Source: Breitbart | VIEW ORIGINAL POST ==>
Americans’ trust in the mass media has hit the “lowest point” in more than 50 years, a recent Gallup survey revealed.
Gallup showcased the sentiments Americans have held for the last several decades in relation to how much they trust the mass media.
Shockingly, most, 68 percent, trusted the mass media either a great deal or fair amount in 1972, ticking up to 69 percent in 1974. It hit an all-time high of 72 percent in 1976.
Fast forward, and in the year 2000, trust in the mass media fell to 51 percent before dropping to 44 percent in 2004. From then on, trust has teetered back and forth but on an overall downward slope, descending to 32 percent in 2016 — notably, the year of the first presidential election with President Trump and twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Trust ticked back up to 45 percent in 2018, but it has continually descended since then, reaching 40 percent in 2020, 36 percent in 2021, 34 percent in 2022, 32 percent in 2023, and 31 percent in 2024 — former President Biden’s last year in office.
Gallup found that Republicans, particularly, have lost trust in the mass media over the last few years, and it coincides with the emergence of Trump in the political arena:
Whereas about a third of U.S. adults say they have no trust at all in the mass media, 59% of Republicans hold this view — a view that saw a particularly sharp increase between 2015 and 2017, when it rose 21 percentage points to 48%. Republicans’ lack of trust in the media topped 50% for the first time in 2020 and has since remained at the majority level. Lack of trust is also up sharply among independents, now 42%, while it continues to be low — 6% this year — among Democrats.
In 2024, 59 percent of Republicans said they had no trust at all in the mass media to report news ” fully, accurately and fairly.”
Gallup also found that younger generations are less trusting of the mass media as well:
Over the past two decades, significant gaps in trust have also emerged by age. People younger than 50 are much less trusting in the news media than people aged 50 and older, particularly the oldest Americans (those aged 65 and older). An analysis of combined 2022-2024 data to increase sample sizes shows a 17-point gap in trust between the oldest Americans (those aged 65 and older) and those under age 50 — 43% vs. 26%, respectively.
It also found that Americans have very little confidence in newspapers and television news.
The data comes on the heels of the Trump administration embracing new media — including Breitbart News — and overhauling the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), triggering a mass freakout among establishment media outlets.
WATCH — “More Voices, Not Less”: Breitbart’s Boyle Thanks Trump’s Press Sec. for Giving a Voice to New Media:
“As you all know, for decades, a group of DC-based journalists, the White House Correspondents’ Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced this week. “Not anymore.”
“I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations,” she continued. “Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.”
“Well-deserving” outlets that have been denied access will have the opportunity to join the pool, she said, adding that they will “continue the rotation amongst the five major television networks to ensure the president’s remarks are heard far and wide around this world.”
“We will add additional streaming services, which reach different audiences than traditional cable and broadcast,” Leavitt added.
