Trust of US media in ‘free fall,’ lowest in world

By Paul Bedard, Washington Secrets Columnist

The public’s trust in news outlets is among the lowest in the free world, a trend that has spiraled downward for years and appears to continue to do so.

Regardless if it is trust in legacy or alternative media, the decline since President Joe Biden took office has registered in double digits, according to the latest I&I/TIPP Media Trust Index shared with Secrets.

In the I&I/TIPP survey, just 38% trusted establishment media, such as the Washington Post. And only 29% said it trusted alternative news sources, including conservative outlets.

Those numbers aren’t good. “Trust in media is in free fall,” said the survey.

The study also cited a Reuters survey that found the public trusts the media the least of most countries in the G-20, which Biden is huddling with this week.

“According to a recent survey conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford, among 92,000 news consumers in 46 countries, the United States ranked last in terms of media trust at 29%. Finland received the highest level of trust in the study, at 65%. The United States performed worse than Poland, the Philippines, and Peru,” said the analysis.