Michael Barthel

Audiences for nearly every major sector of the U.S. news media fell in 2017 except for radio. Cable news revenue continued to rise, as did digital ad revenue.

On Twitter, suspected bots are far more active in sharing links to news sites focusing on nonpolitical content than to sites with a political focus.

The politically aware, digitally savvy and those more trusting of the news media fare better in differentiating factual statements from opinions.

An analysis of 9.7 million tweets reveals that news organizations played the largest role in which content was linked to in discussions about immigration compared with other information providers.

Some major newspapers reported a sharp jump in digital subscriptions, but the industry as a whole faced ongoing challenges in 2016.

Roughly nine-in-ten Democrats say news media criticism keeps leaders in line (sometimes called the news media’s “watchdog role”), while only about four-in-ten Republicans say the same.

Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans say the relationship between the two is unhealthy.

When we asked people if they regularly got news about the 2016 presidential election through either the print or online version of four specific U.S. newspapers, three of these papers – The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal – attracted more adults younger than 50 than 50 and older as regular readers.

Trump voters named one source more than any other as their main source of election news, whereas Clinton voters were spread across an array of sources.

About two-in-three U.S. adults say fake news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues. And nearly a quarter say they have ever shared completely made-up news.