Survey: Local news, Fox get highest marks for trust

TV news viewers consider local news the most consistently trusted source of news and see Fox as the most trusted source among national TV outlets, according to a survey released Monday by Quinnipiac University.

As for who should succeed Jon Stewart when he leaves The Daily Show later this year, the top choice was comedienne and 30 Rock creator Tina Fey (19%), followed by comedian Dennis Miller with 16% of the votes and HBO's John Oliver with 8%.

In the survey, 19% of respondents said they trusted local TV "a great deal," while 52% responded "somewhat."

On the national front, 20% said they trusted Fox "a great deal" while 35% said "somewhat." CNN (18% for "a great deal" and 43% for "somewhat"), NBC News (14%, 46%), CBS News (14%, 50%), ABC News (14%, 50%) and MSNBC (11%, 41%) followed.

"Fox News may be the most trusted in the network and cable news race, but they all take a back seat to your local news," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Underscoring cable news' more overtly political slant, 26% of respondents also said they didn't trust Fox News "at all" as a news source, the highest among the national TV news outlets mentioned in the survey. MSNBC came in second at 24%.

Not surprisingly, Fox News is preferred by Republican respondents. Fifty-eight percent of GOP voters said they trust Fox the most, while 13% prefer CNN.

Democrats prefer CNN (32%) over Fox News (3%) and NBC (15%).

Americans' trust in TV news is eroding, the survey showed. Nearly half – 48% - said network TV news is "less trustworthy than in the days of Walter Cronkite" while 35% said it is about as trustworthy.

Viewers are also willing to give embattled NBC News anchor Brian Williams the benefit of the doubt. More viewers opted for having him come back as NBC Nightly News anchor – 42% vs. 35% who said no -- after he serves his six-month suspension for embellishing his reporting tour in Iraq in 2003.

In February, NBC discovered that Williams' past statements about riding in a helicopter in Iraq in 2003 that came under enemy fire and was forced to land were false. A pilot who was at the scene said on Facebook that Williams' helicopter was not directly shot at, and Williams retracted the story and apologized to viewers. NBC News is investigating other claims made by Williams.

Twenty-three percent of survey respondents said Fox host Bill O'Reilly should stay even after allegations of inaccuracies in past reporting that have surfaced recently. Twelve percent said he should be fired; 11% said he should be suspended.