Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Media
February 10-14, 2017
Which comes closer to your view about freedom of the press in a democracy? - freedom of the
press is a necessary check on political power, or freedom of the press does more harm than
good.
Republicans are less likely than most Americans to think freedom of the press is necessary.
It may be enshrined in the Bill of Rights, but is freedom of the press really all that necessary? Most
Americans think so. Three in four Americans think freedom of the press is a necessary check on
political power, though one in five tend to think freedom of the press does more harm than good.
Politically, Democrats (86%) are the most likely to think freedom of the press is necessary in a
democracy, followed by independents (74%). Most Republicans (61%) also think freedom of the press
is necessary, though more than a third of Republicans (36%) think it does more harm than good.
A senior advisor to the president used the term "alternative facts" in a dispute about the media
coverage over how many people attended the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. In response,
some reporters have responded that alternative facts is just another term for falsehoods.
Which comes closest to your opinion about the term alternative facts? The term alternative
facts is just another term for falsehoods, or the term alternative facts is an understandable
pushback against a dishonest media.
When U.S. Counselor to the President and former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway used
the term alternative facts in a conversation on Meet the Press, she was met with pushback by some
reporters who responded that alternative facts are just falsehoods. It turns out, most Americans
agree. 58% of Americans think alternative facts is just another term for falsehoods, while a third
34% - think of the term as an understandable pushback against a dishonest media.
Democrats (75%) overwhelmingly think this term is synonymous with falsehoods, and most
independents (55%) agree. Republicans, however, arent as convinced. While 42% think the term
equals falsehoods, more 50% - think of it as an understandable pushback against a dishonest media.
Americans tend to trust television news over newspapers when it comes to what news source they trust
the most. When asked which generally provides the most accurate and honest source of news and
information, the top choice is television news picked by a third of Americans while less than a
quarter pick newspapers. Further down the list are talk radio at 16%, and Facebook at 8%. Only 6%
say they trust their mother the most when it comes to accurate news, but thats still slightly more than
the 5% who pick the President.
But theres one group of Americans that champion print news over television: younger adults.
Americans age 18 to 34 pick newspapers (30%) ahead of television news (24%) as the most accurate.
Americans between 35 and 44 are divided evenly between the two, but actually trust talk radio the most
(25%). Older Americans 45 and older favor television news.
Which one of the following news assignments will be the most sought after by young journalists
working twenty-five years from now?
What topics will inspire young journalists a quarter of a century from now? When Americans weigh in,
the top choice is new technologies, picked by over a third of Americans (35%). Further down on the list
are the U.S. presidential elections (19%), the start of a big war (16%), or the weather and climate
(15%). Last on the list is Hollywood, picked by less than one in 10 Americans (9%).
When digesting their news, Americans say they want just the facts.
Its sometimes said that news needs to be entertaining in order to be consumed, but if thats the case,
most Americans arent admitting it. When following the news, 93% of Americans say they would rather
get all the facts, even if theyre boring, over needing to be entertained in order to maintain interest.
When it comes to watching the news on television, would you rather watch news that is
reported by attractive people, or does whether or not the reporters are attractive not really
matter to you?
And while television reporters tend to have an attractive look, most Americans say having attractive
people reporting the news really isnt necessary. Just one in 10 Americans say theyd rather watch
news on television reported to them by attractive people, while the rest say it doesnt really matter.
Large majorities of both men (86%) and women (93%) agree that it doesnt matter, though men (13%)
are more likely than women (7%) to favor watching attractive reporters.
Looking back over U.S. history, what do you think was the news medias best moment?
Looking back over U.S. history, there are some periods or stories where Americans think the news
media may have done a good job. When asked to volunteer the news medias best moment, the top
choice that came to mind was the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks picked by more than one in
10 Americans. In second place was the first moon landing in 1969 (8%), following by coverage of
World War II and Pearl Harbor (6%) though this is volunteered primarily by seniors (11%). Other top
mentions include the Kennedy assassination (5%), both the 2008 (5%) and the 2017 (5%) elections,
the Watergate scandal (4%), the Vietnam War (3%), and Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights
movement (3%).
The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. For the landline sample, a respondent was randomly selected
from all adults in the household. For the cell sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered
the phone.
Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish using live interviewers. The data have been weighted to
reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables.
The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points.
The error for subgroups may be higher and is available by request. The margin of error includes the effects of
standard weighting procedures which enlarge sampling error slightly.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll
The Media
February 10-14, 2017
VF-01. Which comes closer to your view about freedom of the press in a democracy? - Freedom of the press is a
necessary check on political power, or Freedom of the press does more harm than good.
* TOTAL RESPONDENTS *
Total Reps Dems Inds
% % % %
Freedom of the press is necessary 74 61 86 74
Freedom of the press does more harm than good 21 36 13 18
Dont know/no answer 5 3 2 8
VF-03. Which one of the following news assignments will be the most sought after by young journalists working
twenty-five years from now?
VF-02. Which one of the following do you think generally provides the most accurate and honest source of news
and information?
VF-04. Generally speaking, when following the news, would you rather get all the facts, even if theyre boring, or
would you rather be entertained, otherwise you wont be interested?
VF-05. When it comes to watching the news on television, would you rather watch news that is reported by
attractive people, or does whether or not the reporters are attractive not really matter to you?
Prefers attractive reporters 10 13 7
Attractiveness doesnt matter 90 86 93
Dont know/no answer 1 1 *
VF-06. A senior advisor to the president used the term "alternative facts" in a dispute about the media coverage
over how many people attended the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. In response, some reporters have
responded that alternative facts is just another term for falsehoods. Which comes closest to your opinion about
the term alternative facts?
* TOTAL RESPONDENTS *
Total Reps Dems Inds
% % % %
Just another term for falsehoods 58 42 75 55
An understandable pushback against a dishonest media 34 50 22 34
Dont know/no answer 8 3 11 3
VF-07. Looking back over U.S. history, what do you think was the news medias best moment?