---
title: "Americans’ trust in information from news outlets, social media"
description: "Plus, Trump pushes back against fact-checking"
date: "2024-10-17"
authors:
  - name: "Jacob Liedke"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/newsletter/the-briefing/americans-trust-in-information-from-news-outlets-social-media/"
---

# Americans’ trust in information from news outlets, social media

**☀️ Happy Thursday!** *The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information*.* [**Sign up here!**](https://www.pewresearch.org/sign-up-for-the-briefing/)*

**In today*’*s email:**

- **Featured story:** Trump pushes back against fact-checking

- **New from Pew Research Center:** Republicans, young adults now nearly as likely to trust info from social media as from national news outlets

- **In other news:** Harris interviews with Fox News

- **Looking ahead:** Record number of AP staff to work election night

- **Chart of the week:** Levels of trust in information from social media, news organizations vary by age

🔥 **Top story**

As the presidential election draws closer, **Donald Trump** has been [pushing back against fact-checking](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/14/trump-fact-checks-interviews-debates/) in interviews and debates. CBS said that Trump declined an interview on 60 Minutes [in part because he objected to the show’s fact-checking practice](https://www.foxnews.com/media/60-minutes-trump-axed-interview-demanding-apology-2020-sit-down-complained-fact-checks). And the Trump campaign reportedly complained about the fact-checking that occurred [during his September debate](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-campaign-abc-fact-checking-b2629140.html) with Kamala Harris.

During the previous presidential election cycle, we measured **sharp partisan differences in views of fact checking.** When asked about fact-checking efforts by news outlets and other organizations in a [2019 Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/27/republicans-far-more-likely-than-democrats-to-say-fact-checkers-tend-to-favor-one-side/), seven-in-ten Republicans said fact-checkers tend to favor one side, while roughly three-in-ten Democrats (29%) expressed this view. Most Democrats (69%) instead said that fact-checking efforts generally deal fairly with all sides.

🚨 **New from Pew Research Center**

Republicans have long been less trusting than Democrats of national news organizations. Today, they are nearly as likely to **trust the information that comes from social media sites** as they are to **trust information from national news outlets.** The same pattern appears among young adults.

Read more about [trends in Americans’ trust in information](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/16/republicans-young-adults-now-nearly-as-likely-to-trust-info-from-social-media-as-from-national-news-outlets/) from national news organizations, local news organizations and social media since 2016.

📌 **In other news**

- **Kamala Harris** interviews with [Fox News](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/business/media/kamala-harris-bret-baier-fox.html)

- **Supreme Court **[allows lawsuit](https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/15/politics/supreme-court-revives-case-of-citizen-journalist-arrested-for-seeking-information/index.html) filed by **Texas online journalist** over arrest

- **Gateway Pundit** [acknowledges Georgia election workers cleared](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/12/gateway-pundit-georgia-election-workers-settle/) after defamation settlement

- **Las Vegas politician** convicted of **killing journalist** is [sentenced to life in prison](https://abcnews.go.com/US/nevada-politician-robert-telles-sentenced-life-killing-journalist/story?id=114853148)

- Taliban [bans images](https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-media-morality-laws-images-baf2dd860fd9c16af765faa6ea9bf8d9) of living beings on **Afghan media**

- Head of diversity at **Condé Nast** stepped down following [disputes about the Israel-Hamas war](https://www.semafor.com/article/10/13/2024/gaza-infighting-roils-cond-nast-execs)

- **Australia’s **[age-based social media ban](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/australias-planned-social-media-ban-raises-teen-isolation-fears-2024-10-15/) raises fears of isolation

- **Midwestern nonprofit** **shuts** its [Wichita newsroom](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/10/midwestern-news-nonprofit-the-beacon-shuts-down-its-wichita-newsroom/)

📅 **Looking ahead**

**The Associated Press** [told Axios](https://www.axios.com/2024/10/15/associated-press-staffing-election-2024) this week that the organization will have **more than 5,000 people working on election night,** a higher number than ever before. News organizations around the world use AP's data and race calls as key elements of their election coverage.

**Americans tuned in closely to election results during the last presidential race.** Roughly nine-in-ten U.S. adults said they checked in on the results on Election Day 2020 at least occasionally, according to a [Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/11/23/americans-paid-close-attention-as-election-returns-came-in/) from that year. This includes seven-in-ten who followed the returns almost constantly (36%) or fairly often (34%).

Most also said that the sources they turned to after polls closed did very well (38%) or somewhat well (40%) in helping them understand the results.

📊 **Chart of the week**

This week’s chart looks at age patterns in Americans’ trust in information from news organizations and social media. In a [new Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/16/republicans-young-adults-now-nearly-as-likely-to-trust-info-from-social-media-as-from-national-news-outlets/), adults under 30 are now nearly as likely to have at least some trust in the information that comes from social media sites (52%) as from national news organizations (56%). For all other age groups, trust in information from social media sites remains lower than trust in both local and national news organizations.

![Line charts showing that adults under 30 nearly as likely to trust information from social media as from national news outlets.](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/SR_24.10.16_media-trust-2_450c6f.webp?w=640)

*👋 That's all for this week. *

The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Sarah Naseer, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang and Emily Tomasik. It is edited by Michael Lipka and copy edited by Anna Jackson.

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