Gallup Poll: Journos Low on the Ethics Chain

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A  random Gallup poll earlier this month of more than 1,000 adults nationwide found only one in five considered journalists honest and ethical, according to posts by Fishbowl NY and Poynter.org.

The poll, "U.S. Views on Honesty and Ethical Standards in Professions," revealed only 21 percent of those queried said newspaper reporters boasted high honesty and ethical standards, the same percentage scored by attorneys.  Television journalists were close behind, with only 20 percent of those polled concluding they were honest and ethical.  In contrast, nurses received an 82 percent favorable rating.

One Poynter faculty ethicist suggested popular opinion was shaped somewhat by the portrayal of journalists in entertainment as smarmy and unethical. All told, over the past 40 years, roughly one-third of the public participating in the Gallup poll found journalists of high honesty and ethical character.

Math is not the strong suit of the pristine staff of "TUOL," but as a journalist and an attorney, will assume 42 percent  of the public holds us in high regard.

Public Criticism of News Media at a Gallup

Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr
A record high 57 percent of Americans distrust the news media to report the news fully, according to a Gallup Poll survey this month.


As compiled by trade publication Editor & Publisher, the random digit-dial sampling of 1,019 adults found that 48 percent of those queried believe the news media is too liberal, compared to 15 percent who consider it too conservative. Lower-income, less-educated respondents were more trusting of news media accounts than their higher-educated, better-heeled counterparts.