0:01

Thomas Jefferson said, our liberty depends on

0:04

the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited

0:06

without being lost. What would Mr. Jefferson

0:08

think about a new poll regarding Americans

0:10

and their trust of the press?

0:12

Here to unpack present day issues

0:15

from a biblical perspective is

0:17

Janet Parshall.

0:18

When it comes to elections, most Americans

0:20

say they get their information on candidates and issues

0:22

from the press. But a new poll reveals

0:24

that most of us have serious concerns when

0:26

it comes to truthful reporting. The

0:28

Media Insight Project, a collaboration

0:31

of the American Press Institute and the AP

0:33

center for Public Affairs Research, found

0:35

that half of Americans, 53%,

0:38

say they are extremely or very concerned

0:40

that news organizations will report inaccuracies

0:42

or misinformation during the election.

0:45

Some 42% express worry that

0:47

news outlets will use generative artificial

0:49

intelligence to create stories.

0:51

The poll also found 47%

0:53

of Americans expressed serious concern

0:56

that news outlets would report information

0:58

that has not been confirmed or verified,

1:00

and 44% worried that

1:02

accurate information will be presented

1:04

in a way that favors one side or another,

1:07

according to the Associated Press. Besides

1:09

inaccuracies, many also expressed

1:11

serious concern about election news that focuses

1:14

too much on division or controversies,

1:16

or concentrates on who may win or lose

1:18

the horse race aspect of political coverage,

1:20

rather than issues or the character of

1:22

candidates. Flip this around and

1:24

you find that only 14%

1:26

express a great deal of confidence in

1:29

the election related information they receive

1:31

from national sources, and 11%

1:33

say the same thing about local news media.

1:35

So why do so many distrust the media?

1:38

Writing for The Hill, Derek Hunter penned

1:40

a brilliant piece illustrating where the lack of trust

1:42

comes from. He gave the example of a piece in

1:44

The New York Times carrying the headline Nebraska

1:46

teen who used pills to End Pregnancy

1:49

gets 90 Days in jail. Well, if you

1:51

just read the headline, you'd think that the teen was sentenced

1:53

for having a chemical abortion. Turns out that's

1:55

far from what happened. The mother

1:57

obtained the pills, gave them to her 17

2:00

year old daughter, who was 30 weeks pregnant.

2:02

Long past the FDA approved range

2:04

of use of ten weeks. Viability is

2:06

considered to be 23 to 24 weeks

2:09

after the baby died. The mother daughter

2:11

duo buried and reburied the baby

2:13

three times, even trying to burn the

2:15

remains. In the end, the daughter was

2:17

not charged with any abortion ban

2:19

law, but rather pleaded guilty to the crime

2:21

of removing or concealing human skeletal

2:24

remains, a felony. The facts

2:26

showed up in the fifth to the last paragraph

2:28

of the story. Prior to the facts, the

2:30

times quoted a law professor saying, this

2:33

case is really sad because people resort

2:35

to things like this when they're really desperate,

2:37

and the thing that makes people really desperate

2:39

is abortion bans. Hmm. Well,

2:42

the press has earned our mistrust, and it's

2:44

up to the press to earn our trust once again.

2:46

Those are my thoughts. I'm Janet Parshall.

2:48

For more information, go to Janet

2:50

Parshall commentary.org

2:53

or email us at Janet

2:55

Parshall commentary at Moody dot.

2:57

Edu.