---
title: "How Americans view journalists in the digital age"
description: "☀️ Happy Thursday! The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. Sign up here! In today’s email: 🔥 Featured story Cable news channel Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million dollars to settle a libel lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over claims that the company had rigged their voting machines in the […]"
date: "2025-08-21"
authors:
  - name: "jhaner"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/newsletter/the-briefing/how-americans-view-journalists-in-the-digital-age/"
---

# How Americans view journalists in the digital age

**☀️ Happy Thursday!** *The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information*.* [**Sign up here!**](https://www.pewresearch.org/sign-up-for-the-briefing/)*

**In today*’*s email:**

- **Featured story:** Newsmax settles Dominion election defamation lawsuit

- **New from Pew Research Center:** How Americans view journalists in the digital age

- **In other news:** PBS cuts its budget, and how philanthropists are seeking to help local stations

- **Looking ahead:** MSNBC will rebrand to MS NOW

- **Chart of the week:** Americans value honesty, intelligence, authenticity in their news providers

🔥 **Featured story**

Cable news channel **Newsmax** has [agreed to pay $67 million dollars](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgend9yreeo) to settle a libel lawsuit brought by **Dominion Voting Systems** over claims that the company had rigged their voting machines in the 2020 U.S. presidential election against President Donald Trump. Dominion first sued Newsmax in 2021, accusing the network of** knowingly spreading false claims about the voting machine company **on television and on social media. Newsmax stood by its coverage, saying it chose to settle because the proceedings were unfair.

According to a recent [Pew Research Center study of 30 major news sources](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/feature/news-media-tracker/), 40% of Americans [have heard of Newsmax](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/feature/news-media-tracker/newsmax), while 8% say they regularly get news there. The audience leans heavily Republican, with **15% of Republicans and independents who lean Republican saying they get news there, compared with 1% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.** And while 11% of Americans say they trust Newsmax as a source of news, 15% say they distrust it – figures that are also split along party lines.

🚨 **New from Pew Research Center**

A [new Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/08/20/how-americans-view-journalists-in-the-digital-age/) explores what people think about the role of journalists in the digital age – including what makes someone a journalist, what Americans think is important for journalists to do in their daily work, and what backgrounds and attributes people are looking for in their news providers broadly (whether they are journalists or not). Here are a few takeaways:

- Most Americans (79%) agree that **someone who writes for a newspaper or news website** is a journalist – higher than the share who say the same about someone who reports on TV (65%), radio (59%) or any other medium.

- Most U.S. adults say that the people they get news from **definitely should** report the news accurately (84%) and correct false information from public figures (64%). Few say news providers should seek out audience input (19%) or express personal opinions about current events (8%).

- Americans care *more*** **that someone they get news from has **deep knowledge of the topics they cover** than whether they are **employed by a news organization** or **have a journalism degree.**

- A majority of Americans (59%) say journalists are **extremely or very important to the well-being of society,** but 49% say they are **losing influence.**

Read more about [Americans’ views and expectations of journalists in the digital age](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/08/20/how-americans-view-journalists-in-the-digital-age/).

📌 **In other news**

- **PBS** [cuts its budget](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pbs-budget-cut-21-percent-staffing-downsize-nj-staff/) by 21% after federal funding stopped

- A look at how [organizations are seeking to help](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/business/the-race-to-rescue-pbs-and-npr-stations.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share) PBS and NPR stations

- [House Democrats send letter](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5462376-house-democrats-skydance-paramount-probe/) to **Paramount** seeking documents about its **merger with Skydance**

- How **a** **pro-Russian propaganda group **is** **using big events to [produce fake U.S. news content](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/17/russia-us-news-media-disinformation-campaign-00512173)

- **The White House **[creates a TikTok account](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-launches-tiktok-account-with-trump-saying-i-am-your-voice-2025-08-19/)

- Inside **California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s** [use of social media](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/20/gavin-newsom-twitter-trump-00515785)

- **Wired** and **Business Insider** [remove freelance journalist’s articles](https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/wired-and-business-insider-remove-ai-written-freelance-articles/) after concerns about being written by AI

📅 **Looking ahead**

Later this year, [**MSNBC will be renamed to MS NOW**](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/18/comcast-versant-rename-msnbc-peacock-logos.html)**,** an acronym for My Source for News, Opinion and the World, and will lose its peacock logo. This is among the first public-facing changes as part of Comcast’s planned separation of many NBCUniversal cable networks later this year.

Most Americans are **familiar with the MSNBC name:** 85% of U.S. adults have heard of the network and 22% say they regularly get news there, according to [a March Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/feature/news-media-tracker/msnbc).

📊 **Chart of the week**

This week’s chart comes from a [new Center study](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/08/20/how-americans-view-journalists-in-the-digital-age/) on how Americans view the role of journalists in an evolving media landscape.

When asked what they value in a news provider, large majorities of Americans say it’s important for the people they get news from to display **honesty** (93%),** intelligence** (89%) and **authenticity,** or “being their true selves” (82%), in their work. However, as our focus group discussions illustrate, **people hold differing views of what the term “authenticity” means** when it comes to news providers – and [some aren’t entirely sure](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/08/20/what-do-americans-want-from-their-news-providers/#the-value-of-authenticity-from-news-providers).

![Bar chart showing Americans value honesty, intelligence, authenticity in the people they get news from – but not popularity](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/PJ_2025.08.20_role-of-journalists_0-02_dec673.png?w=640)

*👋 That's all for this week. *

The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang, Emily Tomasik, Joanne Haner and Mary Randolph. It is edited by Kirsten Eddy and copy edited by David Kent.

*Do you like this newsletter? Email us at [journalism@pewresearch.org](mailto:journalism@pewresearch.org) or fill out this [two-question survey](https://us1.list-manage.com/survey?u=434f5d1199912232d416897e4&id=449f3c3d35&attribution=false) to tell us what you think*.