Do People Trust Their News Sources?

Almost 20% of people get news from sources (including news networks, magazines or websites) they do not trust, according to a survey conducted in 2014 by the Pew Research Center. Conservatives were more likely to distrust their news sources; however, they also had a smaller pool of trusted news outlets to choose from. Conservatives tended to distrust around two thirds of the news sources included in the survey, while liberals tended to trust over two thirds of the same sources. The fact that over 80% of respondents to the survey tend to get their news only from trusted sources may be a sign of confirmation bias, which is the common tendency to seek out information that confirms ones own beliefs. A separate survey by the BBC indicated that local newspapers were one of the most trusted of news sources with over 80% of Americans according them 'some' or 'a lot' of trust, while internet news sites and blogs had the lowest ratings, with 55% and 25% respectively.

More about news and media:

• Around two thirds of adults in the USA use Facebook and around 30% say they get news from the social media site.
• Almost 70% of Americans think the media reports on too many negative news stories, according to a poll by the BBC.
• Around 16,200 full-time editorial positions were lost from traditional newspapers between 2003 and 2012.