Those believing that the media reports “fake news” has surged in the past year to more than three out of four Americans.
According to the latest Monmouth University poll, 77 percent believe the media at least occasionally engages in reporting fake news, and they blame those trying to plant false stories as well as editors.
That is sharply up from the 63 percent who believed it a year ago.
And 42 percent said that the “traditional news media” makes up news “in order to push an agenda.”
Only 21 percent do not believe that the media, TV and newspapers, “report fake news stories,” said Monmouth.
The poll analysis said, “The news about ‘fake news’ is not good, according to the Monmouth University Poll. Large majorities of the American public believe that traditional media outlets engage in reporting fake news and that outside sources are actively trying to plant fake stories in the mainstream media. When it comes to the meaning of ‘fake news,’ a majority believe that it involves editorial decisions as well as inaccurate reporting. The public feels that social media platforms are partly to blame for the spread of fake news and are not doing enough to stop it.”
And the poll wasn’t good news for President Trump either, with the public finding him less of a reliable source of information than TV.
