More than 1 in 4 people in the U.S. considered TV news to be their most trusted source on COVID-19 knowledge during the pandemic, according to a recent Penn State survey.
The survey also found TV news consumers to be the least informed about the spread of the virus.
For the analysis, Penn State researchers emailed surveys to adults listed in the University Park, Pa.-based health system's marketing database during the last week of March 2020.
Researchers asked the 5,948 participants about their media consumption habits regarding COVD-19 information and what sources they considered most trustworthy, according to a report published April 11 in Taylor and Francis Online.
Here are six survey insights:
1. Individuals at least 50 years old were most likely to trust TV news compared to news published on the internet.
2. Nearly half (42.8 percent) of participants cited governmental sources as their most trusted for information; these include the CDC, National Institutes of Health and World Health Organization.
3. TV news was the most trusted information source for 27.2 percent of participants, followed by Penn State's health system with 9.2 percent of the vote. Just 7.4 percent of participants said they trusted news from other internet sources.
4. To measure participants' understanding of COVID-19 transmission, severity and treatment, researchers asked participants to identify 15 statements as true or false as well as a five-point scale to illustrate how confident they felt in their answer.
5. Individuals who scored highest on the survey were those who got their COVID-19 information from government health sites followed by internet news sources.
6. People who were most misinformed about COVID-19 were those who got their information from TV newscasters followed by individuals who got their news from Facebook.