Yes, FOX News Did Top a 2019 Trust Survey — But the Fine Print Matters
“A 2019 Brand Keys Emotion Engagement Analysis survey found that FOX News was the most trusted cable news brand”
The argument in brief
A 2019 Brand Keys Emotion Engagement Analysis did rank FOX News as the most trusted cable news brand, so the core claim is true. However, the survey measured trust among a brand's own engaged viewers, not the general public — and broader research from Pew and Reuters shows FOX News trust is sharply divided along political lines.
Why it spread
For FOX News supporters who feel the network is unfairly attacked by critics, this survey offered a concrete, citable number to push back with. Confirmation bias made it easy to share without digging into the methodology, and the headline result genuinely sounds more sweeping than the fine print allows.
The claim is true, but it needs context. Brand Keys, a legitimate market research firm, did rank FOX News first among cable news brands in its 2019 Emotion Engagement Analysis, ahead of CNN, MSNBC, and others. Newsweek covered the findings at the time. So anyone citing this survey is citing a real result.
The catch is what the survey actually measured. Brand Keys studies emotional engagement and loyalty among a brand's existing viewers — people who already watch. That is a very different thing from asking a random cross-section of Americans which news source they trust most. Winning that kind of survey tells you a network has a deeply loyal audience, not that it is broadly trusted.
Other research paints a more complicated picture. Pew Research Center found that trust in FOX News is among the most politically polarized of any major outlet — Republicans trust it heavily, Democrats largely do not. The Reuters Institute's 2019 Digital News Report found similarly mixed results depending on who was being asked. Neither finding cancels out the Brand Keys result, but together they show the full story.
The strongest version of this claim is fair: FOX News has an unusually loyal and trusting core audience, and Brand Keys measured that accurately. Where the claim goes wrong is when it is used to imply FOX News is the most trusted news source among Americans in general. That is a leap the data does not support.
This kind of selective stat spreads easily because it is technically accurate and hard to quickly fact-check. Watch for survey claims that do not specify who was surveyed, how large the sample was, or whether respondents were drawn from the general public or a brand's existing customers. Those details change everything.
Sources
- Brand Keys 2019 Emotion Engagement Analysis
Brand Keys' 2019 Emotion Engagement Analysis ranked FOX News as the most trusted cable news brand, ahead of CNN, MSNBC, and other cable news outlets.
- Newsweek coverage of Brand Keys 2019 survey
Newsweek reported on the Brand Keys 2019 survey finding that FOX News topped the list of trusted cable news brands, noting the methodology measured emotional engagement and trust among viewers.
- Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019
The Reuters Institute's broader trust survey found more mixed results for FOX News overall, with trust varying significantly by political affiliation, providing important context that trust ratings are highly audience-dependent.
- Pew Research Center - News Media Trust
Pew Research found that trust in FOX News is strongly partisan, with Republicans trusting it far more than Democrats, suggesting Brand Keys' finding may reflect its strong trust among its core audience rather than universal trust.
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