US trust of media dwindling

Really? Shocking!

No more than one-quarter of Americans trusts the news media, but the greatest confidence in the struggling newspaper industry ironically comes from young people, a poll said Friday.

The Gallup poll found that 25 percent of Americans felt a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in newspapers and 22 percent in television news, in line with a steady slide over the past two decades.

The media were among the national institutions in which Americans placed the least confidence, although Congress, big business and health care coverage providers fared worse.

Gradually bit by bit confidence falls in media centres. A good thing IMO, but will this alter the content of these news sources? The answer is probably not. We have seen Rupert Murdoch's recent attempt to charge for online content. If he vigorously pursues this it will be to his own demise. (In the news world )

I think people watch the news that supports their general theory of how the world works. The same goes for the online dailies and newspapers they read. Their minds are already made up, from their feelings towards different members of society, to war in the Middle East. They look for confirmation of these beliefs, and their own reliable slant on world affairs by their favourite news source.

www.thetruthseeker.co.uk...

www.presstv.ir...

What do ATS members in the US think? Personally I believe this not to be endemic of the American population as the article makes out. This is a global attitude, and probably will only increase as reliable access to the internet becomes more widespread.

Here is the original article for your consideration;

www.gallup.com...

Trust of the media has dwindled because of the invention of the internet, which is not owned by media barons and corporations or influenced by government, but has many sources of information. It allows people to see through the MSM lies and half-truths.

People are waking up, I would say people are becoming more aware about issues that were originally twisted by the MSM for their own agenda, and finding out the truth outside the MSM.

The MSM dominate the majority of radio, dominate the television, and dominate newspapers.

The Internet is the last refuge for those who seek information without TPTB's MSM spoonfeeding and censorship.

We lost the television, we have lost the newspapers, and we have almost lost the radio. The internet is next, because unless it is a medium that is controlled, it is a threat to TPTB and the MSM. It's that simple. They can't tolerate rivalry to the information you access. They can not tolerate not controlling what you see and hear.

We already see in countries what is called the intranet. Controlled internet. Dead internet, where what you browse is controlled and regulated by those in power.

This will be the way of the internet if we are not careful. We see the charging for access for websites, and the crackdown on internet sites.

Here's the thing. The crackdown starts on websites you may not like, so of course the resistance to the initial crackdown may be light. But then the crackdown widens to other websites, slowly, softly, targetting a particular social group and site at a time.

Now you and I may not like those websites, or maybe we do. But the fact remains the crackdown, the censorship and suffocation of the internet will rely on people not protesting because "I did not like that site anyway."

First they came for that website, and I did not speak up because I did not go to that website....

Then they came for another website, and I did not speak up because I did not go to that website.

Then they came for our website, and nobody spoke up, because nobody came to that website.


That's how the censorship will work. Creeping. Slowly. Not too fast, don't want to rush things and frighten the horses.

No. Slowly. Like a frog in a frying pan. If you turn up to really hot, the frog will jump out in protest.

But turn that dial slowly, and the frying pan will get warmer and warmer, slowly, and then roast and die.

The Battle for the Internet, and who wins, the people or TPTB, may seal the destiny for humanity.

Sounds dramatic right?

Well, remember that information is power. He who controls the past, controls the present. He who controls the present, controls the future.

The Internet is a beautiful thing. For it's faults, which simply reflects humanity, it's a beautiful thing, just like humanity.

Fight for it. Don't let them have it, I implore you.

Our ancestors of even just 100 years ago would have loved to have had the access to so much free information that we have.

The world is at our fingertips. And TPTB and the MSM are frightened because of it. They want to take it out of our reach, control what we see and hear and learn and read.

They want us to see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.

We can't let them win. Too much depends on it.

Everything hinges on who prevails.

There was a time not long ago, I surfed the net looking for news and mostly found confusion .What I realized was that there was a big difference between what was being said and what wasgoing on.I am not sure when it happened, but I suspect around 911 information really started moving away from reality .I click on CBC nearly every day but its mostly for the comment section. Not that I comment but to see the pulse, so to speak.I am encouraged as to the majority reading the comment section are quite aware of the bs trying to be fed to us .... peace

reply to post by Regensturm


You are absolutely right. Around the world we are seeing the first stages in controlling this medium. Can you imagine a completely closed and monitored Internet? It would be terrible.

