News Interest Index: News Media Trusted For Information On Oil Leak

The public expresses far more trust in the news media for information about the Gulf oil leak than it does in either the federal government or BP.

Fully 67% say they have a lot (20%) or some trust (47%) in information on the oil leak coming from news organizations. That compares with 51% who have at least some trust in information from the federal government and 39% in information from BP.
 
The latest News Interest Index survey, conducted June 3-6 among 1,002 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, finds that the oil leak continues to dominate the public's news interest. Nearly two-thirds (66%) cite the Gulf disaster as the story they followed most closely – more than seven times the percentage citing the economy (9%), the second-leading story. As the disaster continued to grow, the leak was also the most heavily covered story, accounting for 35% of the newshole last week, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Read the full article, News Media Trusted For Information On Oil Leak, on the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' Web site.