Pew: News Credibility Down

The latest Pew Report on credibility in news may not surprise anyone.

The study was conducted in mid July 2012 with slightly over 1,000 respondents.  Overall the study looked at 13 news organizations that spanned the political spectrum and included comments on local newspapers and television news. The survey asked respondents to rate news organization believability on a four point scale.  A 1 or 2 was a negative score.  A 3 or 4 was a positive assessment of the organization.

Overall the survey found and decline in positive comments about media.  Only 56 percent of the respondents rated news organizations positive.  This is a decline from a 62 percent rating in the 2010 survey.

In previous Pew studies believability of a particular news organization was based on a partisan view of news.  That trend continues with the 2012 survey.

Local TV news received the highest believability score at 65 percent.    The lowest believability scores at 49 percent was shared by the New York Times, Fox News, and USA Today.  60 Minutes was the only individual program to be ranked by respondents.  It received a believability score of 64 percent.

NPR received a decent believability score, but 21 percent of the respondents could not rate NPR.

When part affiliation enters the mix, the numbers are a expected.  For MSNBC only 32 percent of Republicans thought the NBC-owned operation to be credible.  69 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents rated it as credible.  No supreise in those results.

Fox News was only scored credible by 37 percent of democrats, but was viewed positively by 67 percent of republicans and 43 percent of independents.

Local TV news was viewed as credible by 68 percent of republicans, 70 percent of democrats and 58 percent of independents.

Full survey results can be found here.  For the second time since the inception of this survey, the Pew Research Center contact respondents on landlines and cell phone.