Just The Facts, But Get 'em Right

According to Pew Research surveys, the public's assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades. Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate. In the initial survey in this series about the news media's performance in 1985, 55% said news stories were accurate while 34% said they were inaccurate. 26% of Americans now say that news organizations are careful that their reporting is not politically biased, compared with 60% who say news organizations are politically biased. And only 20% say that news organizations are independent of powerful people and organizations. On several measures, Democratic criticism of the news media has grown by double-digits since 2007. Today, most Democrats say that the reports of news organizations are often inaccurate. 67% of democrats are also now more likely than they were in 2007 to identify favoritism in the media, saying that the press tends to favor one side rather than to treat all sides fairly, up from 54%.