By: Sarah JonesJan. 19th, 2011more from Sarah Jones

Fox News plunges in public trust

Well, it sure took long enough but according to the latest Public Policy Poll, Americans do not trust Fox News like they used to. Just one year ago, Fox News was as trusted as outlets like CBS and CNN, but after a year of raising money for Republican candidates on the air, donating to Republican candidates only and consistent falsehoods, Americans have wised up.

The only people still in the dark are older people and conservatives, but then, it’s probably redundant to mention those two groups as if they are not a subset of one another given Fox’s viewership age.

The Public Policy Poll reports:

“A year ago a plurality of Americans said they trusted Fox News. Now a plurality of them don’t. Conservatives haven’t moved all that much- 75% said they trusted it last year and 72% still do this time around. But moderates and liberals have both had a strong increase in their level of distrust for the network- a 12 point gain from 48% to 60% for moderates and a 16 point gain from 66% to 82% for liberals. Voters between left and center tend to be more trusting of the media across the board, which is why a fair number of them were still rating Fox favorably even a year ago at this time. But it looks like with a lot of those folks it has finally crossed the line to being too political to trust.”

Yes, liberals and moderates tend to trust more outlets because they are not being brainwashed to believe only one network. Fox News repeatedly suggests to its viewers that they can’t trust the “lamestream” media, which not only fosters paranoia but allows Fox to sell propaganda without any loss in trust to its core audience. This age old devise of brain-washing is not only keeping the addicts coming back to their only trusted source of “information,” but by being the only source they can trust, it’s making Rupert Murdoch a rich man.

In the past year, Fox News has donated to the RGA as well as allowed fund-raising for Republican candidates on the air — all without disclosing to their viewers these potential conflicts of interest. But Fox News has also hired most of the Republican Presidential contenders for the 2012 election, one of whom was the recipient of the Lie of the Year Award from PolitiFact (Sarah Palin for Death Panels).

This poll may also reflect the public’s growing unease with the sort of uncivil, partisan rhetoric that comes most loudly from Fox hosts like Glenn Beck, who has been tied to violent rhetoric and selling a paranoia about the Obama administration that is tin-foil worthy. In short, they’ve not only lost their credibility with Independents and Democrats through their partisanship, but their blatant attempts to derail the Obama administration and Democrats is probably not sitting well with the public after the Arizona massacre.

It’s interesting to note that in the largest numbers for trust in Fox News come from the age group of 65 plus, and these same folks do not trust any other outlet. This may reflect the fact that seniors use the internet less than the younger age groups, and the internet is the source of much of the fact debunking of Fox News from trusted sources like FactCheck and Politifact. It’s reprehensible that Fox is being allowed to scare seniors with their misinformation campaign, but this is the result of Fox suing successfully for the right to lie on the air and call it news.

NBC is the most trusted network at 41% and PBS is the most trusted name in news overall. In fact, PBS is the only channel trusted by independents.

What this poll suggests is that not only are Americans waking up to the bias of Fox News, but they also are getting sick and tired of the opinion-based news that dominates the airwaves. When we see independents rejecting Fox News and ABC, and returning to PBS, it says that straight news brought by trust-worthy sources is becoming a valuable commodity.

Ahhhh, doesn’t the sanity feel good? We may finally be coming to the end of our national nightmare of misinformation and propaganda seeping into the national political dialogue unquestioned.

*Additional numbers taken from the PDF in the link