We’re not fooled – the news sources we think are most objective
Bottom Line: Whether it was the 2016 Election cycle that resulted in the most elected Republicans in the US since 1928, the recently concluded 2018 cycle in which Republicans outperformed 85% of midterm election cycles, or the Honduran caravan...what’s commonly portrayed in most news coverage varies greatly from our beliefs and real outcomes. It’s clear that many Americans just aren’t buying what most news outlets are selling. That’s specifically explained in research conducted by the Knight Foundation in conjunction with Gallup. On the question of what news organizations are the most objective... Here are the top ten.
- 24%: Fox News
- 13%: CNN
- 10%: NPR
- 5%: Local News
- 5%: BBC
- 4%: MSNBC
- 3%: PBS
- 3%: NBC
- 3%: New York Times
- 3%: ABC
Clearly there’s no consensus but there is a big story being told. Fox News is deemed to be the most objective by nearly double the closet news organization. What’s more is that you could add the 2nd and 3rd together and still not equal the percentage of people who view Fox News to be the most objective. What really jumps out at me though are the potential opportunities being missed by status quo left leaning media reporting. It would seem that there’s a real opportunity for news organizations that would truly provide objective coverage. Instead, with a news media that donated 96% of the time to Hillary Clinton’s campaign over Donald Trump and that’s provided 91% negative coverage of the Trump administration for example, they’re seemingly intent on more of the same.
This also is a real indictment of the missed opportunity by local news outlets. If ever there were an opportunity to make a strong effort to provide objectivity, you'd think it’d be with local news organizations, but nope. A quick look at newspaper endorsements, headlines and increasingly outsourced content coming from similar national sources that lack perceived objectivity explains a lot here... Anyway, once again, if you’re frustrated with most coverage out there – you're not alone and they’re not fooling most people.