The percentage of Americans who say they have a ‘great deal’ of trust in the media’s ability to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly” has dropped, now matching an all-time low of 40 percent.
Given the media’s liberal bias, it’s not surprising that trust among Republicans stands at just 27 percent; while among Democrats it’s at 54 percent.
Interestingly, though, the percentage of people who think the media is actually “too conservative” is up. Nineteen percent believe the news leans too far right, which is six points higher than in 2013.
Though a sizable percentage of Americans continue to have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media, Americans' overall trust in the Fourth Estate continues to be significantly lower now than it was 10 to 15 years ago.
As the media expand into new domains of news reporting via social media networks and new mobile technology, Americans may be growing disenchanted with what they consider "mainstream" news as they seek out their own personal veins of getting information. At the same time, confidence is down across many institutions, and a general lack in trust overall could be at play.
Americans' opinions about the media appear affected in election years, however. Americans' trust in the media will likely recover slightly in 2015 with the absence of political campaigns. But the overarching pattern of the past decade has shown few signs of slowing the decline of faith in mass media as a whole.
