Quinnipiac University released the results of its latest poll on which TV news outlet Americans trust most. You're either going to be shocked by the results or think to yourself, "Yeah, that sounds about right."
Americans trust Fox News the most with 29 percent of poll participants naming the cable channel its most trusted TV news outlet, according to a new poll released by Quinnipiac University today. The other major network and cable TV news outlets came in as follows: CNN (22 percent), NBC News (10 percent), CBS News (10 percent), ABC News (8 percent) and MSNBC (7 percent).
However, local news pretty much trumps all. Fox News outranked the other national TV news outlets in terms of trustworthiness of its news coverage with 20 percent of respondents saying they trust the cable channel's news coverage "a great deal" and 35 percent saying they trust it "somewhat." But 19 percent of poll participants said they trust their local TV news coverage "a great deal" and 52 percent "somewhat" trust it, which gives local news coverage an edge in this poll.
There couldn't be a more appropriate time for Quinnipiac to conduct a poll like this with all of the turmoil in TV news lately. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was suspended for six months in February after soldiers said his account of being on a helicopter that was shot down during the U.S. invasion of Iraq was false. Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly's claim that he reported in a war zone during the Falklands War has also been challenged.
Naturally, the Quinnipiac poll also asked respondents their thoughts on these controversies. Most people, to the tune of 42 percent, think Williams should be reinstated as anchor of NBC Nightly News. Interestingly enough, most people (51 percent) said they hadn't heard enough about the controversy surrounding O'Reilly to determine whether or not he should be fired, suspended or allowed to continue on as anchor of his Fox News show. These answers seem pretty indicative of how big of a deal both cases are to the public, or rather, how much media coverage each has received.
In the end, most people (48 percent) think national network TV news is less trustworthy than during the days of Walter Cronkite. People just want their Uncle Walter back, you know?
And in case Comedy Central still needs some help finding a replacement for Jon Stewart when he leaves The Daily Show later this year, they might want to listen to what the viewers want. The Quinnipiac poll found that 19 percent of respondents would like to see Tina Fey sit behind The Daily Show desk, while Dennis Miller was a close second at 16 percent. The American people have spoken.
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