Confidence In Military News Wanes By Josh White, Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 24, 2005; Page A04

The U.S. public’s confidence that the military and the media keep them informed about national security issues has eroded significantly over the past six years, according to a new poll that shows 60 percent of Americans believe they do not get enough information about military matters to make educated decisions.

According to a McCormick Tribune Foundation/Gallup poll scheduled for release today, Americans are more interested in national security than they were in the past. But only 54 percent of Americans say they feel the military keeps them well informed, down from 77 percent in 1999 — before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Similarly, the public grew increasingly skeptical of the news media’s efforts, with 61 percent of Americans saying that the media keep them well informed on military and national security issues, down from 79 percent in 1999. More than three-quarters of Americans also believe that the military occasionally provides false or inaccurate information to the media, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,016 adults during the first two weeks of June.

Don’t look far for who to blame for loss of public confidence: it’s the Republican Party’s fault. Oh, sure, we can single out countless individuals, with Karl Rove and Duhbya near the top of the list, but the Republican Party has ridden to near absolute power by undermining nearly every institution — the media, elections, the courts, science — through constant assault. They say corporate media is liberal (hah!). They say the founders were evangelical zealots. They say creationism is science. They say they’re making the world safer. So much nonsense being spewed. mjh