I believe this would probably cause the rise in underground newspapers being delivered for free into communities. If I had the sources I would certainly be publishing my own!

Before I came to ATS I used to read Yahoo news articles and the BBC thinking I was getting the truth. This was a number of years ago now, gradually though I began to search elsewhere, until I inevitably ended up here!

the2ofusr1 "mostly for the comment section. Not that I comment but to see the pulse, so to speak" I do this too on pretty much every news story I read. There are often links to other sources which can be quite beneficial. Even occasionally on sites like the Daily Mail you will see a comment with high ratings, that is subversive of the mainstream media.

Originally posted by Big Raging Loner

You are absolutely right. Around the world we are seeing the first stages in controlling this medium. Can you imagine a completely closed and monitored Internet? It would be terrible.

It's happening in other countries. We sadly do not need to imagine it.

Originally posted by Big Raging Loner
I believe this would probably cause the rise in underground newspapers being delivered for free into communities. If I had the sources I would certainly be publishing my own!

I for one would read it!

Running underground newspapers, getting access to printing machines, print and other resources and people willing to put the time and effort could be a problem, but I think if the internet goes bye-bye we could see people driven to do so, and that would be encouraging.

I also hope that we may see, if the internet is censored and controlled by TPTB, people set up a alternative internet that you could access which would be like the internet we now have. Advances in technology, and motivation, and know-how, could see this happen.

Originally posted by Big Raging Loner
Before I came to ATS I used to read Yahoo news articles and the BBC thinking I was getting the truth. This was a number of years ago now, gradually though I began to search elsewhere, until I inevitably ended up here!

It's when you see and hear other news sources that you realise what a slanted view the BBC and Yahoo has.

For example, during the South Ossetia 2008 War, the BBC talked of 'Russian motives' in a anti-Russian conspiratoral manner, without really addressing Georgia's role.

Originally posted by Big Raging Loner
the2ofusr1 "mostly for the comment section. Not that I comment but to see the pulse, so to speak" I do this too on pretty much every news story I read. There are often links to other sources which can be quite beneficial. Even occasionally on sites like the Daily Mail you will see a comment with high ratings, that is subversive of the mainstream media.

As you know, just be wary of The Daily Mail. A warning from history: An elderly relative of mine who is a WW2 veteran still boycotts the newspaper because it supported the rise of the fascists by printing the headline "Hoorah for the Blackshirts!".

Thanks for the replies folks have been offline hence my lack of correspondence

Running underground newspapers, getting access to printing machines, print and other resources and people willing to put the time and effort could be a problem, but I think if the internet goes bye-bye we could see people driven to do so, and that would be encouraging.

I think this could be done relatively easily with a group of like minded individuals. All you really need is the one good computer and printer set up. Relatively cheap nowadays, always print in black on the lowest quality setting.

The hardest thing to come by would be the good sources, then after that all you need is decent presentation, and some good old fashioned wit. A handful of people printing 100 individual papers each, handing them out with a 3 door gap in their local neighbourhood's could potentially cover a massive area.

As long as you encourage the sharing of all documents. Another viable option is spreading the documents via things like bluetooth. Maybe drop a few usb pens around the place with subversive material. Anyway I'm getting carried away with this fantasy, we are not in a socialist dictatorship just yet.

What I will say in regards to a completely unmonitored Internet is that there is a server call freenet which you can download for free and set up. This allows you to surf completely anonymously. However it is very slow from my experience, but apparently speeds up if left on continuously. This is not something I can really afford to do so I stop using it after an initial trial. Unfortunately if you want speed and reliability you have to put up with the corporate scum for now.

Here is a link to the freenet project, how the Internet was originally intended to be!

freenetproject.org...

someone has to say it

internet is not owned by corporation YET

google is already making its move to make the internet a place of only big corporations

if internet as we know ends, all freedom we have left will end with it

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


Expanding this internationally .

Reporters Without Borders

Press Freedom Index 2009

===============================================

See where your country is ranked.

reply to post by UmbraSumus


Have to say I'm not surprised by the number one slot. However I would have though the UK would be higher than Australia?

I wouldn't be surprised if Italy's position was orchestrated solely by Silvio Berlusconi.

After all he founded Italy's first private national network...

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

News died with Cronkite.