The vast majority of Americans want honesty, intelligence and authenticity from their news providers, a Pew Research Center study released Wednesday found.
The study, based on a poll of more than 9,300 U.S. adults in April, found that more than 80% of respondents said it was “important” that the people they get their news from display those three traits in their work. More than 90% also said it was at least “somewhat important” that their news providers have a deep knowledge of the topics they cover. Employment by a news organization or a university degree in journalism was less important.
Though Pew defined authenticity in news providers as “being their true selves,” people who participated in focus groups for the study were less unified in their opinions of what it meant for a journalist or news provider to be authentic.
“Some people would refer to that as sort of being their true selves and bringing their humanity to the forefront. Some people thought of it as things like truthfulness, specifically, whether they’re being honest and accurate and truthful with you,” senior researcher and lead report author Kirsten Eddy said. “And some people were kind of confused. They knew the word mattered, but they weren’t entirely sure what it means.”
Focus group respondents were also more likely to say that they expect authenticity from “alternative news providers” like podcasters and news influencers instead of journalists from traditional outlets, Eddy added.
More than 90% of respondents said that news providers “definitely” or “probably should” report the news accurately. A strong majority — 84% — also said news providers should correct false or misleading information from public figures. A higher percentage of Democrats than Republicans said news providers should fulfill watchdog roles like correcting misinformation from public figures and keeping an eye on powerful people.
Though many newsrooms have launched initiatives to listen to their communities, the survey found that only 19% of respondents said news providers “definitely” should seek out audience input and ideas, while 33% said they should “probably” do that. An even smaller percentage said news providers should express their personal opinions about current events.
While 51% of respondents said it was “always” or “usually” acceptable for journalists to advocate for the communities they cover, only 13% said the same for journalists to express their political views and religious beliefs.
“We heard people in focus groups tell us that it was really context-dependent for them,” Eddy said. “Depending on the particular topic that was being covered, depending on the person who’s providing them the information, they had changing beliefs about what was acceptable and what was not to them.”
The study also found that while 59% of Americans believe that journalists are important to the well-being of society, nearly half think journalists are losing influence. One reason for this loss of influence, according to focus group participants, was the rise of alternative news sources and the lowered barriers to entry for news providers.
Eddy said that one thing newsrooms can take away from the study is that when it comes to the traits people value in their news providers — honesty, authenticity, expertise — there aren’t major divisions or political gaps.
“We see that people care pretty consistently about these types of things, and so that kind of spans a range of Americans from many different backgrounds.”
