ABSTRACT
Concern with the quality of journalism has been ongoing since the 2016 U.S. presidential election brought conversations about “fake news,” Russian troll farms, and suspicious Facebook ads in its wake. Despite intensive conversation and research on the issue, little attention has been paid to where the public stands on its evaluations of media and concern for the misinformation problem. This chapter explores those matters using panel survey data of 584 American adults in 2016 and 2018 regarding their criticisms of journalism and the presence of fact versus opinion in media. Results show that partisan differences in attitudes toward news and facts exist and that social media use does not significantly impact outcomes while partisan media diets do. Importantly, differences between conservative and liberal perceptions of news increased from 2016 to 2018. Overall, partisan differences in perceptions of news might influence the processing and dissemination of misinformation.
