Political Split in Ability to Discern Fake News

Is the news real or fake? Can you tell the difference? Only 50 percent of Americans think they can, according to a Gallup survey, down from 66 percent who thought they could in 1984. Gallup asked the public which of these two statements comes closest to how they feel...

• "Although there is some bias in the news media, there are enough sources of news to be able to sort out the facts." 
• or, "There is so much bias in the news media that it's often difficult to sort out the facts."

While only half of Americans believe they can sort out the facts, there are big differences by political identification. Most Democrats believe there can determine the facts. Most Republicans say it's difficult.

Percent who say there are enough news sources to sort out facts
Democrats: 72%
Independents: 46%
Republicans: 31%

Percent who say there's so much bias it's difficult to sort out facts
Democrats: 26%
Independents: 51%
Republicans: 67%

Source: Gallup, Americans Struggle to Navigate the Modern Media Landscape

Trust in Mass Media Has Plummeted

Americans' trust in the mass media has fallen to a new low, reports Gallup. From a high of 72 percent in 1976, the percentage of Americans who say they have a fair amount/great deal of trust in the mass media fell to just 32 percent in 2016. A major reason for the all-time low, says Gallup, is plummeting trust among Republicans...

Fair amount/great deal of trust in mass media in 2016 (and 2015)
Democrats: 51% (55%)
Independents: 30% (33%)
Republicans: 14% (32%)

Source: Gallup, Americans' Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low

Sources of News for Young and Old

Percentage of young adults and older Americans who often get their news from (ranked by source)...

Aged 18 to 29
34% from websites/apps
32% from social networking sites
22% from local TV
14% from radio
12% from cable TV
10% from network TV
  5% from print newspapers

Aged 65 or older
67% from local TV
58% from cable TV
53% from network TV
48% from print newspapers
24% from radio
16% from websites/apps
  6% from social networking sites

Source: Pew Research Center, The Modern News Consumer

Decline in Daily Newspaper Readers: Thanks Internet!

Newspaper employment has plummeted over the past two decades, according to a Demo Memo analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics' data, with most of the decline occurring since 2007—when the smartphone transformed the internet into something personal and portable. Behind the decline in newspaper employment is the shrinking newspaper audience, a trend starkly documented in Pew Research Center's State of the News Media 2016. The percentage of Americans who read a daily newspaper (print or digital) has plummeted since 2007...

Percent reading a daily newspaper in 2015 (and in 2007)
Aged 18 to 24: 16% (33%)
Aged 25 to 34: 17% (34%)
Aged 35 to 44: 21% (43%)
Aged 45 to 54: 28% (53%)
Aged 55 to 64: 38% (59%)
Aged 65-plus: 50% (66%)

Source: Pew Research Center, State of the News Media 2016

Fewer Media Jobs: Thanks Internet!

Until the introduction of the smartphone in 2007, the effect of the internet on employment in traditional media—newspapers, magazines, and books—had been minimal. Between 1993 (when Mosaic was introduced—the first graphical interface for the Worldwide Web) and 2007, newspaper employment had fallen some, but the worst was yet to come. Employment in the magazine and book industries was almost unchanged during those years. Not so after the smartphone transformed the internet into something personal and portable...

Employment change in newspaper industry
1993 to 2007: –79,000
2007 to 2016: –168,200
68% of job loss occurred since 2007

Employment change in magazine industry
1993 to 2007: –300
2007 to 2016: –48,400
99% of job loss occurred since 2007

Employment change in book industry
1993 to 2007: 700
2007 to 2016: –20,700
100% of job loss occurred since 2007

Traditional media jobs are disappearing, and new jobs are emerging in internet publishing and broadcasting—but not enough to fill the gap. Internet media employment grew by 125,300 between 2007 and 2016, or a little less than half the 237,300 jobs lost in the newspaper, magazine, and book industries. Even including job growth in television and film, there has been a net loss of 159,200 media jobs since 2007.

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Trends in Newspaper Publishing and Other Media, 1990-2016

Print Still Dominates Newspaper Readership

One of the many topics examined in Pew's State of the News Media 2015 report is media consumption by platform. Interestingly, print remains the dominant platform for newspaper readers—a potentially worrisome finding. Here is the distribution of newspaper readership by platform...

