NEW YORK – More bad news for journalists: The percentage of people who believe their work is inaccurate and biased continues to grow.

Nearly two-thirds – 63 percent – of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press believe that news stories are often inaccurate. That’s a flip from when Pew first asked that question in 1985, when 34 percent of respondents believed stories were frequently inaccurate.

Pew also found that 74 percent of respondents believe stories tend to favor one side of an issue over another, up from 66 percent two years ago.

Those trends tend to go hand in hand, said Andrew Kohut, the Pew center’s director.

“If people believe that news reports are often biased, they will say they’re inaccurate,” he said.

The findings indicate U.S. newspapers and broadcasters could be alienating audiences they are struggling to keep as they try to survive financial turmoil. Pew Research’s questionnaire didn’t attempt to gauge how shrinking newspapers and other cutbacks at news organizations are affecting people’s perceptions, though the reductions probably haven’t helped, said Michael Dimock, an associate director for the center.

The financial problems mainly stem from a steep decline in the ad sales.