Politics
Pat Ralph and Eliza Relman
- A Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that Americans think most of the news they consume is inaccurate and biased.
- Republicans said they thought only Fox News and The Wall Street Journal were unbiased, while Democrats felt that way about most mainstream outlets.
- Overall, survey respondents said PBS News and The Associated Press were the least biased outlets.
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Americans believe that 62% of the news they consume on TV, in newspapers, and on the radio is biased, according to a survey from the Knight Foundation and Gallup.
Those surveyed said they believe that 44% of news reporting and 64% of news on social media is inaccurate. And they're upset about it — more than 80% said they were angered or bothered by seeing biased information, and slightly more felt similarly about seeing inaccurate information.
In evaluating news outlets, respondents closely associated bias with inaccuracy. In their view, outlets they feel are biased are also inaccurate.
But perceptions of bias and inaccuracy differed based on the respondents' political persuasions, particularly with regard to Fox News, Breitbart News, CNN, and MSNBC. Overall, the only two media organizations Republicans surveyed said weren't biased were Fox News and The Wall Street Journal.
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President Donald Trump often takes issue with outlets like CNN and The New York Times for publishing critical stories about his administration. In a tweetstorm on Thursday morning he described the media the "Enemy of the People!"
Survey respondents with different political views had different perceptions of the pervasiveness of bias in the news. For example, Democrats said they believe that just 44% of news on TV, in newspapers, and on the radio is biased, while Republicans said they believe 77% of it is biased.
Presented with a host of major news outlets, respondents ranked PBS News and The Associated Press as the least biased outlets, while Fox News and Breitbart News tied for being perceived as most biased. The survey was conducted from February 5 to March 11.
Here are the survey's results for how biased respondents thought each news outlet was overall, ranked from most to least biased (a negative score indicates more people said the outlet was more biased than unbiased, while a positive score indicates more people thought the outlet was more unbiased than biased):
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1. Fox News: -51 (tie)
Polled as the most biased news organization by respondents, Fox News earned a -87 bias score among Democrats and those who lean Democratic. But among Republicans and those who lean Republican, Fox News was polled as the least biased news organization, with a +3.
1. Breitbart News: -51 (tie)
Tied with Fox News, Breitbart News registered a -73 bias score among Democrats and those who lean Democratic. But unlike Fox News, Breitbart did not receive a positive bias score among Republicans and those who lean Republican. In fact, Breitbart earned a -19 rating from this group.
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3. MSNBC: -37
Like Breitbart, MSNBC earned a negative bias rating from both Republicans and Democrats. But while Democrats and those who lean Democratic gave MSNBC a -1 bias rating, Republicans and those who lean Republican gave it a -85.
4. HuffPost: -32
HuffPost also scored negatively with both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans and those who lean Republican gave the outlet a -61 bias rating, while Democrats and those who lean Democratic scored it at -9.
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5. CNN: -27
Among Republicans and those who lean Republican, CNN was considered the most biased news organization, with a -87 bias rating. Meanwhile, Democrats and those who lean Democratic gave CNN a +29.
6. Mother Jones: -22
Mother Jones scored negatively in terms of bias with both Republicans and Democrats. It had a -29 bias rating from Republicans and those who lean Republican and a -16 from Democrats and those who lean Democratic.
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7. Vox: -12
Democrats and those who lean Democratic gave Vox a -5 bias score, and Republicans and those who lean Republican handed Vox a -16.
8. The New York Times: -11
The New York Times scored very well with Democrats and very poorly with Republicans. Democrats and those who lean Democratic handed The Times a +44 bias rating, but Republicans and those who lean Republican gave it a -74.
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9. NBC News: -7 (tie)
The two sides were split on NBC News too. Democrats and those who lean Democratic gave NBC News a +42 bias rating, while Republicans and those who lean Republican gave it a -64.
9. The Washington Post: -7 (tie)
Tied with NBC News, The Washington Post shares the quality of being perceived as trustworthy by Democrats and untrustworthy by Republicans. Democrats and those who lean Democratic gave The Post a +40 rating, while Republicans and those who lean Republican gave it a -65.
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11. ABC News: +4
Democrats and those who lean Democratic rated ABC News as the third-least biased news organization in the country, at +56. Meanwhile, Republicans and those who lean Republican scored ABC News at -60.
12. CBS News: +5 (tie)
CBS News scored a +53 among Democrats and those who lean Democratic, while Republicans and those who lean Republican gave it a -58.
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12. USA Today: +5 (tie)
Tied with CBS News, USA Today also scored favorably with Democrats and unfavorably with Republicans. USA Today registered a -39 bias rating among Republicans and those who lean Republican, while Democrats and those who lean Democratic gave the media organization a +36.
14. The Wall Street Journal: +10
The Wall Street Journal was the only media organization that both Democrats and Republicans rated favorably. The Journal got a +2 bias rating among Republicans and those who lean Republican and a +24 among Democrats and those who lean Democratic.
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15. NPR: +12
NPR earned a +54 bias rating from Democrats and those who lean Democratic, while Republicans and those who lean Republican rated NPR at -43.
16. AP: +23
The Associated Press, which was voted the second-least biased media organization overall by survey respondents, was also found to be the least biased news organization by Democrats and those who lean Democratic gave the AP a +74 bias score. But Republicans and those who lean Republican handed the AP a -35.
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17. PBS News: +31
Polled as the least biased media organization overall by survey respondents, PBS News was given the second-highest rating by Democrats and those who lean Democratic, with +70. But Republicans and those who lean Republican gave PBS a -22.
Here are the net bias scores of news organizations, from PBS News to Fox News:
Source:Knight Foundation/Gallup
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