Media Impartiality in 2017
Independent analyst David Cowling looks at audience perceptions of bias in the media.
This article has been written independently by David Cowling and does not necessarily reflect the views of Ipsos.
The air today is so full of individuals shouting about bias in the media as well as complaining about (often personal definitions of) fake news, that it is refreshing to discover what the audience thinks about these issues.
Ipsos conducted a survey for the BBC (interviewing 2,018 respondents face-to-face between 27 January-7 February, 2017) that investigated public consumption of news and trust in the media.
How closely do people follow the news?
Q How closely would you say that you follow news from any source (e.g. TV, Radio, newspaper, online or with family/friends)? [Base: all respondents]
|
|
All |
Men |
Women |
18-34 |
35-54 |
55+ |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
Very/fairly closely |
67 |
71 |
64 |
52 |
67 |
80 |
|
Not too/not at all closely |
24 |
22 |
25 |
34 |
22 |
15 |
|
Don’t follow the news |
9 |
8 |
11 |
13 |
10 |
5 |
The findings suggest that two-thirds of people follow the news “very/fairly closely”, compared with one-in-four who follow it “Not too/not at all closely”. There are differences between men and women but by far the most significant differences are defined by age. Barely half (52%) of 18-34 year olds admit to following the news “very/fairly closely”, as opposed to 67% and 80% respectively of those aged 35-54 and 55+.
Which ONE news source best for trust and accuracy?
There are several ways to approach the following questions: respondents can be invited to choose one or several media sources, or to rank order them; they can be given a pre-coded list to choose from, or have their spontaneous response to the question recorded.
Each is valid.
Ipsos’s question concentrates the mind by asking respondents to choose only one source and to do so unprompted.
In terms of news that is trusted the most, the BBC clearly dominates the field. On this measure, it was mentioned by 57% of respondents – fully 46 points ahead of ITV in second place (with 11%). And it is interesting to note that the poll suggests no significant differences in the BBC’s ratings between the three specified age groups.
Q Of all the news sources (TV broadcaster, radio, newspaper, magazine or website or app) which ONE source are you most likely to turn to: [Base: all who follow the news i.e. 91% of total sample]
For news you trust the most:
|
|
All |
Men |
Women |
18-34 |
35-54 |
55+ |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
BBC |
57 |
55 |
58 |
55 |
54 |
60 |
|
ITV |
11 |
9 |
13 |
9 |
13 |
11 |
|
Sky News |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
|
Guardian/Observer |
4 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
|
Channel 4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
|
|
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
- |
|
Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Times/Sunday Times |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
Telegraph/S. Telegraph |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
Other radio |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
|
Google News |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
Al Jazeera |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Financial Times |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
- |
- |
|
Don’t know |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
None |
6 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
If you want accurate news coverage:
|
|
All |
Men |
Women |
18-34 |
35-54 |
55+ |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
BBC |
57 |
56 |
57 |
53 |
55 |
61 |
|
ITV |
10 |
7 |
13 |
10 |
11 |
10 |
|
Sky News |
6 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
8 |
5 |
|
Channel 4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
Guardian/Observer |
3 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
|
Times/Sunday Times |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
2 |
|
Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
- |
|
Google News |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Telegraph/S. Telegraph |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
2 |
|
Al Jazeera |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
Other radio |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
- |
|
CNN |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Online research |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
|
Don’t know |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
None |
4 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
A very similar pattern was found on the issue of news accuracy: when required to choose just one media outlet on this score, the BBC once again dominated the field, some 47 points ahead of ITV in second place.
However, on the issue of impartiality, whilst the BBC once again dominated the table, its figure of 50% was seven points lower than the support it received for trust and accuracy.
If you want impartial news coverage:
|
|
All |
Men |
Women |
18-34 |
35-54 |
55+ |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
BBC |
50 |
51 |
50 |
47 |
50 |
53 |
|
ITV |
11 |
9 |
13 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
|
Sky News |
6 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
9 |
5 |
|
Channel 4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
|
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
- |
|
Guardian/Observer |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
Al Jazeera |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Independent/IoS |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
Times/Sunday Times |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
2 |
|
Telegraph/S. Telegraph |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Google News |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
Other radio |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
|
CNN |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
- |
|
|
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
|
Don’t know |
3 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
|
None |
7 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
For the data in the final set of tables, Ipsos offered respondents a list of media outlets and invited them to rate each one on three measures, using a scale of 1-10. The questions and the scale offered for each of them are set out below:
To what extent do you trust ... as a source of news?
(Scale: 1 = “do not trust at all” through to 10 = “trust a great deal”)
How biased or impartial do you think this news source is?
(Scale: 1 = “is very biased” through to 10 = “is very impartial”)
How accurate do you think each of the following news sources is?
(Scale: 1 = “not at all accurate” through to 10 = “very accurate”)
Whereas in the previous tables, respondents were given just one choice, here they judge each media outlet individually and the mean figure of their responses is listed.
The BBC heads the list again but in a much more crowded field this time. In terms of trusted news source, BBC, ITV and Channel Four news programmes top the chart with Sky News following closely, just behind the FT, Guardian/Observer and Times/Sunday Times. These same top runners take something of a hit when it comes to bias versus impartiality but recover when it comes to the issue of accuracy.
|
(Base: all who follow the news) |
Source of news |
Biased or impartial |
Accurate |
|
|
Mean |
Mean |
Mean |
|
BBC News |
7.23 |
6.35 |
7.17 |
|
ITV News |
6.53 |
6.08 |
6.53 |
|
Channel 4 News |
6.37 |
5.93 |
6.43 |
|
Financial Times |
6.26 |
5.79 |
6.38 |
|
Guardian/Observer |
6.10 |
5.44 |
6.21 |
|
Times/Sunday Times |
5.97 |
5.44 |
6.16 |
|
Sky News |
5.92 |
5.43 |
6.15 |
|
Independent/IoS |
5.80 |
5.49 |
5.96 |
|
Telegraph/S. Telegraph |
5.71 |
5.00 |
5.83 |
|
Any commercial radio |
5.59 |
5.61 |
5.67 |
|
Channel 5 News |
5.53 |
5.24 |
5.68 |
|
The i |
5.36 |
5.40 |
5.37 |
|
Google News |
5.08 |
5.11 |
5.08 |
|
The Metro |
5.03 |
5.14 |
5.08 |
|
Al Jazeera |
4.75 |
4.82 |
4.97 |
|
Huffington Post |
4.70 |
5.00 |
4.77 |
|
Yahoo News |
4.52 |
4.81 |
4.58 |
|
MSN News |
4.43 |
4.88 |
4.58 |
|
Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday |
4.36 |
4.10 |
4.56 |
|
Daily Express/S. Express |
4.34 |
4.20 |
4.55 |
|
Vice |
4.20 |
4.83 |
4.25 |
|
Daily Mirror/S. Mirror |
4.17 |
4.10 |
4.33 |
|
The People |
3.88 |
4.13 |
4.10 |
|
Buzzfeed |
3.87 |
4.32 |
4.01 |
|
|
3.84 |
4.24 |
3.93 |
|
|
3.66 |
4.11 |
3.76 |
|
Daily Star/S. Star |
3.31 |
3.60 |
3.59 |
|
Sun/Sun on Sunday |
3.24 |
3.42 |
3.58 |
David Cowling is an independent Political Analyst.
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