Americans' trust in media hits record low: Survey

The confidence of Americans in the media has fallen to a new low due to the ongoing presidential race, a Gallup survey says.

Only 32 per cent of Americans say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media to report news "fully, accurately and fairly", Xinhua news agency reported.

The result reached a record low in Gallup's polling history of the question, which dates to 1972.

Gallup said that the slumping trust in the media was mainly due to the 2016 presidential election campaign.

"With many Republican leaders and Conservative pundits saying Hillary Clinton has received overly positive media attention, while Donald Trump has been receiving unfair or negative attention, this may be the prime reason their relatively low trust in the media had evaporated even more," Gallup said in its press release.

Gallup added that as blogs and social media "mature", they may improve in the American public's eyes. This could, in turn, elevate American's trust and confidence in the mass media as a whole.

--IANS

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