Trust in news varies by source and demographics

New studies confirm that Americans' trust in news media continues to stagnate, in some cases declining to troubling levels. However, trust is not level across demographics. Differences such as age and political affiliation significantly affect trust in the news media. As the industry grapples with this problem, it is helpful to understand which news media sources more Americans trust - and why.

A new Gallup poll finds Americans' trust in newspapers and television news remaining near record lows, while average confidence in U.S. institutions overall lingers around 28%. This marks the third consecutive year that confidence in U.S. institutions - which includes news sources as well as Congress, the criminal justice system, banks, and big business - has fallen below 30%. The police were the only organization to gain confidence, rising to a 51% approval rate.

• Almost half (48%) of U.S. adults report "very little" or no confidence in newspapers. About the same percentage (49%) have at least some confidence in newspapers, with 18% reporting "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence.
• The majority of U.S. adults (56%) report "very little" or no confidence in television news. 44% have at least some confidence in television news. Only 12% reported "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence.

Partisan divide erodes trust

Americans are divided along party lines when it comes to trust in many U.S. institutions, including news organizations. Democrats reported more confidence than Republicans in 10 institutions, according to the Gallup data. These include newspapers and television news, higher education, organized labor, public schools, the criminal justice system, big technology companies, banks, the medical system, and the presidency. Republicans reported more confidence than Democrats in only three institutions: police, organized religion, and the Supreme Court.

• 35% of Democrats report "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in newspaper reporting, compared with only 7% of Republicans.
• 22% of Democrats report "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in television news, compared to only 6% of Republicans.
• Independents came in between, with 16% having "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of trust in newspapers, and 11% reporting that level of trust in televised news.

The greatest gaps between Democrats and Republicans showed in approval of the presidency, higher education, and organized labor. Newspapers were a close fourth, with a 28% partisan divide in approval levels.

Which sources gain more trust?

American audiences trust local television news and newspapers significantly more than major national news outlets. 62% of Americans surveyed say they trust local televised news and 58% trust their local newspaper. In contrast, fewer than half of Americans report trusting major news outlets such as CNN, Fox News, NPR and The Washington Post.

Only a third of Americans say they trust news in general. This is according to new analysis and graphics created by Harrison & Hunter Agency Partners, derived from data published in the 2024 Digital News Report by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Second to local news on the trust scale, slightly over half of Americans surveyed (52%) reported trust in CBS, NBC, and BBC. Newspaper and radio news sources fared slightly worse. The New York Times was the only newspaper to hit the 50% mark in trust, with The Wall Street Journal falling just short at 49%, and The Washington Post at 46%. NPR was trusted by 47% of those surveyed, tied with USA Today.

Bringing up the bottom of the trust list were Yahoo News (40%) and HuffPost (39%). However, it's notable that these two media outlets also had the highest neutral ratings. Almost one third of survey respondents answered that they "neither trust nor distrust" these sources, which could indicate that consumers are simply less familiar with them.

Meanwhile, Fox News and CNN garnered the highest amount of distrust, with 43% reporting they don't trust Fox News, and 37% reporting they don't trust CNN. Only 15% of survey respondents were neutral on those highly recognized media outlets. According to the original data in the 2024 Digital News Report, U.S. Democrats are more likely to view and trust a wide range of news sources, whereas Republicans are more likely to rely primarily on Fox News and NewsMax.

Americans agree more on local news

Three out of four Americans believe news media "is making political polarization worse" according to a recent episode of PBS News Hour's America at a Crossroads. The episode features Martha Minow of Harvard Law School, author of Saving the News. She explained that midcentury, there were only three major news networks, which benefited from pursuing wide appeal. Now, cable networks can afford to entice a narrower range of viewers with opinion-based news content. Despite stated preferences for objectivity, viewers are drawn to attention-getting material that reinforces their existing beliefs. Thus, the increased association between news and political polarization. "The lack of a shared reality is a crisis in America right now," Minow remarks.

However, the Pew Research report Americans' Changing Relationship With Local News finds the partisan divide much less pronounced when it comes to local news. 78% of Democrats trust their local news media to report accurately - and 66% of Republicans agree. Overall, 85% of U.S. adults agreed local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the welfare of their community.

Participants in the Pew Research study expressed these preferences:

• More variety: Americans enjoy local news on a multitude of topics. About two out of three follow weather, crime, government affairs, traffic and transportation matters. Half say they tune into local news about arts and culture, economic issues, schools, and sports.
• More neutrality: A strong majority of adults surveyed (69%) said local journalists should remain neutral on the issues. This held true among all age groups. However, survey respondents aged 18-29 were more likely to approve of advocacy from local journalists (39%).

While trust in news is a complex issue made more fraught by political polarization, it is worth noting what Americans like about local news. A variety of topics and "news you can use" may help balance partisan material and possibly curtail news avoidance. Whether or not consumer habits align with stated preferences, Americans are largely united in calling for more objectivity in news reporting.

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