The Sacred Heart University Polling Institute polled 800 Americans in late November and early December, 2007. The results [1], released early in January 2008, showed further deterioration in the percentage of Americans who trust the news media, while the percentage who saw a liberal bias vastly outnumbered those who thought the media tilt to the right.
KEY FINDINGS:
Fewer than one in five Americans (19.6%) said 'they believe all or most news media reporting. This is down from 27.4% in 2003.' Nearly one out of four Americans (23.9%) said 'they believe little or none' of what they see in the news.
'The perception is growing among Americans that the news media attempts to influence public opinion — from 79.3% strongly or somewhat agreeing in 2003 to 87.6% in 2007.'
A huge percentage (86.0%) agreed 'that the news media attempts to influence public policies — up from 76.7% in 2003.'
'By four-to-one margins, Americans surveyed see the New York Times (41.9% to 11.8%) and National Public Radio (40.3% to 11.2%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative.'
'By a three-to-one margin, Americans see news media journalists and broadcasters (45.4% to 15.7%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative. And, by a two-to-one margin, Americans see CNN (44.9% to 18.4%) and MSNBC (38.8% to 15.8%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative.'
'Just Fox News was seen as mostly and somewhat conservative (48.7%) over mostly or somewhat liberal (22.3%).'
'The most trusted national TV news organizations, for accurate reporting, in declining order included: Fox News (27.0%), CNN (14.6%), and NBC News (10.90%). These were followed by ABC News (7.0%), local news (6.9%), CBS News (6.8%) MSNBC (4.0%), PBS News (3.0%), CNBC (0.6%) and CBN (0.5%).'
Previous: Exhibit 2-14: Harvard's "National Leadership Index" Survey (2007) [2]
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