Monday, May 03, 2010

Where Is Most Trustworthy News Source ?


I don't know how scientific this little poll is (I wouldn't bet my paycheck on it), but I found it interesting and I thought you might also. CBS and Vanity Fair asked Americans what was the most reliable source of news. This is how it came out:

CNN...............32%
Fox News...............29%
CBS, NBC, ABC...............13%
New York Times...............8%
Wall Street Journal...............7%
Daily Show (Jon Stewart)...............4%

One of the most interesting things the poll showed was just how much cable news programs are preferred over the over-the-air networks. I think this is probably due to a couple of factors. First, cable covers almost all areas of the country now. Second, the cable news networks do news (or something that passes as news) 24 hours a day, while the other networks only give about 30 minutes a day to a real news show.

Newspapers may still be trusted, but in this video and internet age they are slowly dying out. An ever decreasing percentage of people actually read a print newspaper anymore, and then it's probably the local paper to get local news. Most people get their national news from television.

I'm sure they probably threw Jon Stewart in as a joke, but around 4% of the people chose it as the most reliable source (mostly Democrats). If I had been polled, that probably what I would have chosen, because I don't have a lot of faith in the mainstream media. Their coverage of most news is very superficial.

I also thought it was interesting that the two leaders had very different audiences. About 50% of those choosing Fox News were Republicans and about 46% of those choosing CNN were Democrats. I'm still flabbergasted that 29% chose Fox News as reliable. They have admitted in open court (in a Florida lawsuit) that they have aired stories that are not true.

Oh well, each to his own I guess.

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