How Americans perceive the outbreak and view media coverage differ by main news source
https://www.journalism.org/2020/04/01/cable-tv-and-covid-19-how-americans-perceive-the-outbreak-and-view-media-coverage-differ-by-main-news-source/pj_2020-04-01_coronavirus-cablte-tv_0-03-2/
Coverage of COVID-19 has dominated the news and resulted in skyrocketing ratings for the nations cable news networks. And according to a survey conducted March 10-16, 2020, as a part of Pew Research Centers Election News Pathways project, responses to that coverage and the pandemic itself vary notably among Americans who identify Fox News, MSNBC or CNN (the three major cable news networks featured in the analysis) as their main source of political news.
Knowledge about coronavirus vaccine and origin vary by main source for political news In particular, the responses to COVID-19 news from those whose main source for political news is MSNBC or Fox News are strikingly different. The views of those who identify CNN as their main news source most often fit somewhere between the two.
One such difference emerges around knowledge and understanding of the pandemic. The group who names MSNBC as their main news source is far more likely than the Fox News group to answer correctly that the coronavirus originated in nature rather than a laboratory and that it will take a year or more for a vaccine to become available. On both questions, the portion in the CNN group to answer correctly falls between the MSNBC and Fox News numbers. This analysis comes from a survey of 8,914 U.S. adults who are members of the Centers American Trends Panel.
Party and ideological composition of cable network main source groupsThe Fox News and MSNBC groups also differ in their evaluations of the medias coverage of the pandemic. Those who call MSNBC their main political news source (92%) are far more likely to say the media covered the outbreak somewhat or very well than the Fox News group (58%). And they are much less likely than those who name Fox News as their main source to say the media exaggerated the risks posed by the pandemic (35% of the MSNBC group vs. 79% of the Fox News group). And again, those who identify CNN as their main news source fall in between (82% rate the media as doing somewhat or very well covering the outbreak; 54% say the media exaggerated the risks).