Trust in America: Do Americans trust the news media?
The declining public trust in the news media and polarization of news audiences have profound effects on civic life.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The declining public trust in the news media and polarization of news audiences have profound effects on civic life.
Similar shares of U.S. adults believe news organizations are giving too much attention (32%) or too little attention (29%) to Biden’s age.
Ahead of World Press Freedom Day, 73% of U.S. adults say the freedom of the press is extremely or very important to the well-being of society.
More than half of Americans (58%) say they are following news about candidates for the 2024 presidential election very or fairly closely.
57% of U.S. journalists surveyed say they are extremely or very concerned about potential restrictions on press freedoms in the country.
Most Americans say the U.S. government and technology companies should each take steps to restrict false information and extremely violent content online.
55% of journalists surveyed say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news. 22% of Americans overall say the same.
True crime is the most common topic, making up 24% of top-ranked podcasts; 15% of the top podcasts focus on news. The next most common topics are politics and government (10%); entertainment, pop culture and the arts (9%); and self-help and relationships (8%).
In just five years, the percentage of Republicans with at least some trust in national news organizations has been cut in half.
About one-in-ten U.S. adults have heard of Gab, an alternative social media site, and 1% say that they get news there regularly.
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