As Americans navigate an increasingly complex information environment – one shaped by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence – some observers wonder whose job it is to ensure people (especially young people) know what information they can trust and how to check whether news is accurate.
“Americans’ Complicated Relationship With News”
| Very confident | Somewhat confident | Not too/Not at all confident | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You | 29% | 50% | 20% |
| Other people | 3% | 22% | 73% |
“Americans’ Complicated Relationship With News”
Our data, including focus groups with everyday Americans, highlights a consistent tension: People recognize checking accuracy as essential, but there is no consensus on who should bear the primary responsibility for teaching these skills, sometimes described as “media literacy.”
Most Americans (79%) feel at least somewhat confident in their own ability to check the accuracy of a news story. This includes 29% who say they are very confident they would know what steps to take, and 50% who say they are somewhat confident. Still, in an information environment where about half of U.S. adults say it is difficult to determine what is true and what is not when they get news, there is plenty of uncertainty.
And confidence drops when considering other people: A quarter of U.S. adults say they are at least somewhat confident that others would know what steps to take to check the accuracy of a news story, including just 3% who say they are very confident. Republicans and Democrats express similarly low levels of confidence in other people to know how to check facts in the news.
These findings are based on a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults aimed at understanding how Americans are thinking about and experiencing news today. Read key findings from the full study.
Despite this skepticism, Americans are most likely to say that the burden ultimately falls on individual people to know how to check the accuracy of news.
“Americans’ Complicated Relationship With News”
| All U.S. adults | Rep/Lean Rep | Dem/Lean Dem | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individuals themselves | 44% | 52% | 37% |
| News organizations | 22% | 20% | 24% |
| Teachers or schools | 9% | 4% | 14% |
| The government | 9% | 7% | 9% |
| Parents or family members | 5% | 6% | 4% |
| Tech or social media companies | 4% | 4% | 5% |
| None of the above | 5% | 5% | 5% |
“Americans’ Complicated Relationship With News”
When asked who should be most responsible for making sure Americans know how to check if news is accurate:
- 44% say individuals should be most responsible – by far the largest share.
- 22% say news organizations should carry this responsibility.
- Smaller shares say this should fall to teachers or schools (9%), the government (9%), parents or family members (5%), and tech or social media companies (4%)
Party differences
We find two key differences in these perceptions by political party:
- Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party are more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say individuals themselves should be the most responsible for making sure Americans know how to check the accuracy of news (52% vs. 37%).
- Democrats (14%) are more likely than Republicans (4%) to say teachers or schools should be the most responsible for this. Democrats also have more positive views of K-12 public schools and universities.
How we approached this question in focus groups
In focus group discussions about media literacy, we introduced the question slightly differently. Rather than asking who should be “most responsible for making sure Americans know how to check if news is accurate,” the focus group moderator asked participants who, if anyone, they think should be responsible for teaching media literacy, defined as the skills or critical thinking used to evaluate the quality of the news.
Perhaps as a result, teachers and schools regularly came up as an answer.
“I had the experiences in high school where a teacher had to take a second and stop the curriculum because this was important, we needed to know this before graduating and becoming adults, that we needed to know how to … find factual statements and be well-informed adults,” a woman in her 20s said. “And this should be taught. It shouldn’t just be, you’re put out into the world and be like, ‘Fend for yourself.’”
A man in his 40s put it this way: “There’s a place for it in school and the educational system. … Yes, there’s a responsibility for that to be in the home as well, but … it goes back to the question of, is there a right way. No, because everyone does it a different way in their own household, or they consume it in a different manner. So at a way that is consistent, the only way you can really do that is if it’s somewhere everyone has the same baseline for learning, and that’s in school.”
