https://news.gallup.com/poll/695762/trust-media-new-low.aspx
Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This is down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago.
Meanwhile, seven in 10 U.S. adults now say they have “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%).
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Although Democrats and Republicans continue to express different levels of trust in the news media, the percentages with high confidence in reporting are at low points among all party groups.
* Republicans’ confidence, which hasn’t risen above 21% since 2015, has dropped to single digits (8%) for the first time in the trend.
* Independents’ trust has not reached the majority level since 2003, and the latest 27% reading matches last year’s historical low.
* For Democrats, the narrowest of majorities (51%) now express trust in the media, which is a repeat of the low previously seen in 2016.
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There is a clear generational divide in trust in the media that has grown particularly stark over the past decade, according to an analysis of three-year aggregated data to increase sample sizes. In the most recent three-year period, spanning 2023 to 2025, 43% of adults aged 65 and older trust the media, compared with no more than 28% in any younger age group.
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Confidence in the mass media is historically low, with fewer than three in 10 Americans now placing trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, fairly and accurately. The decline is evident across all major partisan groups, though Republicans’ confidence is now in the single digits, while independents remain largely skeptical. Democrats, who traditionally have been most positive toward the media, now register only a slim majority.
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