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Mildly Interesting

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Republicans and Democrats differ drastically in which news sources they trust and distrust (www.pewresearch.org)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Davriellelouna@lemmy.world to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
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Source: Pew Research

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[–] TheDoozer@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

Like, I get trusting Fox News makes no sense given their track record, and a bunch of those are just blatantly untrustworthy...

But if you trust The Joe Rogan Experience as a News sources, you're a moron of the highest degree. It doesn't even set itself up as that. Joe Rogan himself regularly refers to himself as an idiot and you shouldn't follow what he says, he's just giving an opinion. The opinion of someone with no expertise. Whose claim to fame is as a comedian and such high-brow commentary as UFC fights and making white Americans eat bugs and bumble about in the dark.

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I answered distrust on every single one of these.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 38 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I think one of the scariest parts here is how only one news source cracked 50% for Republicans. That indicates a rejection of the concept of news

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago

I’ve said for a while now that I’d love to see the demographics for Ground News users. Because I can almost guarantee that the vast majority are left-leaning. Because right-leaning people have zero interest in comparing news stories or getting different takes. They just want a single narrative, with their opinions for the week piped directly into their brain.

[–] iridebikes@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Exactly the takeaway. They do not value different sources corroborating a set of facts. They prefer a specific narrative. Which has been the feeling we've all had for years as it relates to Republicans. It's very interesting to see it in data.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I also reject the concept of any for-profit 24 hour news station. There isn't that much news and they need to hype up nonsense to keep attention and get advertising dollars.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think it's more that they reject information / knowledge / learning. That's why they're so prone to disinformation, grift, and conspiracy theories.

[–] iridebikes@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

They accuse all of the other sources of media of being leftist. They reject any narrative that puts their ideology in a bad light. Their politicians have been pushing them away from news sources that they deem "leftist". They've been entirely brainwashed by centralized messaging from a handful of sources yet accuse the left of being the brainwashed ones. It's wild.

[–] tabarnaski@sh.itjust.works 42 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The most striking thing in this graphic is that Republicans don't trust anything except Fox and Joe Rogan. Shows the lack of critical thinking imho.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Even Rogan didn't hit a third. That's nute

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 2 days ago

I'm really surprised they omitted OAN, the news source for America's most critical thinking challenged.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 67 points 2 days ago (8 children)

The trust in Fox News is SO disheartening. It's almost completely sensationalist propaganda.

I'm surprised NPR has low trust rates from both parties. I can feel a liberal bias, their long-form stories are excellent, but they do try to present both sides which probably makes some liberals unhappy.

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

National Propaganda Radio is as bad as Fox News. They push whatever agenda the war machine demands.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 66 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Fox News admitted under oath in a court of law that they intentionally mislead their audiences with bullshit in order to push an agenda.

After that happened, Fox News should've been either forced to shut down or their audiences should've walked away in shame.

Instead, Fox News audience: WE WANT MORE OF THAT!

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 days ago

I think they should have just been told they cannot use the term news. They could use the term Knews if they like. Like Krab for News

If the just went with Fox Entertainment, that's fine as well. But if the information you are putting out there you are saying your viewers know isn't necessarily factual, it shouldn't fall under news. The Onion Im sure would be fine with BREAKING KNEWS

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago

I mean the answer is really obvious. Fox and right-wing news outlets in general are designed to elicit strong emotional responses with the stories that they run and how they run them. It is, without exaggeration, literally - in the classical sense of the term “literally” (fuck I hate that I have to specify that now) - the daily hour(s) of hate. Strong emotions elicit the release of dopamine. This is why it “feels good” to many people.

[–] Cenzorrll@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

NPR is tied for the highest trust/distrust ratio on the dem side, tied with AP.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

I took the results a bit differently.

First, I ignored the dislike slices. Who's watching sources they distrust? Nobody, so that's personal bias, IMO.

Now, look at the Trust slices. Other than FoxNews, no news source really breaks 25% for the Repubs. They just don't seem to follow any source. If they did, they'd trust someone. So half watch FoxNews, and only a quarter watch anything else.

For the lefties, half the sources have 30-60% trust. That is a lot more sources getting regular eyes and ears on them. Something like NPR getting less high reviews is likely just less listeners as it's a bit "drier" news and a bit "both sidesey" due to it being public media. The dislike for it is only 3%, tied for the lowest dislike. Counterpoint is Newsmax for the left. Really low like and dislike because why would a liberal ever watch that?

