By David Pendered

May 11 – Most Americans continue to say freedom of the press is highly important and half of Americans think artificial intelligence will have a negative effect on the news they consume, new surveys show.

These findings are among those revealed in the past two weeks in surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center. The non-partisan, non-profit think tank is a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which trace their roots to the proceeds of Sun Oil Co. and are designated by the IRS as a public charity.

Here’s how the findings break out:

Pew’s April 24 report shows that 77 percent of respondents reported that freedom of the press is “very important to the well-being of society.” That’s an increase of 4 percentage points since last year. In contrast, 17 percent reported that press freedom is somewhat important and 5 percent say it has little or no importance.

Both Republicans and Democrats said they think freedom of the press is highly important. The survey showed 74 percent of Republicans and 84 percent of Democrats said a free press is highly important.

Pew’s April 28 report on AI shows that about half of the respondents expect it will have a negative impact on the news reported and presented over the next 20 years. The survey broke this figure into 24 percent who say it will have a very negative impact, and 26 percent who expect it to have a somewhat negative impact. Among those who expect a positive impact from AI, 10 percent expect a very or positive impact.

The survey for the April 24 report was conducted from Feb. 24 to March 2, 2025. A total of 5,123 panelists responded out of 5,737 who were sampled, for a survey-level response rate of 89 percent. The margin of error was 1.6 percentage points.

The survey for the April 28 report was conducted Aug. 12 to Aug. 18, 2024. A total of 5,410 panelists responded out of 5,961 who were sampled, for a survey-level response rate of 91 percent. The margin of error was 1.5 percentage points.

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