• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 9, 2024

Despite widespread skepticism about bias, most US readers say media scrutiny helps keep politicians honest, according to a study released last week by Pew Research. 

Of the news consumers surveyed, 74% feel criticism from news entities prevents political leaders from doing things that shouldn’t be done. That includes 81% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans. 

But 24% believe scrutiny by newsrooms keeps leaders from doing their jobs. 

And, 77% say news outlets are biased toward one side or the other, the highest percentage since Pew began asking the question in 1985.

The study was conducted prior to this year’s election, so it is not clear if attitudes have shifted. However, Pew notes that attitudes often do change depending on which party is in the White House.  

For instance, Republicans were more skeptical about the media during Donald Trump’s first term, as they were during George W. Bush’s presidency. The number fell to 48% in 2017 and 42% in 2018.

In contrast, 84% of Democrats felt there was a lack of bias in 2018. 

Prior to the election, Pew reported that 37% of US adults have seen inaccurate news very often and 36% somewhat frequently. 

Pew surveyed 9,680 of its American Trends panelists from Sept. 16-22.