Photo by Matt Biddulph of Flickr.

This post originally appeared as a post on Pew Research Center’s data journalism blog, Fact Tank.

Americans are divided in what they think is the most positive and negative attribute of the news media, and much of that divide follows party lines. Conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats stand far apart from each other in this evaluation of what the media do best and worst.

Conservative Republicans, for example, are far more likely to say bias in reporting is the most negative thing the media do while liberal Democrats single out poor choices by the press, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted January 12 – February 8, 2016 in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The survey asked Americans to volunteer what they thought was the single most positive and negative thing the news media do.

On the positive side, Americans are mostly split between two traits: three-in-ten describe the media’s most positive attribute as simply doing their job of reporting the news, in general or on a specific topic. (Weather and traffic tops the list of specific topics, named by 11% of U.S adults).  

 Closely behind is the perception that the news media provide a service to the public (25%), such as informing people or acting as a watchdog. The other most positive traits mentioned, but only in single digits, are the media’s reports on uplifting or positive stories (8%) and their practice of high journalistic standards (6%). Additionally, 8% said the news media do nothing positive.

There is also a lack of consensus over the news media’s most negative trait. About two-in-ten (22%) Americans think that the most negative thing they do was report biased news. Roughly the same percent (18%) point to a failure to make good choices in what or how to report the news, such as too narrow a scope or reporting on things that aren’t newsworthy. An additional 16% think the worst thing they did was lie, mislead or sensationalize, and 14% highlight too many reports on negative stories, such as guns and crime.

Much of this division lies among partisans on each side of the ideological divide.

Conservative Republicans are much more likely than any other group to say that the most positive thing the media do is report the news; 41% said this, at least 12% higher than any other group. Nearly four-in-ten liberal Democrats (38%), on the other hand, highlight the public service aspect of the news media, about twice that of conservative Republicans (18%) and 15% higher than any other group.

When it comes to the most negative trait, about a third (35%) of conservative Republicans think that the worst thing the press do is report biased news, about double that of any other group. This is consistent with previous research that shows that conservative Republicans believe more than any other group that the news media tend to favor one side when they cover political and social issues.

Liberal Democrats, on the other hand, focus more on poor choices the news media make in what or how to report the news. Nearly a quarter of liberal Democrats point to this, compared with 18% of conservative/moderate Democrats and 17% of both conservative Republicans and liberal/moderate Republicans. Liberal Democrats are also more likely to focus on instances when they believed the news media lie, mislead or sensationalize in its reports.