Americans’ confidence in newspapers and television news has plummeted to an all-time low, according to the latest annual Gallup survey of trust in U.S. institutions.
A 2021 poll from Pew Research Center found that Republicans are far less likely to trust media sources that are considered “mainstream.”
Details: Television news is today considered the second-least trusted institution in the country, following Congress, according to the poll.
Generally, the designation mainstream just means government-supporting and government-supported. US Senate hearings in the 1970s found that many “mainstream” news sources were secretly funded by the CIA and/or other government agencies.
Just 5% of Republicans said they had “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence” in newspapers, compared to 35% of Democrats.
Only 8% of Republicans said they had “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence” in TV news, compared to 20% of Democrats.
