Trusted News

Fox took out full-page ads in the New York Times and The Washington Post. The ad suggests that Fox journalism is riding high. “Trusted Now,” the ad says in big letters. “More Than Ever.” Below the headline is a chart comparing Fox to other TV news outlets, purportedly proving Fox’s big claim. But the data are easy to misread, and they come from a survey research organization that has come to an almost diametrically opposed conclusion about Fox in its other data. More aptly, Fox is the outlet that the most people cite as being among their most trusted outlets. But on the whole, Americans have trusted it less than they trust plenty of others.
But a mere look at the chart should give one pause. You’ll note that the numbers displayed add up to 148 percent. So this isn’t strictly about which one outlet is “most trusted.” The description of the data in the ad, in fact, shows that the pollster asked about media outlets people watch and then “which do you most trust for news? Check as many as apply.” So 41 is the percentage of people who cited Fox as being among however many outlets they cited as being their most trusted.