Pew Study: Cable News More Critical of Obama

Cable news nets are more critical of the new Obama administration than broadcast news operations, at least according to a poll by the Pew Research Center.

Fox was identified by 29% of respondents when asked which of six news nets have been too critical of President Barack Obama, with CNN the next at 11% and MSNBC next at 8%.

ABC and NBC were picked as most-critical by 4% apiece, with CBS getting the nod from 3%.

On the plus side for the coverage, the majority of respondents couldn't pick a "too critical" network, with 34% saying none were and 19% saying they didn't know.

Not surprisingly, politics appears to color the answer to the question. Turns out 44% of Democrats say Fox has been too tough, for example, while only 18% of Republicans feel that way.

On the other side of the coin, five out of the six networks fell within a three-percentage-point range (13%-16%) as being too easy on the president, with CNN and MSNBC tied at 16% at the top. Fox was picked as too easy by only 5%.

The poll was conducted April 17-20 by Pew Research Center. The center surveyed approximately 1,000 adults 18-plus.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.