A global opinion poll recently conducted by CGTN Think Tank indicated 84.12 percent of the respondents believe the credibility of the U.S. media is plunging.

While the U.S. government has been widely criticized by the world for its poor performance in handling the Nord Stream pipeline explosion and the Ohio train derailment, American media has also exposed many problems including self-contradictory reporting, delayed release of information, and selective silence in reporting the above incidents.

In reports of the train derailment that spilled dangerous chemicals in Ohio, the U.S. media claimed municipal water was safe to drink, but advised locals to buy bottled drinking water at the same time, which was widely questioned. 

According to the poll, 90.94 percent of respondents complained about the slow and ineffective information disclosure by American media, and 94.36 percent said its coverage was not comprehensive but self-contradictory, further aggravating panic among local people.

Trust deficit

The respondents also denounced the U.S. media's selective silence in these reports. 

The survey found that 92 percent of global respondents expressed disappointment with such selective silence, saying that such news was fake and biased, contrary to its purported professionalism.

Earlier in February, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in a self-published report on his Substack page that the U.S. blew up the Nord Stream pipelines that transport natural gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Western Europe. 

Regarding Hersh's revelation, the U.S. media including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal deliberately held their tongue, aiding the silence of the U.S. government. 

In an interview on Saturday, the veteran journalist claimed that U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines in order to make sure Germany would not change its mind about sanctions against Russia and weapons shipments to Ukraine.

Hersh revealed that he had reached out to the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency for comment, with both firmly rejecting the claims in the report.

This poll, published by CGTN in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Russian platforms, received votes from 29,139 respondents and has been read more than 1.95 million times in 24 hours.

(Cover via CFP)