Survey: 50% of Americans believe 'made-up news' is a very big problem for the country today. 46% say the same about climate change.

More Americans view made-up news as a 'very big problem' for the country, over terrorism, illegal immigration, racism, and sexism.

A new Pew Research Center survey out Wednesday says 50% of Americans think made-up news is a very big problem today. That's more than the 46% who said the same about climate change.

The survey, which you can read in full here, also found that 68% of Americans say made-up news affects confidence in government institutions.

"Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to identify made-up news as a 'very big problem.' They are also more likely to say that they see it 'often,' and they are three times as likely as Democrats to blame journalists for creating it."

Writes Laura Hazard Owen at Nieman Lab, covering the Pew center's report:

Fifty percent of those surveyed said made-up news (the artist formerly known as "fake news") is a "very big problem" in the United States. By comparison, 46 percent called climate change a "very big problem"; 40 percent said the same about racism; 34 percent said the same about terrorism.

"Made-up news/info" can't touch some other issues, though — like drug addiction and affordable health care. It ranks only a hair behind income inequality.

The report is the bleakest I've seen when it comes to the partisan divide in the United States around fake news. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to identify made-up news as a "very big problem." (They are, after all, told it's a huge problem repeatedly by the president.) They are also more likely to say that they see it "often," and they are three times as likely as Democrats to blame journalists for creating it. Republicans are also more likely to say that they have "reduced the amount of news they get overall" out of their concerns over fake news.

READ THE FULL REPORT.

Many Americans Say Made-Up News Is a Critical Problem That Needs To Be Fixed [journalism.org, AMY MITCHELL, JEFFREY GOTTFRIED, SOPHIA FEDELI, GALEN STOCKING AND MASON WALKER for Pew Research Center Journalism & Media]

[via Mediagazer]

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