At 34%, Americans’ trust in the mass media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly” is essentially unchanged from last year and just two points higher than the lowest that Gallup has recorded, in 2016 during the presidential campaign.
Just 7% of Americans have “a great deal” of trust and confidence in the media, and 27% have “a fair amount.” Meanwhile, 28% of U.S. adults say they do not have very much confidence and 38% have none at all in newspapers, TV and radio. Notably, this is the first time that the percentage of Americans with no trust at all in the media is higher than the percentage with a great deal or a fair amount combined. …
The percentage of Americans with a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media has not been at the majority level since 2003, although before that — in three readings in the 1970s and seven readings between 1997 and 2003 — it was the norm. The public’s confidence rating for the media has averaged 42% since 2004.
[When the media starts reporting the news rather than publishing their preferred narratives, perhaps they will earn more trust from their customers. — Ed]
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