Americans who lament political bias in the news media are not alone. Everyone else around the planet appears to condemn the practice, according to a jumbo-sized Pew Research Center poll that tallied the opinions of people in 38 nations — spanning Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North and South America. Some 40,000 respondents participated, and many have a pronounced distaste for politicized news coverage.
“Despite differences in news media and political structures, clear majorities in 35 of the 38 nations surveyed agree that it is never acceptable for a news organization to favor one political party over others when reporting the news. Globally, a median of three-quarters (75 percent) say such media bias is never permissible, compared with 20 percent who say it is sometimes acceptable,” the poll analysis said.
The most important word in that analysis is “never.” The many thousands of respondents from Russia to Lebanon to France to Nigeria to the U.S. say media bias is “never” acceptable. As in never. The global news consumers have drawn a clear a red line in the sand.
The findings from Americans are telling. Though the GOP rules both Capitol Hill and the White House, the persistent, hostile coverage of President Trump and his administration has left a mark on his fans. Only 24 percent of Republicans reported they are “mostly satisfied news consumers,” the Pew Research poll found — compared with 58 percent of people who “do not identify with the Republican Party.” That’s a 34-point difference.
The wide-ranging and exhaustive survey also revealed that three fourths of the respondents in all 38 nations approve of the job their assorted news organizations do when covering news of the day, and 6-in-10 say the coverage of general topics is reasonably accurate. Still, three fourths of them condemn media bias, which can take a cultural and psychological toll as well as a political one. People get weary, discouraged and vexed
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...nations-pew-p/
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