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[–] RonnieB@lemmy.world 64 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Joe Rogan Experience being called a news source 😠

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Do they even have news? I thought it was like the Howard Stern show or something

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 36 points 2 days ago (12 children)

So Republicans distrust media overall much more than Democrats.

If it wasn't for the Fox News and Joe Rogan trust, i would say Republicans seem more media literate than Democrats. Although in these case the Republicans also distrust them relatively more than the Democrats do for some of "their" media. In particular the NYT and CNN deserve much more distrust imo. It is clear that they are agenda driven, usually against the interests of the middle class.

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think it's less about having an agenda or not, and more about the factuality of reporting. If I read "so-and-so is quoted as saying..." then can I trust that what is being represented is the same as what the speaker intended?

Agenda-free reporting would be nice in theory, but I don't think it's very realistic. We can demand certain standards of factuality though, and then just do the legwork to identify and take biases into account.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 9 points 2 days ago

I mean, they are nowhere near Rogan or Fox News in terms of agenda, but i think Rogan is a great example. Most of his stuff is just podcasts. So instead of "quoting" the guests, he just lets them speak directly. But the choice of guests, the choice of question and so on, make a huge difference in the picture conveyed to the consumer.

One could argue that the relatively subtle way of media like the NYT is more insidious as it is harder to spot, but it seems that the "blunt" approach of Fox News isn't less effective, so i couldn't judge which is better or worse.

I agree with you that it isn't very realistic to find reporting free of any Agenda, even if the reporters do their best to be as neutral as possible.

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Interesting that The New York Post is more or less equally distrusted by the two. Kinda surprising, given that it's trash. I'd think repubs would be more in favor.

[–] COASTER1921@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This was my main takeaway too. I would have figured it would be right up there with Fox. If not democrats and not republicans, who even is their audience?

[–] iridebikes@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

NYPost is tabloid clickbait. Opportunists. Perhaps the Republican base is aware?

I'm probably wrong. These people are so unpredictable and easily influenced by cult leadership.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, it is because it has New York in its name (bad). I suggest they change the name to FLPost after Florida or TXPost for Texas (good).

[–] iridebikes@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Lol fair enough

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Trust is a strong word for almost all of these. A lot of them have betrayed my trust before so I don't trust them anymore. Like who would trust the New York Times? Honestly? They do some good reporting. But I think you'd have to be naive to just trust whatever they say these days, or ever really.

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

Yeah they lost me when in 2004 they buried a story about all the WMD experts leaving Iraq on the back pages of section A while vocally supporting the war on the front page.

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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Reuters ignored again

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[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago

How the fuck does Fox news have 19% trust rate among the Dems?

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The New York Post being a single point of agreement is great.

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[–] passepartout@feddit.org 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Democrats: There definitely are some news sources you could at least compare to each other if not trust.

Republicans: Fox news and Joe Rogan all the way folks. Nothing else to see here.

Edit: There is an App called Ground News. It tries to outline which topics get reported by which outlets and where the left and right have their blind spots.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Fox has a 2.67 factor of trust/distrust among Republicans. Rogan has a 3.44 factor for Republicans.
Meanwhile CNN has 4.14 trust/distrust among Democrats and the NYT has a factor of 7 among Democrats. MSNB still comes above a factor of 4 and WAPO is about the same factor like Rogan.

So it is not as much "all the way here" for Republicans. They are relatively more distrusting of all media, including "their" media.

[–] Makeitstop@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

The lower trust in their own media might have something to do with how blatantly dishonest those sources are. But it also likely means that their viewers have lowered any standards they might have ever had. They aren't going to be shocked if they see the lies exposed, they can just shrug and say that everyone lies but the other side lies more.

Obvious falsehoods are dismissed as hyperbole, close enough to the truth that it doesn't matter if it's not entirely accurate. Omissions are just distractions cooked up by the other side to keep us from talking about the real issues. There's no expectation that reporting should be factual and follow journalistic standards, the only measure of the quality of the news source is how much they agree with it. They've been inoculated against reality.

[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (4 children)

If I trust none of them what does that make me?

[–] 4grams@awful.systems 5 points 2 days ago

Smart

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Could we do some research into the amount of lies on each source?

[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

I will hear out Associated and BBC but if it's in the US? Nah, probably owned by some billionaire parasite shitbag.

[–] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

CBS is compromised after paying a 16M bribe to the first dork

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 7 points 2 days ago

Conservatives famously have poor media literacy. They are worse than children.

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