A Country Divided — Partisanship and the Media
According to a report from May 2017 created by the Pew Research Center, Republicans are 47% less likely than Democrats to support the media’s role as a government “watchdog.”
A mere 42% of Republicans support the notion of a watchdog media. This comes as a surprise to researchers due to the fact that in early 2016, Pew Research found that 77% of Republicans supported the media’s role as a government watchdog.
Democrats on the other hand, have become more likely to support a watchdog media in the last year. As of March 2017, 89% of Democrats support the idea of having a watchdog media.
Overall, 70% of the public supports the idea of a watchdog media. While Pew Research states that, “While Republicans have been more likely to support a watchdog role during Democratic presidencies and vice versa, the distance between the parties has never approached the 47-point gap that exists today.”
Pew does acknowledge that since their surveys are now conducted online, they could yield different results than when they were conducted via phone.
What does this mean for the future of political media? Only time will tell.
