Fox News Channel is the most trusted — and the least trusted — news network in the nation, according to a new survey, illustrating the divisive and partisan nature of politics across the nation at the moment.
All in all, the only news network considered more trusted than not was PBS, a clear sign of the public's negative opinion of the mainstream press.
Fox News, known for being the only major network that doesn't have a liberal slant, was both the "least trusted" and "most trusted" among those polled by
Public Policy Polling in its annual "TV News Trust Poll."
What's more, Fox's "least trusted" title garnered the most number of votes since PPP started the poll four years ago.
The contradictory findings, which polled 800 people, were the result of two separate questions.
In the first poll question, participants were given a list of networks, including Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, and voted on whether they trusted each network.
Compared to other networks, Fox News received the highest number of "least trusted" votes, with 46 percent of those polled saying the network is the most untrustworthy. Comedy Central, which is not a news network but broadcasts satirical news shows like "The Daily Show with John Stewart" and "The Colbert Report," also received 46 percent.
PBS was considered "most trusted," in this question, with 52 percent of participants voting that they trusted the public broadcasting network the most.
In a separate question, PPP asked participants, "Which TV news outlet do you trust the most?" In this poll question, the most number of respondents chose Fox News, with 34 percent saying the network was more reliable than any other network.
PBS was the second most trustworthy, receiving 13 percent of the popular vote; CNN ranked third with 12 percent, and ABC News was fourth with 11 percent. All other networks received less than 10 percent.
"We continue to find that Democrats trust most TV news sources other than Fox, while Republicans don’t trust anything except Fox," Dean Debnam, president of PPP, said in a press release. "News preferences are very polarizing along party lines."
Seventy-two percent of poll participants were white; 11 percent were black, and 10 percent were Hispanic, while seven percent wrote down "other." Women comprised 51 percent of those surveyed.
A plurality of respondents considered themselves Democrats, 42 percent. Thirty-three percent of respondents said they were Republican, with 25 percent of those polled said they were Independent or other
The 2013 survey took place from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 and had a margin of error of +/-3.5 percent.
According to PPP, the poll was not paid for or authorized by any campaign and was conducted through a series of automated telephone interviews.
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