Thread by @RANDCorporation

One-third of Americans rely on news platforms that they acknowledge are less reliable — mainly social media and peers.

That’s from our new report on how reliability, demographics, and political partisanship factor into Americans’ news choices. bit.ly/2YA5jKE [thread]

☝️This study is the latest release from our research initiative on how to counter #TruthDecay, the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life.👇
rand.org/research/proje…

As for the other two-thirds of Americans, they consider their primary news sources (mainly print news and broadcast TV) to be trustworthy.

"A lack of time and competing demands may explain why a third of Americans turn to news sources they deem less reliable, which suggests improving the quality of news content or teaching people how to ‘better consume’ news isn’t enough to address #TruthDecay." — @jekavanagh

"Media companies and other news providers may need to provide more easily accessible and digestible ways for individuals to consume high-quality investigative journalism."

About 44% of survey respondents said that the news is as reliable now as it was in the past.

41% said that the news has become *less* reliable.

And 15% — mostly women, racial and ethnic minorities, and people without college degrees – said that the news is now *more* reliable.

"Our findings suggest that perceived reliability is not the only factor that drives what Americans choose as their go-to news sources," said lead author @MichaelSPollard.

@MichaelSPollard "Despite acknowledging that there are more reliable sources for news, people with demands on their time may be limited to using less reliable platforms."

@MichaelSPollard Asked whether they ever seek out alternate viewpoints when catching up on the news,

🔹54% of Americans said they “sometimes” do,
🔹20% said “always or almost always,”
🔹17 % said “infrequently,” and
🔹9% said “never or almost never.”

@MichaelSPollard Age was an important predictor of how Americans get their news. Perhaps unsurprisingly, younger people were more likely to lean on social media and peers.

Older people were more likely to get their news from print outlets and broadcast TV.

People with college degrees were less likely to get their news from social media and peers, opting for radio and online sources instead.

People with less than a college education were more likely to report “never or almost never” seeking out news with alternate viewpoints.

Married people were three times more likely than single people to rate their peers as the most reliable source for news.

Unmarried people were more likely to report that they “always or almost always” seek out sources with differing views.

You can learn about this nationally representative survey and explore more of our findings in the full report: bit.ly/2YA5jKE

And if you're interested in learning more about #TruthDecay — including which factors are contributing to this phenomenon and how to counter it — there’s much more to explore here: rand.org/research/proje…

Stay tuned for more new #TruthDecay research in the New Year. /end