Americans' distrust in mass media stems from percieved media bias

Source

The perception of media bias has been on the rise since 1985, according to Pew Research Center. In their study, they found in 2011 that 77% of the public believed that news organizations tended to favor one side. This is a 24% increase since 1985. In 2011 they also found 80% of the public believed news organizations were often influenced by powerful people and organizations, which is a 27% increase since 1985.



The trust of the media from Americans is at an all-time low of 40% 

Pew Research Center

The Pew Research center conducted a survey and the results showed that only 4 out of 10 Americans trust the media. Compared to the 55% of Americans that trusted the media in 1999, there has been a 15% decrease. When election seasons came, trust dipped to low percentages. The Pew Research Center also points out that this downwards trend is similar to "Americans' confidence in many institutions and their declining trust in the federal government's ability to handle domestic and international problems."


Being a Democrat or Republican can affect how you perceive media bias

According to Gallup, Democrats have been significanly more likely than Republicans to trust the media.

Data for tweets with #VaccinesWork is represented graphically through NodeXL

Network graph of Twitter hashtag  #VaccinesWork

The computer program NodeXL is able to analyze a group of tweets and plot visual connections of that analyzed network. The network graph shown on the right displays the activity of Twitter users who included the hashtag #VaccinesWork in their tweets.  This data represents the interaction of 3,344 Twitter users between the dates of September 19, 2015 and October 5, 2015.  On the graph, the curved line connections represent a "replies-to" or a "mentions" relationship between tweets and a loop represents a tweet that has neither a "reply-to" nor a "mention."  The title for each sub-graph section represents the most used words in the tweets of that section.

The hashtag #VaccinesWork stems from VaccinesWork.org, which is a blogging site that touches on subjects regarding vaccinations and the challenges associated with receiving them.  The blogs are written by  Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

My thoughts as I was taking my first look at the network graph was that it was difficult to comprehend, based on the tiny sized attributes and the complexity of the graph.  I initially did not understand what the titles of each sub-graph represented.  I also could not clearly make out each connection between each sub-graph and its contributors.  This graph is very cluttered and all of the information is not fully presented either.

The Percentage of College Educated Americans in Low-paying Industries Has Increased Over the Past 14 Years

I believe this is important to share with my friends and family due to the relevance of the message, in addition to providing insight or assurance.  It is important to be aware of the possible risks one faces when graduating from an "easy" major and the future benefits one can have after graduating from a "hard" major.

Test Post

The weather has been in the 90s for the past week.  I'm glad I have a bike this semester so I don't have to be in the heat for too long.