Atlanta-based The Weather Channel is the most trusted among 54 media organizations, according to an Economist/You Gov survey last month.
The survey created a “net” score of people who trusted an organization vs. those who did not.
The Weather Channel had a net positive score of +53, with bipartisan support from Democrats (+64) and Republicans (+47). It’s the only organization to achieve that distinction in this highly divided media landscape, in part because it’s the only one out of the 56 choices that doesn’t actively delve into politics.
The Weather Channel also came in on top last year, when only 22 media organizations were included in the survey.
The top four most trusted organizations remain the same from 2022. After The Weather Channel came Public Broadcasting Service (+30), BBC (+29) and The Wall Street Journal (+24). The Journal, a business-oriented newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, actually received significantly more positive trust numbers from Democrats (+42) than Republicans (+9). Forbes magazine had similar results.
The most polarizing news organization is CNN, which still has major operations in Atlanta, where Ted Turner launched the cable network 43 years ago. There is a 92-point difference between the net trust among Democrats (+55) vs. Republicans (-37%) for CNN. This is virtually identical to the party divide with MSNBC, with a 91-point difference, although MSNBC is often considered more left-leaning than CNN (and CNN has recently made efforts to move to the middle).
Among Republicans, after The Weather Channel, the three news organizations with the most positive net trust numbers were Fox News (+42), Newsmax (+28) and One American News (+25).
Among Democrats, after The Weather Channel, the media groups with the highest net score were PBS (+62), ABC and NBC (both +61).
Only four organizations came out with a net negative score: Infowars (-16), the Daily Caller (-4), Breitbart News (-3), and Daily Kos (-1).
You can see the full results at yougov.com.
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