Recent questions about the credibility of NBC News Anchor Brian Williams – following revelations of apparent war-story fabrications – haven’t done much to hurt the public’s perception of NBC News.

That’s according to this year’s annual Public Policy Polling survey on TV news, which is evenly divided when it comes to NBC News. Forty percent of respondents say they trust the network’s coverage, while 40 percent say they don’t.

Last year, the responses ran about the same: 39-39.

“Just like everything these days, voters are polarizing about it, across party lines,” said PPP Director Tom Jensen. “Overall, voters are pretty evenly divided. Thirty-nine percent say William should be able to keep his job. Thirty-six percent say he should be let go.

“But when you break that down by party, Democrats are pretty sympathetic toward Williams, by a pretty strong margin. And then you look at Republicans – Republicans say he should be fired.”

It’s not just issues such as abortion and gay marriage that polarize voters these days, according to Jensen. Now we can add our TV news choices to that list.

This year, as in past years, Fox News is both the most trusted and the least trusted source of news in the nation.

“Republicans said that they trusted Fox News,” said Jensen,” and they said that they didn’t trust a single other thing that we polled on. Every single one of the major networks – NBC, CBS, ABC – fewer than 25 percent of Republicans trust them.

“And then when you look at Democrats, they trust everything except Fox News.”

The most trusted news network among Democrats, by a narrow margin, is CNN, at 21 percent. PBS comes in second, at 18 percent.

Overall, the only news outlet that a majority of Americans say they trust is PBS, by 52 percent.

Related Stories
‹
UNC Investigates Professor Over Ties to Anti-Racist Group; Rally Held in His Support
As a UNC professor is on administrative leave for his advocacy of alleged politically-motivated violence, supporters led a rally on Wednesday.
Trump’s Casting Call as He Builds Out His Administration: TV Experience Preferred
There’s a common trait that President-elect Donald Trump is clearly prizing as he selects those to serve in his new administration: experience on television.
How Election Lies, Libel Law Were Key to Fox Defamation Suit
Written by JENNIFER PELTZ and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Fox News settled a major defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million on Tuesday, according to the voting machine company that sued the top cable news network. The settlement avoids a trial that could have shed additional light on former President Donald Trump’s election lies, revealed more about how the […]
Sorry, Not Sorry: Some 1/6 Rioters Change Tune After Apology
Written by ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Appearing before a federal judge after pleading guilty to a felony charge in the deadly Capitol riot, former West Virginia lawmaker Derrick Evans expressed remorse for letting down his family and his community, saying he made a “crucial mistake.” Less than a year later, Evans is portraying himself […]
Is Alex Jones Verdict the Death of Disinformation? Unlikely
Written by DAVID BAUDER A Connecticut jury’s ruling this week ordering Alex Jones to pay $965 million to parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims he maligned was heartening for people disgusted by the muck of disinformation. Just don’t expect it to make conspiracy theories go away. The appetite for such hokum and narrowness of the judgments against […]
Recalling Jan. 6: A National Day of Infamy, Half Remembered
Written by JAKE COYLE Beneath a pale winter light and the glare of television cameras, it seemed hard not to see the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot for what it was. The violent storming of the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters bent on upending the election of Joe Biden was as clear as day: democracy under […]
Dominion Voting Sues Fox for $1.6B Over 2020 Election Claims
Written by COLLEEN LONG Dominion Voting Systems on Friday filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, arguing the cable news giant falsely claimed in an effort to boost faltering ratings that the voting company had rigged the 2020 election. It’s the first defamation suit filed against a media outlet by the voting company, which […]
Technology Near For Real-Time TV Fact-Checks - But Will Networks Want It?
A team at Duke University is developing a program that will allow TV networks to fact-check political speeches in real time - if the networks want it.
Tucker Carlson Delivering Park Lecture at UNC Media and Journalism School
Fox News host Tucker Carlson will deliver the 2018 Roy H. Park Distinguished Lecture at UNC in April. The UNC School of Media and Journalism made the announcement this week. Carlson is the host of Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News. Carlson took over the time slot formerly held by Bill O’Reilly before his exodus […]
Chansky’s Notebook: It Must Be The Shoes
There’s no kerfuffle at Carolina, at least about shoes. Todd Starnes is sort of a cross between Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump. Far right, sometimes funny and more obnoxious. Not sure where his last piece came from on FoxNews.com, but in his first line he identifies all this at University of North Carolina. The article […]
›