U.S. Media and Perceptions of Disinformation Risk www.disinformationindex.org Table of contents Executive Summary 4 Section 1: Positive and negative 6 perceptions of news sites Section 2: Disinformation risk flags 8 and perceptions Section 3: Readers’ profiles 10 and perceptions Author: Dr. Andrea Abel van Es Research: GDI and YouGov Conclusion 17 Design: www.designbythink.co.za Annex 18 The Global Disinformation Index is a UK-based not-for-profit that operates on the three principles of neutrality, independence and transparency. Our vision is a world in which we can trust what we see in the media. Our mission is to restore trust in the media by Endnotes 21 providing real-time automated risk ratings of the world’s media sites through a Global Disinformation Index (GDI). The GDI is non-political. Our Advisory Panel consists of international experts in disinformation, indices and technology. For more information, visit www.disinformationindex.org June 2021. Published under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) www.disinformationindex.org 3 US Media and Perceptions of Disinformation Risk Executive Summary Executive Summary The following report is a The Global Disinformation Index (GDI) commissioned YouGov to conduct Across all news outlets, perceptions of a site’s Respondents trust different news publishers for look at informed online an independent survey of more than 1000 informed readers in the U.S.1 accuracy vary by political affiliation.5 different types of news. readers’ perceptions Respondents were asked to assess up to 10 news sites against a series of questions which served as proxies for understanding the perceived • There was zero overlap among the top five • The respondents turn to different sites for trusted of disinformation risks disinformation risks of news publishers.2 Respondents were also asked to news publishers which each political group news on politics, health, and the environment. for some of the most perceived as having accurate news coverage. self-identify politically (left, centre or right) and provide other demographic • These findings are a good proxy for popular media sites data. The sample of news sites was developed in partnership with the • On average, when more left-leaning respondents understanding which sites respondents trust in the United States. University of Washington and is based on some of America’s highest traffic perceived a news outlet to be accurate, then for news on U.S. elections, climate change 3 sites and those with the most followers on social media. The U.S. media fewer right-leaning respondents did. and COVID-19 coverage, and how these market sample also included key regional news outlets, national and cable information sources shape their policy views. television networks, and niche sites (for different political and demographic • The greatest left-right divide is found for groups).4 mainstream media outlets such as Fox • The lack of overlap in sites across the political News, CNN and The New York Times. spectrum signals the challenges ahead of building Based on this assessment, the key findings show that: policy consensus on these critical issues. Perceptions of a news publisher’s accuracy differ Readers’ trust in a news site is correlated with the site’s perceived between self-identified men and women. The study’s findings do much to support past disinformation risks. research on how political polarisation has • Among this sample of informed readers who influenced Americans’ perceptions,6 including their • There is a statistically significant correlation between a self-identified their gender, female respondents understanding of the disinformation discourse.7 respondent’s overall positive (or negative) perception of a news were slightly more likely to rate news publishers However, the study goes further to look at the outlet and the perceived disinformation risks for that site. in the sample as being accurate (56 percent) relationships that exist between perceptions • These risk factors include perceptions of a site’s overall accurate than male respondents (50 percent). of disinformation risk and trust in specific news news coverage, use of clickbait, the labelling of news versus • There was almost no overlap among the top five sites. This analysis considered disinformation risks opinion stories, and the correction of errors when found. news publishers rated as “accurate” by men and based on informed readers’ perceptions of a news women, with only one site cited by both groups. publisher’s credibility, reliability and reputation. These findings are covered in the sections that follow. While the analysis is based on U.S. respondents, the study offers potential insights into how politicisation and polarisation affect perceptions of a news publishers’ disinformation risk more generally. We hope that the findings are used in that spirit. 