Respondents were asked first whether they had heard of 36 individual news sources. But there are substantial differences in trust and distrust across the ideological spectrum. In general, the survey finds that there is more trust than distrust of news sources. In other words – how open people are to the political news and information put forth by various outlets, including those they do not actively consume. The public’s understanding of government and politics is also influenced by the extent to which they trust – or distrust – the information they hear from various news sources.
Fox News (8%) is among the most-named sources in this “long tail,” along with Yahoo News (7%) and Google News (6%), both of which primarily aggregate and highlight news produced by other outlets. CNN (20%) and local television (16%) are the most frequently-named top sources, with a long list of other news sources named by fewer than one-in-ten. Respondents with a roughly equal mix of liberal and conservative values also have a diffuse mix of news providers. Those in other ideological groups name the New York Times, NPR and MSNBC less frequently as top news sources. Both MSNBC and Fox News are mentioned by 5% of those who are mostly liberal. CNN is named by just 20% of those with mostly liberal views, but still tops their list, followed by local television (11%) and NPR (9%). Among consistent liberals, CNN (15%), NPR (13%), MSNBC (12%) and the New York Times (10%) all rank near the top of the list. On the left of the political spectrum, no single outlet predominates. Those with mostly conservative views also gravitate strongly toward Fox News – 31% name it as their main source, several times the share who name the next most popular sources, including CNN (9%), local television (6%) and radio (6%) and Yahoo News (6%). Far fewer choose any other single source: Local radio ranks second, named by 11%, with no other individual source named by more than 5% of consistent conservatives. Those with consistently conservative political values are oriented around a single outlet-Fox News-to a much greater degree than those in any other ideological group: Nearly half (47%) of those who are consistently conservative name Fox News as their main source for government and political news. But wide ideological differences exist both in the sources that top the list for those on the left and right and in the degree to which there is reliance on a single source. Overall, when respondents are asked what outlet they turn to most often for news about government and politics, the most frequent mentions are two cable networks: CNN (named by 16%) and Fox News (14%). When it comes to getting news about government and politics, there are stark ideological differences in the sources that online Americans use, as well as in their awareness of and trust in those sources.