posted January 28, 2010 09:40 AM            

Poll: Fox most trusted name in news

A poll finds that 49 percent of Americans trusted Fox News, 10 percentage points more than any other network.

Fox is the most trusted television news network in the country, according to a new poll out Tuesday.

A Public Policy Polling nationwide survey of 1,151 registered voters Jan. 18-19 found that 49 percent of Americans trusted Fox News, 10 percentage points more than any other network.

Thirty-seven percent said they didn’t trust Fox, also the lowest level of distrust that any of the networks recorded.

There was a strong partisan split among those who said they trusted Fox — with 74 percent of Republicans saying they trusted the network, while only 30 percent of Democrats said they did.

CNN was the second-most-trusted network, getting the trust of 39 percent of those polled. Forty-one percent said they didn’t trust CNN.

Each of the three major networks was trusted by less than 40 percent of those surveyed, with NBC ranking highest at 35 percent. Forty-four percent said they did not trust NBC, which was combined with its sister cable station MSNBC.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said they trusted CBS, while 31 percent trusted ABC. Both CBS and ABC were not trusted by 46 percent of those polled.

“A generation ago you would have expected Americans to place their trust in the most neutral and unbiased conveyors of news,” said PPP President Dean Debnam in his analysis of the poll. “But the media landscape has really changed, and now they’re turning more toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear.”

posted January 28, 2010 09:44 AM            

CABLE NEWS RACE
TUES., JAN., 26, 2010

posted January 29, 2010 04:19 PM            

quote:

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“A generation ago you would have expected Americans to place their trust in the most neutral and unbiased conveyors of news,” said PPP President Dean Debnam in his analysis of the poll. “But the media landscape has really changed, and now they’re turning more toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear.”

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posted January 30, 2010 09:36 AM            

I started with channel thumbnails of the majors during the SOTU, looking for the best view....they all had the same feed, and hence the same perspective.
Except for video manipulators FOX.

They pulled the aspect away, making the President look smaller...I kid you not.
You know how the Scifi channel changed the acronym to SyFy? Fox should be FOXSCI.

posted February 05, 2010 12:04 PM            

"now they’re turning more toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear."

If he had read his own poll, he would have found that 30% of democrats also trust Fox News more than any other television news outlet.

That's very bad news indeed for the Marxist Socialist Progressive virus which infests the once grand Democrat party.

"Of course, I'd be happy to examine any evidence you can post about Fox News...."going broke".

"just a whisper i heard sirrah, don't fret. but i'll look it up for you...katatonic"

posted February 05, 2010 11:56 PM            

quote:

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they also seem to think that an election decided by a 10% turnout in massachussetts indicates what ALL of america really wants...katatonic

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posted February 06, 2010 01:53 PM            

so he was elected by a whopping 25% of the mass. voting population.

still not very significant when you measure against the rest of the country, is't?

posted March 19, 2010 09:01 AM            

Perfect. Both CNN and MSNBC are perfect examples of cartoon news reporting from fantasyland.

Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Maddow would be perfect fits for a Daffy Duck cartoon and that would surely raise their ratings.

posted April 07, 2010 06:54 PM            

Fox is quite opinion-based. So is MSNBC (btw, MSNBC is also lower in ratings since it's not as accessible and you need cable to view it, which not everyone has!)

posted April 08, 2010 10:58 AM            

Wed Apr 7, 6:40 pm ET

In an address last night to the National Press Club, News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch ripped into the New York Times as a media outlet with "an agenda" focused on "anything Mr. Obama wants." Murdoch, who owns Fox News and the Times' primary competitor the Wall Street Journal, then fielded a question from the audience about Fox News' own reputation for advancing a conservative agenda — and lately the conservative, grass-roots Tea Party movement — in its coverage, Murdoch waved off the allegation.

"I don't think we should be supporting the Tea Party or any other party," he said. "We have both sides in our news shows, our politics or whatever. We have Democrats and Republicans and whatever."

But while Fox News' head cheerleader was trumpeting his network's objectivity and slinging scorn at liberal bias he sees in the rest of the media, Fox News' coverage and its connection to the activist right has been drawing flak from some prominent national conservatives.

Yesterday, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, who is strongly identified with both the fiscal- and social-conservative wings of the GOP, wound up cautioning some conservative constituents at a town hall gathering not to "catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody is no good."

Coburn's plea for viewer skepticism came in defense of his courtly aside about Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom he characterized as "a nice person." When a wave of grumbling followed, Coburn stood his ground, asking the crowd "how many of you all have met her?" before proceeding to chide them for echoing the Fox-branded view of Pelosi as a poor specimen of humanity.

The Coburn episode was especially striking, since he happens to be one of the most stalwart conservatives in the Senate, netting a 96-point rating on the 100-point scale furnished by the American Conservative Union.

