Those pesky kids with their smartphones don’t know the days of print newspapers separating the news pages from the opinion section. But they’re not necessarily the ones we have to worry about discerning news statements from opinions, according to a new analysis from the Pew Research Center.
Based on a survey Pew conducted in February and March, Americans ages 18–49 were more likely to accurately categorize factual statements as facts and opinion statements as opinions. A third of that age range correctly identified all five news items in a test, compared to 20 percent of those over age 50, and 44 percent of the younger grouping correctly identified all opinion items, compared to 26 percent of their elders.
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