Newsbusters
January 18, 2018
While acknowledging that technological advances “have made it easier for Americans to connect with each other and to find information, including details about the major issues facing the country,” a poll conducted in late 2017 by four liberal foundations indicates that media bias and “fake news” were still serious problems.
Amid the changing informational landscape, trust in the U.S. media has been eroding, and while a majority of consumers still believe the media have a critical role in our democracy, they are not very positive about how the media are fulfilling that function.
The report — which is the result of a late 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey — is entitled “American Views: Trust, Media and Democracy,” and was released on Tuesday, January 16, by the Knight Foundation and lists among its major findings:
Most Americans believe it is now harder to be well-informed and to determine which news is accurate.
Many consumers may not be able to easily discern the difference between the two. Less than half of Americans, 44 percent, say they can think of a news source that reports the news objectively.
In addition, Americans are highly concerned about the effects of “Fake News” on the nation’s democracy, but their definitions of the term varied widely.
This article was posted: Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 8:12 am
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