Public Policy Polling released numbers this week that show what news networks are most and least trusted by the American people.
This report is good reading before going to the DC SPJ program on The Press and The Public, Saturday, Feb. 22 at Marymount University.
PBS comes out as the most trusted news orgnaization with 50 percent of the responders trusting the network and 30 percent distrusting it.
Then comes Fox news with 42 percent trusting it and 46 percent distrusting it.
The PPP just added PBS to the survey this year so its numbers cannot be compared to the 2010 results. But Fox news was included last year and its "trust" numbers dropped (49 to 42) and its "distrust numbers increased (37 to 46).
The three traditional networks — CBS, NBC, ABC — all gained in the "trust" level. Only CNN dropped.
For a quick read on the survey go to the PPP blog on the report: Our Second Annual TV News Trust Poll
Click here to read the full PDF report.
Here is a quick (and not surprising) political breakdown of the results:
Democrats trust everything but Fox. Republicans don't trust anything but Fox. And independents don't trust much of anything. For Democrats 73% trust PBS, 64% NBC, 61% CBS, 60% CNN, 56% ABC, and 22% Fox. For Republicans 67% trust Fox, 29% PBS, 22% CNN, 21% NBC, 17% ABC, and 15% CBS. For independents 44% trust PBS, 36% Fox, 34% CNN, 33% NBC, 27% CBS, and 26% ABC