Which celebrities do Americans think have been covered unfairly by the media?

A new YouGov survey explored how Americans perceive media coverage of 16 celebrities — including former child stars such as Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan — and whether they feel celebrity coverage has gotten more or less fair in the past 20 years.

43% of Americans say the media’s coverage of Britney Spears throughout her career generally has been very or somewhat negative; about half as many (18%) say coverage of her generally has been very or somewhat positive.

Lohan is another former child star whom more Americans say has been covered negatively than say has been covered positively: 37% say media coverage of her generally has been negative and only 15% say it generally has been positive.

30% say coverage of Michael Jackson generally has been negative. Similar shares say coverage of Jackson generally has been generally positive (28%) or equally positive and negative (30%).

Of the 16 celebrities asked about, the one Americans are least likely to say generally has been covered negatively by the media is Ryan Gosling (4%).

Of the 16 celebrities asked about in the survey, there are nine whom men are more likely than women to see as having been covered positively. They are Taylor Swift (62% of men and 55% of women think she has been covered positively), Janet Jackson (36% vs. 30%), Michael Jackson (32% vs. 24%), Drake (28% vs. 21%), Britney Spears (22% vs. 14%), Macaulay Culkin (22% vs. 16%), Chappell Roan (21% vs. 11%), Amanda Bynes (18% vs. 10%), and Shia LaBeouf (18% vs. 12%).

Women are more likely than men to say coverage of Lohan has been somewhat or very negative (41% vs. 34%). Women also are more likely than men to say coverage of Spears has been very or somewhat negative (45% vs. 40%).

37% of Americans say media coverage of Spears has been mostly unfair, about as many as say it has been mostly fair (36%). 31% think coverage of Lohan has been mostly unfair and 35% think it has been mostly fair.

The celebrities Americans are most likely to see as having received mostly fair coverage throughout their career are Taylor Swift (67%), Will Smith (63%), and Justin Timberlake (60%).

For each of the 16 celebrities asked about in the survey, men are more likely than women to say the celebrity has been covered mostly fairly by the media. Ariana Grande has the smallest gender gap: 54% of men and 52% of women say she has been treated mostly fairly by the media. The gender gap also is fairly small for Gosling: 54% of men and 49% of women think coverage of him has been mostly fair.

19% of Americans say male celebrities early in their career are covered very fairly by the media. 19% say the same for male celebrities later in their career, 16% say the same for female celebrities early in their career, and 11% say the same for female celebrities later in their career.

Among the demographics asked about, the group Americans are most likely to say is covered unfairly by the media is women later in their career: 23% think the coverage of women who are celebrities later in their career generally is somewhat unfair and 11% say it is very unfair.

Women are more likely than men to say that women early in their career are treated unfairly by the media (31% vs. 24%). There also is a gender gap on the view that women later in their career are treated unfairly (39% of women say this, compared to 29% of men).

Many of the celebrities included in the survey are people who have been famous for at least 20 years, including some who began their entertainment careers as children. Americans are more likely to say media coverage of celebrities has become less fair during that time, than to say it has become more fair.

18% of Americans say the media’s coverage of celebrities has become more fair in the past 20 years. People between 30 and 44 are especially likely to say this: 28% do. But an equal share of this age group (29%) believe coverage has gotten less fair during the same time period.

27% of Americans say coverage has gotten less fair in the last 20 years, and the largest share (32%) say there has been no change.

— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article

See the results for this YouGov survey

Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted November 26 – December 3, 2024 among 1,122 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.

Image: Getty (Kevin Winter / Staff)