Distribution of newspaper readership by platform
Print only: 55%
Print/desktop: 15%
Print/desktop/mobile: 10%
Desktop only: 7%
Desktop/mobile: 5%
Print/mobile: 4%
Mobile only: 3%

Why is the continued dominance of print so worrisome? Because newspaper readership is declining. Only 24 percent of Americans aged 18 or older read a newspaper every day, according to the 2014 General Social Survey, down from 53 percent in pre-Internet 1990. Among Millennials, the figure is just 14 percent. The fact that print still dominates today's (shrinking) newspaper audience means younger generations are looking elsewhere for news.

Source: Pew Research Center, State of the News Media 2015 and 2014 General Social Survey

Most Americans Are On Facebook

The 58 percent majority of American adults use Facebook, according to a survey by Pew Research Center. Among online adults, the figure is 71 percent. Among Facebook users, 70 percent check the site every day. The use of Facebook far exceeds the use of other social media sites, with 28 percent of online adults using LinkedIn and Pinterest, 26 percent using Instagram, and 23 percent using Twitter.

Percentage of online adults who use Facebook by age
Aged 18 to 29: 87%
Aged 30 to 49: 73%
Aged 50 to 64: 63%
Aged 65-plus: 56%

The percentage of online adults aged 65 or older who are on Facebook exceeded 50 percent for the first time in 2014, up from 45 percent in 2013 and 35 percent in 2012.

Source: Pew Research Center, Social Media Update 2014

State of the News Media 2014

Good news: Digital news outlets have created 5,000 full-time editorial jobs in the past decade.
Bad news: "It is far from clear there is a digital news business model to sustain these outlets."

Source: Pew Research Journalism Project, State of the News Media 2014

Less Time with the News

Younger generations spend less time than older adults following the news, and over the years the differential has not diminished. Since 2004, Pew Research Center has been tracking the number of minutes per day each generation spends watching, reading, or listening to the news. Here are the averages in 2012...

Average minutes per day following the news
Millennials: 46
Generation X: 66
Baby Boomers: 77
Older Americans: 84

Interestingly, these numbers have barely changed since 2004. "Today's younger and middle-aged audience seems unlikely to ever match the avid news interest of the generation they will replace, even as they enthusiastically transition to the Internet as their principal source of news," concludes Pew.

Source: Pew Research Center, Pew Research Surveys of Audience Habits Suggest Perilous Future for News

Cable versus Netflix

The 53 percent majority of American households subscribe to cable television service. But boomers and older Americans are far more likely to get cable than Gen Xers or Millennials. Only 44 percent of households headed by Millennials are cable television subscribers, according to a Harris Interactive survey. Among Gen Xers, the figure is 47 percent. Most Boomers (56 percent) and older Americans (59 percent) subscribe to cable.

Netflix streaming service shows the opposite patten. Overall, 24 percent of households subscribe to Netflix streaming. Among Millennials, however, fully 40 percent subscribe to Netflix streaming—almost equal to cable service. The figure is 30 percent among Gen Xers, 18 percent among Boomers, and just 5 percent among older Americans.

Source: Harris Interactive, Growth in Ownership of Smartphones and Tablets Appears Largely Android-Driven

Newsrooms Emptying

The number of full-time professional editorial jobs at the nation's newspapers fell by a steep 18,400 between 2000 and 2012—a 33 percent decline, according to the American Society of News Editors. In 2000, there were 56,400 full-time editorial jobs at newspapers. In 2012, the figure was just 38,000.

Source: Pew research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, Newspaper Newsrooms Suffer Large Staffing Decreases

Do You Watch It Live?

Among Americans who watch selected types of television programming, percentage who most often watch shows live (or delayed)...

Professional football: 81% (19%)
College basketball: 69% (31%)
Professional baseball: 69% (31%)
Evening talk/comedy: 52% (48%)
Comedies: 45% (55%)
Dramas: 44% (55%)

Source: Harris Interactive, Sports Broadcasts Holding the Line Against "Delayed Viewership" Incursion

Employment Decline in Information Industry

Employment in the information industry peaked in 2000 at 3,630,000, according to an analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2011, the industry employed only 2,659,000--a loss of nearly 1 million jobs.

