Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for July 5, 2017
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
July 5, 2017: Just 38 percent of Americans believe that the media does a good job separating fact from fiction. According to the latest edition of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, an identical percentage of them believe you can generally trust what the media reports.[1]
Perhaps the most stunning finding of all is that just 53 percent believe they can trust their primary news source most of the time. In other words, nearly half of all Americans are skeptical of the reports coming from the news program they choose to watch. For example, only 49 percent of Fox News viewers believe it’s the best source for accurate and reliable news. Among CNN viewers, an even smaller number—32 percent—are as confident about their chosen network.
| Alert consumers who are skeptical of what they hear are less likely to be misled. |
These results suggest that the most important tool for fighting what has been called “fake news” is already in place; alert consumers who are skeptical of what they hear are less likely to be misled. In the modern media world, people have developed their own personal fact-checking routines. Many vet the news they hear by sharing it with friends on social media and getting feedback from people they trust. That’s one benefit from the fact that 41 percent share news through social platforms every week.
The Reuters report also showed intense polarization of the media: “The websites of TV networks like ABC, NBC, and CBC are used far more by people who self-identify as left-wing, along with the New York Times and Washington Post. By contrast, the Fox News and Breitbart websites are mostly used by people with right-wing views.”[1]
Overall, the report shows a very large number of news outlets with left-leaning audiences and very few to the right of center. Yahoo News is close to the center. While the Reuters study did not include Ballotpedia, other data from Quantcast shows that we serve an ideologically diverse audience that closely mirrors the nation’s partisan divide.[2]
The Reuters report also looked at the gateways people follow to find their news. Nearly a third (32 percent) go directly to their online news sources. A quarter (25 percent) find news through search engines, and 23 percent find news through social media.
As I note in Politics Has Failed: America Will Not, it’s great news that Americans now have many alternative sources of news at every level of society. But it hasn’t been so great for the elite media companies that used to control the news flow.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- July 4, 2017 – 443 days after the fighting began, Congress followed the nation and declared independence
- July 3, 2017 – 97 percent of congressmen running for re-election in 2016 were re-elected
- June 30, 2017 – 178 elected officials targeted for recall this year
- June 29, 2017 – 10 years ago today, the first iPhone was released—the most revolutionary product ever
- June 28, 2017 – 59 percent of liberals would participate in civil protest—up from 41 percent before Trump was elected
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia weekdays at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Click here to check out the latest update.
The Number of the Day is broadcast on local stations across the country. An archive of these broadcasts can be found here.
Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
Ballotpedia is the nonprofit, nonpartisan Encyclopedia of American Politics.
See also
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