Most say journalists should be watchdogs, but views of how well they fill this role vary by party, media diet

Nearly three out of four U.S. adults (73%) say that, in general, it’s important for journalists to function as watchdogs over elected officials. But that broad consensus shatters when the public is asked how journalists are currently performing that watchdog role: 35% say they are going too far as watchdogs, 32% say they are not going far enough and 30% say they are getting it about right, according to a new analysis of data from Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project. Media diet and partisanship strongly factor into those assessments.

While clear majorities of both parties support the idea of the watchdog function, a substantial partisan gap exists, according to this analysis based on a survey of 12,043 U.S. adults who are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel conducted Oct. 29 to Nov. 11, 2019. When asked to think beyond the current political environment, about six-in-ten Republicans and independents who lean to the Republican Party (61%) say it is important for journalists to function as watchdogs. That compares with about eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (83%).