by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Sarah Riley, a retiree in her 60s, likes to look for U.S. media stories she believes are blatantly biased. And then she searches the reporter's name in LinkedIn, an online platform where people post their resumes.
On numerous occasions, she finds reporters for major U.S. media who have little journalism experience and no journalism degree, Riley said.
"They are hysterical children," she told Xinhua, arguing that many articles exhibit neither logic nor critical thinking.
In the final days before the crucial presidential election, Riley's views mirror those of many Republicans, whose trust of U.S. media stands at 32 percent, the lowest on record, according to Gallup's annual Governance poll published earlier this month.
In sharp contrast, 57 percent of Democrats said they have a "fair amount" of trust in U.S. media and 16 percent said they have "a great deal" of trust - among the highest Gallup has measured for any party in the past two decades.
Cindy Wells, a small business owner outside of Washington D.C., said she does not understand why there is so much media hatred for U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I don't know why they hate that man," she said, adding that she will vote for Trump, as she fears Democratic challenger Joe Biden will impose another lockdown that will kill her business.
One Republican voter's recent criticism is that news outlets thrive on fear mongering amid the pandemic. Republicans said media has been a cheerleader for harsh lockdowns, without providing a shred of scientific data on whether they are effective in preventing the virus' spread.
"You just wait. If Biden gets elected the (media) narrative will change. They're going to say COVID is going away and that it's because of Biden," Edward, a real estate agent outside Washington who declined to give his full name, told Xinhua.
Democrats accuse Trump of racism, xenophobia, sexism and corruption, and charge Fox News - the nation's conservative media network - of blind support for the president.
Emma Martin, a teacher in Pennsylvania and Biden supporter, told Xinhua she trusts U.S. news outlets such as CNN, and prefers not to speak about Trump because he makes her "blood boil." She does not trust Fox News, she said.
According to a survey in Pew Research in April, 61 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they distrust Fox News as a reliable source for political news.
Liberal Democrats are far more likely than conservative or moderate Democrats to say they distrust Fox news, at 77 percent to 48 percent, Pew Research found.
Republicans have expressed outrage at big tech companies Twitter and Facebook, which blocked a New York Post article that alleged Biden's son had shady overseas business dealings. While the move backfired - it ended up being the most discussed issue that week on the two platforms - Republicans are fuming about what they see as censorship.
The CEOs of Facebook and Twitter were earlier this week hauled before Congress to answer the questions of angry Republican lawmakers.
GOP Senator Mike Lee asked the Facebook and Twitter CEOs to name "one high-profile person or entity from a liberal ideology" who has been muted by their platforms. The two CEOs were unable to come up with any specific names.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, however, last year held several private meetings with conservative journalists including Fox News' Tucker Carlson, as reported by The Washington Post, Politico and other U.S. media.
The meetings, at Zuckerberg's home, were an effort to stave off criticisms of liberal bias on Facebook, and came a month after Trump threatened to sue the social media platform.
U.S. media has speculated that the Silicon Valley icon is highly concerned that the Justice Department will move to break up the social media company via anti-monopoly laws. Enditem
