Most Credible News Sources by Political Party
With the recent “Fake News Awards” handed out by President Trump, we are revisiting our previous study on what Republicans, Democrats, and Independents think of various news sources. After a year under President Trump, data shows that the country continues to be polarized in its perception of news outlets, with Democrats and Republicans often having diametrically opposed views.
- The top Credible news sources among Democrats now belong to NPR (35), ABC News (34), and The New York Times (33), dethroning PBS and MSNBC from last year’s list. Breitbart News Network remains unchanged with 0% Credibility.
- Republicans keep their most Credible news sources unchanged: Fox News, PBS News, and Breitbart News Network although the latter two networks swapped ranking order from last year and this year we added data for Fox Business Network.
- Republicans continue to hold a dim view of the credibility of news media, with their average credibility score barely half of the Democrats (11% to 19%).
Most Informative News Sources
The Credibility of a news source goes hand in hand with how Informative it is. Democrats continue to have a more favorable view of the Informative abilities of news sources while Republicans remain overwhelmingly skeptical of most news sources.
- Although Democrats view more news sources as more Informative than Republicans, their overall numbers have slightly dipped. MSNBC, ABC, and NBC have all fallen under 50%.
- Republicans continue to overwhelmingly support Fox News as it is the only news source more than 50% of Republicans consider Informative. Breitbart takes a big hit with Republicans as it drops from 48% to 33% Informative, while 73% of Democrats consider Breitbart Offensive.
- Top to bottom, both Republicans and Democrats consider media outlets less Informative, as the averages have dropped by 5 and 4 points respectively.
Social Media’s Credibility Declines Further
Social media continues struggle as an Informative or Credible news source regardless of party. Facebook’s recent decision to reduce the emphasis on news stories in members’ timelines may be a step in the right direction.
- Although both parties continue to use social media to deliver news, such as the President announcing his Fake News Awards via Twitter, all social media networks (except LinkedIn) score under 10% Credible regardless of political affiliation.
- Snapchat ranks the lowest in both Credible and Informative for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.
- Twitter, President Trump’s favorite means of communication with the American People, has suffered a dip in Informative scores among all parties. In general, regardless of party affiliation, social media is considered even less credible and informative now than it was immediately after the election.
Takeaway
Fake news continues to be a hot topic of conversation as the perception of news outlets continues to change. With E-Score Programs you can keep track of what the public thinks of news sources and gain insight into how that is affecting the country’s overall sentiment towards the media.
Resources
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