Americans’ trust in traditional news media has cratered to its lowest ebb in over 50 years, a Gallup Blog report revealed Thursday, just as the Trump administration leverages the shift to justify shaking up White House press access.
The study, penned by Gallup analysts Megan Brenan and Lydia Saad, lays bare a decades-long slide—particularly stark among Republicans and young adults—prompting Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to cite it as fuel for reserving briefing room seats for “podcasts, blogs, social media, and other independent outlets” over legacy giants.
READ: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Destroys Dems Over DOGE ‘Incredibly Out Of Touch’
Gallup’s five key takeaways paint a grim picture. First, trust in mass media—newspapers, TV, radio—has nosedived from two-thirds of Americans in the 1970s to a mere 31% today, with 36% now professing zero confidence, up from 6% in 1972.
“By 1997, confidence had fallen to 53%, and it’s been trending downward since 2003,” the report notes, splitting the public into rough thirds: 31% trusting, 33% skeptical, 36% outright distrustful.
Republicans are driving the plunge. While 59% of GOP adults now have no trust at all—a spike from 27% in 2015 to 48% by 2017—independents aren’t far behind at 42%. Democrats? Just 6% lack faith, though 46% still harbor low trust. “The vast majority of Republicans (88%) and independents (74%)” doubt the press, Gallup finds, against 12% of GOP and 54% of Democratic faithful who back it.
The kids aren’t alright for media’s future. A 17-point trust gap yawns between those 65-plus (43%) and under-50s (26%), per 2022-2024 data. Even Democrats show cracks: trust among 18- to 29-year-olds has tanked to under a third, versus 75% for seniors—a widening chasm hinting at bleaker days ahead unless GOP skepticism flips.
Compared to Gallup’s annual institutional confidence polls, newspapers and TV news lag near the bottom—above only Congress. Since 1993, their drop outpaces declines in government branches and nine other sectors, missing the post-9/11 rally others enjoyed. “Confidence in news has fallen more than in other institutions,” Brenan and Saad write.
Ink beats screens—barely. Honesty ratings for news pros have tanked since the ‘80s: TV reporters slid from 36% “high/very high” in 1981 to 13% in 2024; newspaper scribes hit 17%, journalists 19%. Print’s slight edge offers cold comfort in a trust freefall.
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