Trust in Media & Declining Trust in America

Declining Trust in America

  • Trust in American institutions and in each other is essential for US democracy to function.
  • Trust is declining, which impacts American society.

Factors Contributing to Declining Trust

  • People are less trustful of major institutions, including the news media, than in the past.
  • The news media industry has undergone significant changes.
Changes in News Consumption
  • The way people get news has changed significantly over the past 10-20 years.
  • Online news consumption is up and now exceeds television news consumption.
News Media Business Model
  • News organizations are changing their revenue streams, focusing more on digital ad revenue.
Political Identity
  • Republicans and Democrats place their loyalty and trust in very different news sources.
Misinformation
  • Americans face challenges in parsing through online news in an environment rife with misinformation.
  • A large share of Americans believe that made-up news creates confusion and is a significant problem for society.

Impact of Social Media

  • Social media has added an extra layer of complexity to the issues that news consumers and producers grapple with.

Disaggregated and Divided Trust

  • Many people answer "no" when asked if they trust the news media.
  • Americans are comfortable saying they trust some sources but not others, indicating that trust has become disaggregated and divided.

Personal Connection

  • Personal connection with a journalist or news organization matters.
  • When people feel that media represents them and that journalists are embedded in the community, they evaluate the media more positively.
  • People who talk to a journalist or see themselves in stories have more positive evaluations of the news media.

Trust in Sources vs. the Institution

  • People may have many news sources they trust, but they don't necessarily trust the institution and industry of news organizations as a whole.
  • People tend to go to sources of information that align with their point of view.

Declining Trust in Each Other

  • Americans don't trust each other the way they used to, and they don't think Americans share the same facts anymore.

The Charge to Journalists

  • Help people find their way to the truth and make it an easy job.
  • Americans want to know what's going on and are looking to journalists to help solve these problems.