Americans' confidence that mass media - such as newspapers, TV, and radio - will report the news fairly and balanced plummeted to historic lows not seen since 2016, according to the latest annual Gallup survey of trust in US institutions.
Gallup survey from Sept. 1-23 reveals:
29% of US adults have "not very much" trust in the media.
A record-high 39% of US adults have "none at all" trust in the media.
The current 39% with no trust is the highest on record, surpassing the previous by one percentage point. This percentage is 12 points higher than the 2016 reading.
In 2016, sharp criticism of the media came from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The current view of the media is the grimmest in Gallup's history.
In 2016, the most common sentiment among US adults was "not very much" trust at 41%.
A half-century of Gallup data shows Americans' trust in the media has rapidly declined.
There is a massive political gap in the trust of corporate media. About 58% of Democrats trust the media, while only 11% of Republicans feel the same.
"This low confidence reading for the fourth estate comes at a time when trust in each of the three branches of the federal government is also low," Gallup pointed out.
In June, Gallup survey data for trust in TV news and newspapers also slid to a near-record low, as well as a survey last December that found record-low-tying ratings of the honesty and ethics of journalists.
Souring distaste for mass media reflects that Americans are learning their news flow has been manipulated by the censorship-industrial complex, which is run by political and technological elites.
The Twitter Files, state attorneys general lawsuits, and investigative reporters have revealed the expanding network of government agencies, academic institutions, and nongovernmental organizations that actively censor citizens for talking about non-approved government narratives, such as Covid, vaccines and Hunter Biden's business deals. These elites use corporate media to twist the truth and keep the masses locked in the 'matrix.'
These Six Companies Control Much of US Media
However, the days of censorship in mass media are limited. The emergence of the parallel economy is fostering new capital that is seeding new media ventures, such as the Tucker Carlson on X. The success already on X has CNN and even Fox News envying Carlon's views in the hundreds of millions.