Other conservatives who are closer to the traditional GOP mainstream have lately raised similar red flags about Fox's broader political impact. David Frum, the former American Enterprise Institute fellow who was recently let go in the wake of a widely circulated blog post he wrote criticizing GOP legislative tactics on health care reform, has said that "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we're discovering that we're working for Fox." Frum spelled out what he meant by that remark in a weekend appearance on CNN's "Reliable Sources":

"What that means is that Fox, like Limbaugh, has an interest in pushing the Republicans to the margins, making people angry," he said. "When people are angry and alienated, they don't vote. They succumb to feelings of helplessness."

Bruce Bartlett, a Frum sympathizer, argues that the network's elevation as the premier source of conservative information has also closed the right off from healthy debate. "Fox News is a Republican, conservatively biased organization," Bartlett told Yahoo! News. "Now conservatives don't need to get into the New York Times, or on CBS. They've got their own news network, and all they really think is, 'How can I get a positive mention from Beck or Limbaugh?' or 'How can I get my boss onto Fox News?' "

Fox's Glenn Beck, indeed, spearheaded the Sept. 12 rally in Washington, D.C., that served as the national coming out moment for the Tea Party movement. The network was also instrumental in publicizing the first round of Tea Party protests over the stimulus law, which launched last April 15.

Those actions have sent the network's ratings through the roof — Beck, for one, is now the second highest rated host on cable news, behind only fellow conservative and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. But the popular anger stirred up under the network's auspices may not be an unqualified boon to a GOP facing a tough primary season that pits many Tea Party-style insurgents against candidates aligned with the national party organization. Two of the most prominent such races are the Senate contests in Florida and Arizona, where two more compromise-minded mainstream candidates, Charlie Crist and John McCain, are fending off challenges from candidates backed by the Tea Party — and running strongly to the right of their usual positions as a result.

Beyond the primaries, the GOP is looking to make significant headway against the Democratic majorities in Congress — hoping even to return the House to Republican control. But to do that, Republicans will have to overcome their disadvantage in voter registration in many districts by appealing to independent voters — and those are the very sorts of voters most likely to be repelled by an angry ideological message.

Kevin Madden, a political consultant with the Washington-based firm Dyke Associates and former communications director for Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential bid, says that GOP leaders aren't yet voicing "widespread" concerns about the Fox message distorting the fall campaign. At the same time, however, Madden — a frequent commentator on the rival cable network CNN — praised Tom Coburn's candor.

"Mr. Coburn's remarks seem to reflect an admirable and rare belief that one can win a political debate by convincing those seated in the jury box of public opinion that an opponent has wrong ideas, without having to demonstrate that same opponent has corrupt intentions," Madden said.

posted April 08, 2010 12:57 PM            

I'm generally just not a fan of news on TV since it tends to almost always lean heavily one way or another. I guess it's only natural since it's a BUSINESS but I want journalism which is hard enough to find these days.

posted April 08, 2010 02:50 PM            

I do not agree you can receive a signal from FNN...Fox News Network without being connected to a cable provider.

posted April 10, 2010 01:42 AM            

I watch FOX but I also watch CNN. The most reliable source of "news" without a right lean is The Daily Show, for heaven's sake.

Do I "need" O'Reilly to "tell me what to think"? No.

O'Reilly is not a regular news show. He DISCUSSES news events. Ie, he's not just a reporter whose job it is to state facts.

I don't like "regular" MSM news because they don't separate their opinions from facts. HOWEVER, O'Reilly AND THE REST OF THE NON-STRAIGHT NEWS SHOWS ON FOX ARE NOT MERELY REPORTERS.

Jesus, it's so freakin' sad.

If Anchor X on NBC states "xyz people died today" that would be fine. That's his job. If he said "xyz people died today and I think that's a tragedy", I could tolerate it. But they don't. They say things like "it's a tragedy that TUV would allow XYZ people to die today".

BS reporting.

However, Jon Stewart can do that and I don't mind. Why? He's not a reporter. He has a show wherein he discusses news events from his own perspective. Gee, that sounds familiar.

Personally, I detest Glenn Beck. And without Colmes, Hannity is not worth my time. I don't watch Fox and Friends, either. America's Newsroom is all right if I catch it on ... I like Bret Bair, Bill Hemmer, Megan Kelly, etc. for the most part. But I LOVE Red Eye With Greg Gutfeld.

However, for my straight up news, I compare various sources, mostly print/on-line. And further, yup, I read Slate and Mother Earth News but I also read American Thinker, too. Imagine that! The ability to listen to opinions outside of your own little world with an open mind! Eegads!

What I don't get is how people are incapable of distinguishing between straight news reporting and opinion shows. Really? How absurd is that? It's like not knowing the difference between a news article in the paper and an editorial. Come on.

Yes, a lot of people like FOX. The folks that I know who watch it, do so for the same reasons I do. Their straight up reporting is *usually* less slanted or at least they very clearly differentiate their opinions from the facts. And the rest of the shows are at least amusing.