14 DAY TRIAL // Fox News is often spoofed and mocked online and, as a new poll reveals, this could be intimately related to the fact that it’s considered the number 1 least trustworthy news outlet. The irony is that, depending on who you ask, it’s also considered the most trusted.
An annual study conducted by Public Policy Polling reveals that Americans are divided where Fox News is concerned: either it’s the worst or the best news source, with no in between about it, The Hollywood Reporter says.
The poll included 800 registered voters and was conducted between January 31 and February 3. Its findings are mind-bending, to say the least.
“Asked for the news source they trust least, 39 percent named Fox News. MSNBC was next at 14 percent, followed by CNN (13 percent), Comedy Central (12 percent), ‘someone else/not sure’ (9 percent), ABC and CBS (tied at 5 percent), NBC (3 percent) and PBS (1 percent),” THR says.
About the same percentage of people named Fox News the most trusted news source. The poll revealed that 34 percent of respondents considered it to be a trustworthy outlet.
“In a distant second place was PBS, which 13 percent named as their most trusted source of TV news. ABC was next at 11 percent, followed by CNN (12 percent), MSNBC (8 percent), ‘someone else/not sure’ (7 percent), CBS (6 percent) and NBC (5 percent),” THR reports.
Comedy Central tied in with NBC, getting 5 percent of the votes.
The findings of the poll are tied to political affiliations, Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, underlines. Of the 800 respondents, 42 percent were Democrats and 33 percent were Republicans.
“We continue to find that Democrats trust most TV news sources other than Fox, while Republicans don't trust anything except Fox,” Debnam says of the findings.