mentioned that Joe Biden was in perfect health for some time, that he was a so I’m talking sunshine. And then the man goes outside and falls down within a couple minutes, right?

It was truly a shocking decline, right? And and that was lied to for a long time. That was lied about. I think one of the things I respect in any president, not specific to Trump, is when they’re always in front of the American people talking and telling us what they’re doing. And I felt like under Biden, we didn’t get a lot of that. We didn’t get a lot of face time.

What I’m seeing is a president that’s giving the media a ton of time. There’s not an instance where he doesn’t stop and take questions. He’s doing a ton of interviews. I don’t even know when he gets up to go to the bathroom, the guy seems to be the ever ready bunny he’s he doesn’t stop.

Perhaps the greatest surprise to your host was how some people now perceive shows clearly designed to entertain as mainstream news, equally surprising Fox News is now seen by.

Some not as a right of center news source, but as a supporter of the establishment and the status quo, and that’s why people are now seeking more opinionated sources to inform them. It is yet another example of how polarized we have become a trend that shows no signs of reversal. So let’s hear more of what our panel had to say. For example, I watch the news, yes, I love the view. Probably a lot of you probably don’t like the view, but I don’t care. I love it. They actually say, Listen, this is my opinion. I think the only thing the media needs to do more is be more transparent about what is opinion and what is just reporting straight facts, though, is,

is like, hold on, Jordan, can I ask can I ask you a question? No, I’m going first, Donna, because I’m paying

is the view the media? No, no,

I think the view is the media,

not the media. Wait,

Fox, news is the media, but the view is not the media. Well, I thought we were talking about mainstream media. The view is very mainstream. They have amazing readings. They’ve been on for like, 20 seasons. I’d say it’s like a talk show, like Kimball or something. Yeah, it’s not, I watch it. It’s not they report news, unless, as a matter of fact, Alyssa, um, Sarah Griffin, used to work for

Trump, I guess I expect the news to be less opinion based and more fact based, and things that are lean more opinion based to be like mainstream news black box.

I just want the news to be the news like I’m not interested. So many people give their opinion on things, and I think that’s what people don’t trust, is it’s coming from a bias point of view, whether it’s on the right or on the left. I think people just want to hear like what’s happening without the color commentary. What do you want most from the media in terms of how it covers this administration and where we are as a country. Nancy, I’m going to start with you.

I think if they just told the facts where we’re all smart, we can decipher what those facts mean, what our own opinions are. We don’t need someone to spoon feed us. I just want honesty. I want facts and honesty. And do they do that now? No, no, what’s your evidence? Everybody’s got a spin. Everybody’s got to spin. We don’t need spin. We’re intelligent people. We can decipher things on our own. Just give us the facts Pierce. What do you want most from the median? How it covers government and politics today. Yeah, I just think I want truthfulness and honesty. I want them to hold him accountable and hold the administration accountable when they need to, but at the same time, hold everybody in government the same to the same standard. Yes, I do think Trump does put himself out there for things sometimes. However, at the end of the day, the media is 100% bias against him, and if you don’t think that, then, I mean, I don’t know what you’ve been watching the last what, eight years,

Obi What do you want most? I mean, I personally would like more fact checks from the media and hold the President accountable. I mean, he’s the highest officer in government. I mean, if he says something that is false. We need to hold him accountable for that, because it has repercussions. If he says something that’s false, I mean, people believe what He says. I mean, if he is the highest officer in the government, he should be saying things that are the truth, and we expect him to do that. But if he’s not saying anything that’s the truth, then he’s going to lead a lot of people to believe what he says that is false.

And one more, I want you to be specific. Eli, you’re the youngest participant here. What do you specifically want from the media

when you talk about the truth, politics are always going to be inherently biased, and we’re talking about fact checkers, but it all goes in different ways. Fox is just as be biased to CNN. What I personally want from the MIDI, from the media, is transparency and honesty and accountability in the most neutral and nuanced and narrowed middle ground as possible. And do you get that now? No, we’re more polarized than we have forever been, or at least in a long time. And do you blame the media for that?

They have a part in the role? Yes, how do they have a part? They spread the information to millions of people from an extremely biased point of view.

Last one, Chris, what do you want specifically from the media,

facts and data and measurable, you know, measurable data. What do I really want from media? I want the mainstream media to just go away. It’s useless. That’s what I really want from the media I don’t consume. I’m a far.

A right wing and I don’t even really watch Fox News that often. I get all my media elsewhere. So are you, hold on, Chris, I gotta ask you, before we end this segment, are you getting the truth from all this? You say you’re far right. You don’t watch the media. Are you getting the truth from these far right sources? I will, watch 10 minutes of left wing outlets, right wings outlets, mainstream, meaning Fox, meaning MSNBC,

to get their spin. And then, quite frankly, no, I you know, some of the outlets I online that I watch, they’re clearly biased, but I try to

listen to where they’re getting their information and their facts and use in, you know, my own judgment on if they’re being truthful, if they’re if they’re giving facts and data from real, you know, reputable like real studies, Things like that, and I just try to, you know, I try to use my common sense on it so, and you really think you’re getting the truth based on your perspective. Um, I will openly admit that I sometimes I hear things I want to hear from some of my sources, um,

but I would say most of the things I listen to, yes, I’m getting more truth than I am from turning on cable news.

Okay, that’s all the time that we have at this segment. I really appreciate your perspective. We’re not going to come to any agreement on this. I think that it was Paul Simon who said, who wrote, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

I think that’s pretty clear that that’s rather impactful when it comes to the news media, so I appreciate this conversation. That’s a pretty grim analysis of the press right now, and frankly, the future looks even worse. I hate to end on a negative note, but that’s all the time that we have. So on behalf of everyone at America speaks right here on straight arrow News, I’m Dr Frank Luntz, wishing you a brighter day.