How Americans Navigated the News in 2020: A Tumultuous Year in Review
Americans inhabited different information environments, with wide gaps in how they viewed the election and COVID-19.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Americans inhabited different information environments, with wide gaps in how they viewed the election and COVID-19.
A new study of posts on popular public Facebook pages about the early days of the Biden administration finds that the focus of these posts, as well as the assessments of the new president, differed widely by the ideological orientation of the pages.
In March 2020, about three-quarters (74%) of public Facebook posts about COVID-19 linked to news organizations, while just 1% linked to health and science sites.
Partisans differ on whether social media companies’ decisions had a major impact on the election.
Most Americans (71%) have heard of a conspiracy theory that alleges that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak.
Videos from independent news producers are more likely to cover subjects negatively and discuss conspiracy theories.
A new analysis of open-ended responses to a survey of U.S. adults looks at the specific storylines or claims about COVID-19 that Americans said they were exposed to.
Despite the spread of the conspiracy theories, about three-quarters of U.S. adults say they have heard or read nothing at all about them.
Republicans largely say fact-checking by news outlets and other organizations favors one side. Democrats mostly think it is fair to all sides.
A majority of Americans say altered videos and images create confusion about current issues, and most support restrictions on such content.
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