4 www.disinformationindex.org www.disinformationindex.org 5 US Media and Perceptions of Disinformation Risk Section 1: Positive and Negative Perceptions of News Sites Section 1: Positive and negative Figure 1. Respondents’ opinions of sites: positive and negative Democracy Now! 15% 67% NPR 21% 66% perceptions of news sites The Boston Globe 12% 58% Judicial Watch 13% 58% The Root 12% 58% NBC News 22% 55% The New York Times 28% 54% The Washington Post 26% 53% Politico 22% 53% Occupy Democrats 29% 52% CNN 30% 52% Figure 1 shows the overall positive and negative perceptions of the 63 news The Atlantic 18% 50% The following study The Wall Street Journal 18% 50% 8 focuses on the factors outlets assessed in this study. Reuters 10% 50% CBS News 32% 48% which account for It shows the percentage of respondents who had an overall positive or negative Talking Points Memo 10% 48% how informed readers view of a news publisher. One key finding is that many news publishers have The Blaze 27% 45% both positive and negative reputations among the respondents. Bloomberg 17% 45% perceive disinformation Los Angeles Times 21% 45% risks and form their For example, 41 percent of respondents had an overall positive opinion of ABC News 28% 45% Fox News while 47 percent had an overall negative opinion. Vice News 12% 45% brand perception of Forbes 9% 45% a news publisher. Similarly CNBC’s ratings were fairly equally split among respondents who Reason 25% 43% had a positive (34 percent) and negative view (32 percent) of the site. Time 24% 43% HuffPost 26% 42% Across news publishers in the survey, ten have higher levels of overall negative RealClearPolitics 11% 42% 47% 41% 9 Fox News perceptions than positive perceptions (see Figure 1). These sites include Business Insider 9% 40% some news publishers that the GDI has previously flagged as peddling Newsweek 23% 40% disinformation related to electoral fraud, as well as COVID-19 conspiracies, Slate 24% 39% 23% 38% white supremacy and anti-Semitism.10 The Intercept Salon 22% 38% There are also four sites where the difference between the percentage of BuzzFeed News 16% 38% The Epoch Times 32% 38% respondents who held positive and negative opinions of the site is greater Vox 22% 38% than 45 percentage points (see Figure 1).11 Newsmax 30% 38% Wired 12% 38% The Hill 20% 36% Al Jazeera 27% 35% CNBC 32% 34% Breitbart 54% 34% The Gateway Pundit 26% 33% Chicago Tribune 18% 33% The Daily Beast 20% 32% The Philadelphia Inquirer 19% 32% National Review 29% 31% The New Republic 20% 30% USA Today 22% 30% The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 25% 30% Fortune 13% 29% Boston Herald 25% 28% Yahoo! News 21% 27% The Washington Times 39% 27% Washington Examiner 45% 27% Positive view The Washington Free Beacon 29% 26% Miami Herald 22% 25% Newsday 21% 25% Negative view Chicago Sun-Times 18% 25% New York Post 35% 24% The Daily Caller 36% 24% People Magazine 35% 22% New York Daily News 37% 21% InfoWars 72% 11% 6 www.disinformationindex.org www.disinformationindex.org 7 US Media and Perceptions of Disinformation Risk Section 2: Disinformation risk flags and perceptions Section 2: Disinformation risk Figure 2. Correlation between respondents’ opinions of sites and perceived risks Correlation flags and perceptions 1 Negative view -1 -.75 -.5 -.25 -.1 0 .1 .25 .5 .75 1 1 0.94 Inaccurate ** Asterisks indicate a level 1 0.88 0.87 News vs opinion unclear of statistical significance: ** ** Within the scope of the study, the GDI asked an additional set of questions * indicates P < 0.05 which target specific disinformation risk flags: 1 0.85 0.93 0.93 Does not issue corrections ** indicates P < 0.01 ** ** ** • The site’s level of accuracy in covering news events; 0.95 0.75 0.82 0.77 Always uses clickbait • How easy it is to differentiate between opinion and news 1 ** ** ** ** articles on the site; • How frequently a site employs clickbait headlines; and 1 0.45 0.47 0.45 0.56 0.43 Issues corrections ** ** ** ** ** • How often a news site issues corrections when a story is found to be inaccurate. 1 0.22 -0.52 -0.56 -0.53 -0.46 -0.55 News vs opinion clear ** ** ** ** ** Figure 2 shows the correlations between these risk flags and informed readers’ 1 0.79 0 -0.65 -0.71 -0.63 -0.62 -0.68 Accurate positive or negative opinions of the 63 news publishers. The higher the ** ** ** ** ** ** correlation coefficient (the number in the block), the stronger the relationship (negative or positive) between the risk factors. The findings show that there is 1 0.75 0.68 0.64 -0.23 -0.32 -0.28 -0.27 -0.37 Positive view a statistically significant correlation between a respondent’s overall positive ** ** ** * ** ** * ** (or negative) opinion of a news outlet and their perceptions of the site’s 1 0.47 0.71 0.57 0 -0.77 -0.71 -0.45 -0.56 -0.55 Never uses clickbait disinformation risks.