A majority of U.S. adults say the news media "have done an excellent or good job" covering the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.

Fifty-four percent of Americans approved of the coverage, with 46 percent saying it was "poor" or "only fair."

The survey — conducted in March among more than 11,000 U.S. adults — comes as the outbreak has blanketed the news cycle at the national and local level, with most Americans staying home to help slow the spread of the virus.

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Overall, 92 percent of those surveyed said they are following the news about the virus "very closely or fairly closely."

Network TV and print publications fared the best, with 68 percent of respondents approving of the coverage, followed closely by 66 percent say print publications have covered the outbreak well. The survey has a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points.

Social media and radio rank lowest on the list, with 47 percent saying radio has performed well in covering the pandemic and just 41 percent rating social media positively.

A Pew survey in late March showed that the perception of media performance has largely broken down along party lines, with 68 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents approving of the media's performance, compared to just 37 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who said the same.

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