Sixty-Two Percent Of Americans Say News Outlets Are Biased

A new Gallup poll shows Americans believe 62 percent of news outlets – print, television, and radio – are biased. People believe a majority of the news is accurate, but they still believe about 44 percent is inaccurate.

The survey asked 1,440 Gallup panel members to delve into “exactly how much problematic information” appears in traditional news outlets and on social media.

Thirty-nine percent of the news is comprised of misinformation, meaning it’s presented as true but is either false or misleading, according to those surveyed. And 65 percent of news on social media is seen as misinformation.

 Among the key findings in the survey:

• Overall, Americans believe 62% of the news they see on television, read in newspapers and hear on the radio is biased. They are much more inclined to see news on social media as biased, estimating that 80% of the news they see there is biased.
• Americans tend to think the majority of news reporting is accurate, but they still believe a substantial percentage of it, 44%, is inaccurate. They think 64% of news on social media is inaccurate.
• More than eight in 10 U.S. adults report being angry or bothered by seeing biased information. A slightly greater proportion of Americans — more than nine in 10 — get angry or bothered by inaccurate information.
• In rating various news organizations, Americans make little distinction between bias and accuracy — generally, those that are perceived as biased are also perceived as inaccurate, and those that are perceived as unbiased are perceived as being accurate.
• Republicans’ and Democrats’ ratings of the accuracy and bias of certain news organizations diverge sharply, most notably with respect to Fox News, Breitbart News, CNN and MSNBC.