The Democrats think the U.S. MSM is too easy on Dubya, while Republicans think the MSM is too hard on the (God Bless the) U.S.A., says a new Pew poll.
The NYT reported on a small segment of it, but here's an excerpt from that story:
The survey found "a startling rise in the politicization of opinions on several measures," and its authors said the results reflected the increasing political polarization of the country. This was especially pronounced on the question of whether news outlets "stand up for America" or are too critical of America.
"Republicans increasingly express the view that the press is excessively critical of the United States," the survey said, with 67 percent agreeing with that statement now compared with 42 percent in July 2002. About a quarter of Democrats say news organizations are too critical, the same level as three years ago.
Any good will that the news media earned after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, appears to have eroded. In November 2001, fully 69 percent of all respondents said that the news media stood up for America. Only 17 percent found it too critical.
At the same time, 60 percent said that the news media did a good job of protecting democracy while only 19 percent said they were hurting democracy. Now, only 47 percent say the news media protect democracy and 33 percent say they hurt it.
A growing political divide is evident behind this response as well. Two years ago, 31 percent of Republicans said that news organizations were hurting democracy; now, 43 percent agree with that view. Democrats have held relatively stable views on the subject, with 56 percent saying the news media help democracy.
But increasingly, the survey said, "Democrats are showing dissatisfaction with press coverage of the Bush administration." A majority of Democrats (54 percent) said the coverage has not been critical enough. That is a substantial jump from a year ago, when only 39 percent held that view.
This is a bit contradictory. From the Pew Center for the People and the Press's summary of findings:
Yet despite these criticisms, most Americans continue to say that they like mainstream news outlets. By wide margins, more Americans give favorable than unfavorable ratings to their daily newspaper (80%-20%), local TV news (79%-21%), and cable TV news networks (79%-21%), among those able to rate these organizations. The margin is only slightly smaller for network TV news (75%-25%).
In fact, the favorable ratings for most categories of news organizations surpass positive ratings for President Bush and major political institutions the Supreme Court, Congress, and the two major political parties. Favorable ratings for daily newspapers, local TV news and network TV news have all remained fairly stable since July 2001, even as public attitudes toward the news media have declined. The exception to this pattern are large, nationally influential newspapers, such as the Washington Post and New York Times, whose favorable ratings have declined markedly.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted June 8-12 among 1,464 Americans, shows increasing politicization of attitudes toward the news media. Republicans, already more critical than Democrats of the press, have become even more so. Growing numbers of Republicans see the press as too critical of America and hurting democracy. Still, even majorities of Republicans continue to express favorable views of most major news sources.
This is not the first time a Pew Research Center survey has shown the public to be broadly critical of the press, yet still favorable in its overall view of news organizations themselves. In fact, the public has long been two-minded in its views of the news media faulting the press in a variety of ways, while still valuing the news and appreciating the product of news outlets.