Public Policy Polling recently released the results of its third annual News Trust Poll. This poll provides the most important information that can be found anywhere on how the American public interacts with the press. PPP asked 700 likely voters whether or not they trusted each television news source and broke down the results by demographics.
PBS is the only news-source that that over fifty percent of respondents trusted. 52 percent of those polled found it trustworthy. That breath of support, the greatest of any news channel polled, does not translate into ratings success. Its nightly newscast, PBS Newshour, has the smallest audience out of all the nightly newscasts. It is curious that the most widely trusted television news-source has the smallest audience.
When respondents were asked to identify the news-source they personally trusted the most, Fox News received the most votes, at 34 percent. Unsurprisingly, this was due largely to conservative respondents. This result represents the depth of support for a news source. When respondents were asked to identify the source they personally trusted the least, Fox News also received the most votes, at 34 percent. Also unsurprisingly, this was due largely to liberal and moderate responses.
The most important insight from this poll is how liberals, moderates, and conservatives interact with the news differently. Liberals trust everyone except Fox News. That means that for each news source other than fox, more liberals trusted the source than distrusted it. Moderates have the same response. Conservatives have the opposite reaction; they don’t trust anyone but Fox News.
The results are the same when broken down by party affiliation; however, the trend is clearer when broken down by ideology. The demographic groups are closer in size when broken down by party. Democrats and Independents trust everyone but Fox. Republicans don’t trust anyone but Fox. I have included response numbers for both ideology and party breakdowns.
Percent of respondents who described themselves as | ||||
Liberal | Moderate | Conservative | ||
28 | 27 | 44 | ||
Base | Liberal | Moderate | Conservative | |
ABC | ||||
Trust | 37 | 53 | 56 | 15 |
Distrust | 40 | 18 | 17 | 69 |
Unsure | 22 | 29 | 27 | 16 |
CBS | ||||
Trust | 40 | 59 | 57 | 17 |
Distrust | 42 | 20 | 19 | 69 |
Unsure | 18 | 22 | 23 | 13 |
CNN | ||||
Trust | 43 | 65 | 56 | 21 |
Distrust | 39 | 16 | 22 | 64 |
Unsure | 18 | 20 | 22 | 16 |
Comedy Central | ||||
Trust | 28 | 43 | 36 | 13 |
Distrust | 46 | 30 | 34 | 65 |
Unsure | 26 | 27 | 29 | 22 |
Fox News | ||||
Trust | 45 | 19 | 28 | 72 |
Distrust | 42 | 70 | 55 | 15 |
Unsure | 13 | 10 | 17 | 12 |
MSNBC | ||||
Trust | 38 | 59 | 49 | 18 |
Distrust | 43 | 21 | 27 | 67 |
Unsure | 19 | 20 | 24 | 15 |
NBC | ||||
Trust | 44 | 70 | 60 | 17 |
Distrust | 38 | 14 | 15 | 68 |
Unsure | 17 | 15 | 24 | 15 |
PBS | ||||
Trust | 52 | 76 | 66 | 28 |
Distrust | 30 | 13 | 11 | 54 |
Unsure | 17 | 10 | 23 | 19 |
Percent of respondents who identify as | ||||
Democrat | Republican | Independent | ||
41 | 35 | 24 | ||
Base | Democrat | Republican | Independent | |
ABC | ||||
Trust | 37 | 57 | 14 | 41 |
Distrust | 40 | 19 | 70 | 31 |
Unsure | 22 | 24 | 16 | 28 |
CBS | ||||
Trust | 40 | 58 | 17 | 44 |
Distrust | 42 | 23 | 71 | 30 |
Unsure | 18 | 19 | 12 | 26 |
CNN | ||||
Trust | 43 | 65 | 18 | 44 |
Distrust | 39 | 16 | 67 | 35 |
Unsure | 18 | 19 | 15 | 21 |
Comedy Central | ||||
Trust | 28 | 36 | 12 | 37 |
Distrust | 46 | 32 | 71 | 35 |
Unsure | 26 | 32 | 17 | 28 |
Fox News | ||||
Trust | 45 | 25 | 73 | 36 |
Distrust | 42 | 61 | 17 | 48 |
Unsure | 13 | 14 | 10 | 16 |
MSNBC | ||||
Trust | 38 | 56 | 18 | 40 |
Distrust | 43 | 23 | 69 | 37 |
Unsure | 19 | 20 | 14 | 23 |
NBC | ||||
Trust | 44 | 67 | 17 | 48 |
Distrust | 38 | 17 | 69 | 29 |
Unsure | 17 | 16 | 14 | 24 |
PBS | ||||
Trust | 52 | 66 | 26 | 66 |
Distrust | 30 | 17 | 56 | 15 |
Unsure | 17 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
Liberals and moderates generally trust the mainstream media. Conservatives do not. Conservatives believe that most news sources have an overwhelming liberal bias, to the point they cannot be trusted. Thus inherent in the claim of liberal bias is malpractice, concepts that I view as distinct. It is my belief that the conservative perception of liberal bias has more to do with the criticisms of Rush Limbaugh and conservative politicians than it does with the news coverage these sources produce. Often our views of news sources come from others’ characterizations rather than our interactions with them ourselves.
Certainly you can find instances of false or misleading coverage in mainstream news sources that benefit Democrats or promote a liberal agenda. You can also find instances of false, misleading, or incomplete coverage that benefit Republicans and promote a conservative agenda. Often, for fear of being accused of liberal bias, the news media unfairly assigns equal blame to both sides in a partisan dispute (see debt ceiling) or treats the basic background facts to a story as if they are in dispute, when experts in the fields almost universally agree (see global warming). Over time, however, most reporting at mainstream news outlets is balanced and trustworthy. I think we have much more to fear from false-balance reporting than from liberal bias.
The other primary problem with mainstream reports is that they often get reaction to a major story from the president and from the leaders of the Republicans in Congress. Experts in the field, citizen activists, and even Congressmen who disagree with their party leadership on the issue are ignored. This was seen in many articles following Obama’s plan for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
Next year I hope PPP adds more news sources to the list, as they did this year. Major newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as NPR and major talk radio personalities should be added. The responses for those news sources would be a valuable addition to the most insightful public opinion poll on the news media.
