{"id":273278,"date":"2025-09-02T14:55:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T18:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?post_type=short-read&p=273278"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:09:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:09:23","slug":"many-americans-who-generally-distrust-national-news-organizations-still-express-trust-in-certain-outlets","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/09\/02\/many-americans-who-generally-distrust-national-news-organizations-still-express-trust-in-certain-outlets\/","title":{"rendered":"Many Americans who generally distrust national news organizations still express trust in certain outlets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Microphones
Microphones for a press conference outside New York City’s Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in May 2024. (David Dee Delgado\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pew Research Center has long asked Americans how much they trust information from national news organizations<\/a> in general. Recently, we asked about their trust in 30 specific news sources<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not surprising that people who trust national news organizations are more likely than those who distrust them to say they trust most of the 30 sources we asked about. But several news sources with right-leaning audiences are exceptions to this pattern, according to a new Center analysis that combines these general and specific measures of trust in the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This analysis helps answer the question: What news sources are Americans thinking of when they say they trust or distrust the information they get from national news organizations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For U.S. adults who have at least some <\/em>trust in the information they get from national news organizations, the answer most often seems to be major national TV sources. Within this group of \u201ctrusters,\u201d about half or more say they trust ABC News (56%), NBC News (56%), CBS News (51%), CNN (51%) or PBS (51%). These are some of the most widely known and popular news sources<\/a> we asked about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who have not too much<\/em> or no trust at all<\/em> in the information they get from national news organizations are far less likely to trust these five sources. However, these \u201cdistrusters\u201d are more likely than the \u201ctrusters\u201d to say they trust six specific news sources: Fox News, The Joe Rogan Experience, Newsmax, The Daily Wire, Tucker Carlson Network and Breitbart. These have the most Republican and conservative audiences<\/a> of the 30 outlets we asked about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/summary>\n

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis as part of a larger<\/a> study<\/a> that tracked news consumption and trust across a wide range of specific news sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We regularly ask people about their news habits on various platforms<\/a> (e.g., television, print, radio and digital) and their levels of trust<\/a> in information from social media and national\/local news organizations in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We conducted a more specific survey looking at Americans\u2019 familiarity with, usage of and views toward 30 individual news sources. That survey was conducted March 10-16, 2025, among 9,482 U.S. adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Interviews were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP\u2019s methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the survey\u2019s questions<\/a>, the topline<\/a>\u00a0and the survey\u00a0methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

How we chose these 30 news sources<\/summary>\n

We selected 30 news sources based on a variety of measures, including audience size and previous survey results. We also wanted to prioritize a range of news sources across different platforms, as well as both legacy news outlets and nontraditional news sources, all while keeping the list from becoming too long for survey respondents. This selection process is not perfect; we acknowledge that no list of 30 sources could represent the entirety of today\u2019s diverse and changing media environment. We believe this group of 30 provides an appropriate snapshot of media brands to help us study Americans\u2019 changing news habits. To learn more, read the FAQ<\/a> and methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Views by party<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In general, Republicans and Republican leaners are much less likely<\/a> than Democrats to trust the information they get from national news organizations. But Republicans who do<\/em> trust national media view specific news sources differently than Republicans who don\u2019t trust national media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican \u201ctrusters\u201d are most likely to say they generally trust Fox News as a source of news (61%) among the outlets we asked about. Substantial shares also say they trust TV networks like ABC News (40%), NBC News (37%) and CBS News (35%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican \u201cdistrusters\u201d are also most likely to say they trust Fox News (51%). But they\u2019re much less likely than \u201ctrusters\u201d to say they trust other major TV networks, as well as many other sources included in the survey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are also more<\/em> likely than Republican \u201ctrusters\u201d to say they trust several news sources with right-leaning audiences, including The Joe Rogan Experience, Newsmax, The Daily Wire, Tucker Carlson Network and Breitbart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Democrats and Democratic leaners who don\u2019t trust the information they get from national news organizations are generally less likely than other Democrats to trust most of the outlets we asked about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic \u201cdistrusters\u201d are also different from Republican \u201cdistrusters.\u201d This group of Democrats doesn\u2019t tend to trust any specific sources much more than other sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Democratic \u201cdistrusters\u201d are much more trusting than Republican \u201cdistrusters\u201d of many of the sources we asked about. For example, 32% of Democrats who have little to no trust in the information they get from national news organizations say they trust ABC News, compared with 11% of Republican \u201cdistrusters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: Here are the survey\u2019s questions<\/a>, the topline<\/a>\u00a0and the survey\u00a0methodology<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In general, Republicans and Republican leaners are much less likely than Democrats to trust the information they get from national news organizations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":273303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-09-02T18:55:59Z","apple_news_api_id":"6b5ecb07-ea38-4b13-80f4-266cc48bf3e1","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-06T19:09:43Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Aa17LB-o4SxOA9CZsxIvz4Q","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"_5a1b7vfgd","termId":651},{"key":"_s0yt11qal","termId":848}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[325,338,336,342],"bylines":[848,651],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[527],"class_list":["post-273278","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-society","category-media-polarization","category-news-coverage","category-trust-in-media","bylines-elisa-shearer","bylines-jacob-liedke","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-journalism"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":879,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/09\/02\/many-americans-who-generally-distrust-national-news-organizations-still-express-trust-in-certain-outlets\/","art_direction":{"A2":{"id":273303,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/09\/SR_25.09.02_trust-or-distrust-in-news_featured.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/09\/SR_25.09.02_trust-or-distrust-in-news_featured.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"caption":"Microphones for a press conference outside New York City's Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in May 2024. 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