
Increasing trust in social media while trust in media record low
Trust in media is record-low while trust in information on social media is increasing according to two new US surveys. For the third consecutive year, more adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% have “not very much” confidence, a survey by Gallup shows. A Pew Research Centre study shows that people under 30 are now nearly as likely to have a lot of or some trust in information from social media sites (52%) as from national news organisations (56%).
Americans continue to register record-low trust in the mass media, according to Gallup. 31% express a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly,” similar to last year’s 32%. Trust in the media — such as newspapers, television and radio — first fell to 32% in 2016 and did so again last year.
In the 1970s, trust ranged from 68% to 72%. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, smaller majorities of 51% to 55% trusted the news media.
“As has been the case historically, partisans have different levels of confidence in the media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. Currently, 54% of Democrats, 27% of independents and 12% of Republicans say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. Independents’ trust matches the record low in 2022, while Democrats’ and Republicans’ are statistically similar to their historical low points.”
Over the past two decades, significant gaps in trust have also emerged by age. There is a 17-percentage-point gap in trust between the oldest (those aged 65 and older) and those under age 50 — 43% vs. 26%, respectively”, Gallup reports.
The Pew survey shows most age groups remain far less likely to trust information from social media sites than from national and local news organizations. But the youngest adults are an exception.
Adults under 30 are now nearly as likely to have a lot of or some trust in the information that comes from social media sites (52%) as from national news organizations (56%). More young adults (71%) express trust in information from local news outlets.
For all other age groups, trust in information from social media sites remains lower than trust in both local and national news organisations. The gap is especially large among the oldest. Just 22% of those ages 65 and older say they have at least some trust in information from social media, compared with 61% who trust national news organisations and 78% who trust local news outlets.
Though trust in local news organisations has generally declined slightly since 2016, these remain the most-trusted news source across age groups – as they are across partisan groups.
Republicans are now nearly as likely to trust the information that comes from social media sites as they are to trust information from national news organisations, according to the Pew.. The same pattern as among young adults.
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