Opinion of the Media: Distrust and Bias

Mike Allen at Axios:

Nearly all Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (92%) think that traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes, according to a new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.

Amazingly enough, even 53% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents think that traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes.

Why it matters: The data shows that trust in the media is heavily influenced by partisan politics, with Republicans more skeptical of mainstream media than their Democratic and independent counterparts.

Other studies from Gallup and Pew Research Center have drawn similar conclusions.
Trust in traditional news outlets continues to sink, with the overwhelming majority of Americans (70%) saying that "traditional major news sources report news they know to be fake, false, or purposely misleading."

President Trump has exacerbated the skepticism amongst hardline conservatives with polarizing language (and tweets) about the mainstream media being "fake news."

The most stunning finding ... Among those who think traditional news outlets report false news, most think they do so intentionally:

• 65% say fake news is usually reported because “people have an agenda.”
• 30% believe such information is shared due to laziness or “poor fact-checking.”
• Hardly anyone (3%) thinks that fake news makes headlines by accident.