INTERNET MORE TRUSTED Than TV & Print Combined

http://www.ifc.com/static/img/series/mediaproject/media_project_poll.pdf

Key Findings:
· Of those surveyed, 72.6% said they believe the news they read and see is biased.
– 88.7% of Republican and 57.5% of Democrat respondents describe the media as biased.
– By gender 77% of Males and 67% of Females find the news biased.
– Specific demographics found:
Among 18-24
year olds 70.3% found the news media to be biased
Among 25-34
year olds 74.2% found the news media to be biased
Among 35-54
year olds 73.1 % found the news media to be biased
Among 55-69
year olds 72.7 % found the news media to be biased
Among 70 plus year olds 66.7% found the news media to be biased
· 74.8% of respondents agreed that media coverage of the Presidential election influenced the outcome.
– 94.2% of Republicans surveyed and 55.6% of Democrats surveyed believe media coverage
influenced the Presidential election.
– Overall, 93.9% of those surveyed believe Barack Obama received more attention from the media
than John McCain. Only 4.1% believe McCain received more attention than Obama.
· Nearly 80% of respondents consider national television news to be unreliable and 84% consider radio to
be unreliable.
· According to 37.6% of those surveyed, news sources on the Internet are considered to be the most
reliable.
· When asked who respondents felt was the most trusted news personality, no clear frontrunner emerged.
– 14.2% of Democrats polled consider Keith Olbermann of MSNBC to be the most trusted while
29.2% of Republicans surveyed consider Rush Limbaugh to be the most trusted.
· 81.9 % of Republicans surveyed trust FOX News most for the issues they consider most important.
Democrats were split, with 30.3% choosing MSNBC and 26.2% choosing CNN as the networks they trust
most for the issues they consider most important.

· Overall, 73.2% of respondents say they do not think the media is giving them a true representation of
what is happening in Iraq.
– More than 90% of Republicans and 55.6% of Democrats do not feel the media is giving a true
representation of what is going on in Iraq.