Fact vs. Fake: Pew Research Study

When it becomes difficult to differentiate bias from neutral reports, one is left to make impactful votes, opinions, and decisions on false pretenses. Biased news doesn't allow true democracy. The participation of citizens needs to be based off their personal values.

Incorrect, biased, and misleading information has the power to drive people without any factual evidence. And with the ability to share, retweet, or like this content, it can be passed along to many other viewers.

In 2018, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey consisting of 5,035 U.S. adults. It wanted to determine whether members of the public can recognize news as factual or as opinionated. Take a look at this chart provided by Pew Research Center.

The findings from the survey revealed that the basic task was challenging for most Americans. Only 26% of the adults could identify all five of the factual statements, and only 35% identified all opinionated statements (Mitchell, Gottfried, Barthel, & Sumida, 2018).

The results spotlight the necessity of informing adults on biased information: the prevalence of it, how to avoid it, and where to find unbiased news.

To view more studies, check out the Pew Research Center of Journalism for more research data regarding the medias, news, and public opinion.

If you want to learn more about fake news, check out my other blog posts by clicking, "all posts"!