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Headline Roundup March 27th, 2020

Poll Says 55% of Americans Disapprove of Media's Coronavirus Response

Summary from the AllSides News Team

A Gallup poll released Wednesday found 55% of respondents disapprove of how the news media has handled the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The media was the only one of nine institutions on the Gallup survey that had a negative approval rating; a Pew Research Center report last week found 70% of Americans thought the news media was covering the crisis very or somewhat well, but also found that 62% thought the media had exaggerated risks of the virus. Right- and center-rated news outlets are reporting on the news more widely; as of Friday, only one left-rated outlet covered the Gallup poll.

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Poll finds Americans disapprove of mediaโ€™s handling of coronavirus. But itโ€™s the same polarized picture as ever.
Poll finds Americans disapprove of mediaโ€™s handling of coronavirus. But itโ€™s the same polarized picture as ever.

Washington Post

News

The news media has the worst approval rating of all major American institutions grappling with the novel coronavirus โ€” but the publicโ€™s opinions on the matter are highly polarized and mirror their complex feelings from before the pandemic.

A Gallup survey released this week found 44 percent of Americans approve of the news mediaโ€™s handling of the coronavirus crisis. It found 61 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters approve of the media, compared to 25 percent of Republicans.

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Coronavirus Response: Hospitals Rated Best, News Media Worst
Coronavirus Response: Hospitals Rated Best, News Media Worst

Gallup

News

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans are generally positive in their evaluations of how each of nine leaders and institutions has handled the response to the coronavirus situation. Eight of the nine receive majority positive ratings -- led by U.S. hospitals, at 88% approval. Only the news media gets a more negative than positive review.

These data are from a March 13-22 Gallup poll, with the field period starting on the same day President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, and spanning sharp increases in the number of...

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The Political Media Are Failing America
The Political Media Are Failing America

National Review (News)

Analysis

Here are some of the public figures and institutions that Americans hold in higher esteem than the media according to Gallup:

Hospitals, Their childโ€™s school and daycare centers, State governments, Their employer, CDC and NIH, Mike Pence, Donald Trump, Congress.

Only one institution that Gallup asked about, the media, had negative approval rating โ€” sitting 19 points behind its archenemy Donald Trump. And there are likely many other people and places that the public has more trust in than journalists.

This reality is a disaster for a liberal democracy, and...

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