It found that people consider seven out of 13 outlets mentioned to be mainstream: ABC News, CNN, Fox News, New York Post, MSNBC, TheNew York Times and
TheWall Street Journal.
Most Americans didn’t know enough to classify the other six outlets. For instance, 65% couldn’t decide if Vox is part of the mainstream media. And 57% felt the same away about Newsmax, and 56% regarding Breitbart.
Specifically, the following percentages said these outlets are mainstream:
CNN—87%
The New York Times—79%
MSNBC—78%
Fox News—73%
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The Wall Street Journal—71%
New York Post—61%
HuffPost—37%
BuzzFeed—22%
The Sean Hannity Show (radio)—20%
Vox—12%
Newsmax—12%
Breitbart—9%
In general, people are likely to say that an outlet from which they got political news in the past week is mainstream media. Case in point: 65% of those who read HuffPost see it as mainstream, versus 34% who do not.
But 94% of those who read The New York Times for political news in the past week see it as mainstream, compared to 74% who did not. And 78% of recent viewers see Fox as mainstream, versus 69% who have not viewed it.
Moreover, political opposites seem to agree on some choices: 75% of see Fox News as mainstream, and so do 72% of Democrats and Democratic leaners, despite Fox’s derogatory comments about the “mainstream media.”
In contrast, 88% of Republicans and GOP leaners see ABC News as mainstream, and 89% on the Democratic side.
Newsmax stands out — 84% who see it as their main source of political news say it is not part of the mainstream, and the remainder believe it is. But 97% agree it presents news differently from other news organizations.
Only 30% feel TheNew York Times presents things differently.