Behind the decline in information industry employment is job loss in traditional publishing (books, newspapers, magazines, directories) and telecommunications (wired and wireless). The BLS defines the information industry as establishments that 1) produce and distribute information and cultural products; 2) provide the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications; 3) process data. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of jobs in newspaper publishing fell from 422,600 to 240,900—a 43 percent decline. Jobs in wired telecommunications fell 37 percent, from 921,800 to 577,200. Newspaper publishing and wired telecommunications together accounted for more than half of the overall decline in information industry jobs. 

Meanwhile, the Internet has not come to the rescue. Internet publishing employed 108,000 in 2011, nearly 3,000 fewer people than the 110,800 employed in 2000. Jobs in this sector are disappearing in part because much of Internet publishing is performed without pay. Think of Wikipedia (which calls itself "the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet"), available for free and created almost entirely by volunteers.

What's Causing Political Polarization?

If you wonder why the country has become so polarized in recent years, you aren't alone. Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas have looked into the issue, and they have an answer: cable television. Yes folks, according to their statistical study, the increased political polarization of the House of Representatives over the past few decades is due to media fragmentation.

"Our findings strongly suggest that greater media fragmentation has contributed to increased political polarization," the authors conclude. "This may occur as individuals seek out self-reinforcing viewpoints rather than be exposed to a common 'nightly news' broadcast, or alternatively, may occur as individuals opt out of news entirely in favor of entertainment."

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Has Income Inequality or Media Fragmentation Increased Political Polarization?

News Junkies

Only 13 percent of Americans are news junkies, agreeing with the statement, "I am a news junkie; it's a favorite leisure time activity." The largest share (69 percent) say they "like to keep up with the news, but it's just one of many ways I spend my leisure time." Eighteen percent of the public is not interested in the news.

Half of Americans prefer to get news from television, 36 percent prefer to get news online, and 10 percent prefer print. What catches their attention? The 54 percent majority say a headline, 44 percent say a picture, and 43 percent say interesting data captures their attention.

Source: Harris Interactive, Executives Underestimate Americans' Interest in Research-Driven News

Book Reading by Age

Percent of Americans aged 16 or older who have read a book in whole or in part, in any format, in the past 12 months...

Total, 16-plus: 78%
Aged 16 to 17: 86%
Aged 18 to 24: 88%
Aged 25 to 29: 76%
Aged 30 to 39: 84%
Aged 40 to 49: 79%
Aged 50 to 64: 77%
Aged 65-plus: 68%

Source: Pew Research Center, Younger Americans' Reading and Library Habits

Getting the News

Preferred way to get news, by generation in percent...

	TV	Online	Print
Total pop:	50	36	10
Millennials:	34	55	5
Gen Xers:	52	38	7
Boomers:	59	27	13
Matures:	60	17	22

Source: Harris Interactive, TV is America's Preferred News Mode Overall, but Online is Matching or Outpacing It in Some Segments

Paper Losses

A shrinking share of the public uses paper to get news and information on a typical day, according to Pew Research Center. Between 2002 and 2012, the percentage of Americans who read a print newspaper yesterday fell from 41 to 23 percent. Printed book readership declined from 34 to 30 percent, and printed magazine readership from 23 to 17 percent.

Only 12 percent of the public received or wrote a letter on paper yesterday, down from 20 percent in 2006. Among regular readers of the venerable New York Times, the 55 percent majority usually reads the newspaper digitally. This is all very bad news for Dunder Mifflin.

Source: Pew Research Center, In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is Vulnerable

New Survey of E-Reading

If you worry that reading is on the decline, worry no more. Fully 81 percent of Americans aged 16 or older read a book in the past 12 months, according to a Pew survey. The median number of books read in the past year is 8, and the figure does not vary much by age. It ranges from a low of 6 books a year among 30-to-49-year-olds to a high of 12 books a year among people aged 65 or older.

Print is still the most popular format for reading books. In the past year, 21 percent of adults have read an e-book. On an average day, 84 percent of the nation's book readers read a print book, 15 percent read an e-book, and 4 percent listen to an audiobook.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, The Rise of E-Reading