Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating

Poynter's Jeff Sonderman reports on the Gallup finding that 24% of Americans give journalists high ethics.

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating.

Before journalists start chortling to themselves they should realize their rating of 24% is in the lower half of this poll. The results are not surprising when you consider a Pew Survey in 2011 that found that 75% of Americans thought journalists could not get their facts straight. Those being interviewed were kinder to the news organizations they used. 62% believed the news organizations they used got it right. They also believed that the organizations they did not use got it wrong 66% of the time.

PBS and NPR often tout surveys that show they are the most trusted sources of information in this country. The slap of reality is that the Pew Survey found that PBS and NPR are not top of mind when it comes to news sources. NPR was mentioned by 3% and PBS was mentioned by 1%.

Part of my experience is in journalism. I actually did some reporting before moving over to public broadcasting management. Since I spent a lot of time raising money, I'm pretty sure journalists would rate  me somewhere just above car salesmen.