Trust In Fox News At Record Low But Still The Most Trusted Network

[egbertowillies]

Public Policy Poll (PPP) performs an annual poll on TV news. It finds that the only news source Americans trust more than they distrust is PBS (52% trust/29% distrusts). All other outlets polled, (NBC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, ABC, Comedy Central, and Fox News were underwater.

In the national survey the trust/distrust numbers were as follows:

Outlet Trust Distrust Not sure Diff
ABC 32 42 26 -10
CBS 34 43 23 -9
CNN 38 43 20 -5
Comedy Central 26 46 20 -20
Fox News 41 46 13 -5
MSNBC 35 44 21 -9
NBC 39 42 19 -3
PBS 52 29 19 +23

On the periphery PBS not withstanding, Fox News looks to be in the top tier of trustworthiness with CNN and NBC. When one digs deeper into the poll’s crosstabs the unsurprising reality is quickly exposed. First, when asked which outlet is trusted the least, Fox News is selected by 34% of the respondents, almost three times more than any of the other individual outlets. When asked which outlet is trusted the most, Fox News also comes out on top with 39%. This as well is more than three times any of the other individual outlets.

How can a network be the least trusted and the most trusted of the bunch? It is called polarization. 67% of Obama voters believe Fox News is the least trustworthy while 68% of Romney voters believe Fox News is the most trustworthy. While Obama voters watch many different outlets, Romney’s voters are concentrated on one network, Fox News.

So what does all of this mean? PPP says it concisely in their press release.

We find once again this year that Democrats trust everything except Fox, and Republicans don’t trust anything other than Fox. Democrats put the most faith in PBS (+61 at 72/11), followed by NBC (+45 at 61/16), MSNBC (+39 at 58/19), CBS (+38 at 54/16), CNN (+36 at 57/21), ABC (+35 at 51/16), and Comedy Central (+10 at 38/28). Out of the non-Fox channels Republicans have the most faith in PBS at -21 (27/48), followed by NBC (-48 at 18/66), CNN (-49 at 17/66), ABC (-56 at 14/70), MSNBC (-56 at 12/68), CBS (-57 at 15/72), and Comedy Central (-58 at 8/66).

The most interesting numbers from the poll is the large decline of Fox News’ credibility since 2010. 49% trusted them in 2010 while now it is 41% and almost exclusively Republican. This portends that Fox News will be a force for some time to come irrespective of its affinity for misinformation as long as there is an audience who willfully accepts deception.

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[zbdent]

1. I trust Faux News

to lie their white asses off ...

[Zoeisright]

2. My god, Americans are

fucking stupid.

[blkmusclmachine]

3. Tell me sweet little lies.

[66 dmhlt]

4. That's not what the PPP Poll says ...

First if you're going to quote a whole paragraph from another source, you need to provide attribution and put it in blockquotes:

We find once again this year that Democrats trust everything except Fox, and Republicans don't trust anything other than Fox. Democrats put the most faith in PBS (+61 at 72/11), followed by NBC (+45 at 61/16), MSNBC (+39 at 58/19), CBS (+38 at 54/16), CNN (+36 at 57/21), ABC (+35 at 51/16), and Comedy Central (+10 at 38/28). Out of the non-Fox channels Republicans have the most faith in PBS at -21 (27/48), followed by NBC (-48 at 18/66), CNN (-49 at 17/66), ABC (-56 at 14/70), MSNBC (-56 at 12/68), CBS (-57 at 15/72), and Comedy Central (-58 at 8/66).

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/02/4th-annual-tv-news-trust-poll.html

And from that same source, the Poll says that PBS is the most trusted network. In fact PBS is the ONLY network that people have more trust than distrust - NOT Fox.

PPP’s annual poll on TV news finds that there’s only one source more Americans trust than distrust: PBS. 52% of voters say they trust PBS to only 29% who don’t trust it. The other seven outlets we polled on are all distrusted by a plurality of voters.

Just like its actual ratings, Fox News has hit a record low in the four years that we’ve been doing this poll. 41% of voters trust it to 46% who do not. To put those numbers into some perspective the first time we did this poll, in 2010, 49% of voters trusted it to 37% who did not. Fox has maintained most of its credibility with Republicans, dropping just from 74/15 to 70/15 over that period of time. But it’s been losing what standing it had with Democrats (from 30/52 to 22/66) and independents (from 41/44 to 32/56).

The conclusion one reaches from the data is that Republicans are the ONLY group that ONLY trust their OWN tailored message.

[KurtNYC]

5. If we weren't obsessed with Fox News they would not have the reach that they do

Refuting lies is not the same as spreading the truth. In fact it repeats the lie and increases its political bandwidth.

We get it -- Fox News lies, so why are we still obsessed with them after 15 years of this?

[davidpdx]

6. When you brainwash people what else are they suppose to believe

Granted the people who watch it are idiots to begin with.