Hannity Fans See Bias in News

About half of Americans (52%) say they see a lot of bias in news coverage, but regular audiences for specific news sources are much more likely to say they see a lot of media bias than the public as a whole. Regular audiences for more conservative shows are among the most likely to say they see a lot of bias in news coverage. Nine-in-ten regular Sean Hannity viewers, 87% of Rush Limbaugh’s regular audience and 81% of Bill O’Reilly’s say they see a lot of bias in news coverage.Still, close to seven-in-ten (69%) regular viewers of Chris Matthews’ MSNBC show say this as well, while about six-in-ten of regular Rachel Maddow (60%) and Keith Olbermann (59%) viewers agree. Among regular blog readers, 71% say they see a lot of bias in the news. Looking at partisans, Republicans generally see more bias in media coverage (62% a lot) than Democrats (47%) or independents (53%). The same holds true for conservatives (61%) when compared with moderates (49%) and liberals (46%). Viewers of morning news programs (51%), nightly network news (51%) and local TV news (52%) are less likely to say they see a lot of bias. Read More