Gallup Poll’s trust in media survey late last year yielded depressing results:

Americans’ confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This is down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago.

Meanwhile, seven in 10 U.S. adults now say they have “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%).

Megan Brenan, “Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S.,” October 2, 2025

Commentators focus on the fact that Republicans mistrust the media more than Democrats do. Issues & Insights noted, “ If the big media wants a shoulder to cry on, Dems are it.”

But media trust is at record lows among all party groups so even Dems only trust media at 50%. Would you buy a car from someone you only trusted 50%?

A different approach

Actually, the New York Times could have the most monolithic commentariat in the world outside North Korea and, in general, it would make very little difference to the rest of us.

Here at Mind Matters News, we’ve been covering declining trust in legacy media for years. Why not revisit this thesis?: The internet fundamentally changed how people get news. A few words in the navbar about a recent event generate hundreds of links and an AI summary.

Should you believe any of them? Well, that’s up to you. The record is mixed. But, as a result, the “paper of record” concept doesn’t mean what it used to any more.

Recent events are telling. If, just for example, Bari Weiss’s experience at the New York Times is any example, the public doubt now exists for good reason. She was fired for doing precisely what she was hired to do: provide a more diverse commentariat.

We are told that the newsroom revolted. It is as if they thought that their job was to control reality… But for whom? What if the rest of us are free to seek out, at our convenience, the other 499 possible sources? If we want, we can try other search engines too.

Future poll attempts at assessing trust in media would do well to begin by considering how the landscape has changed and focusing on which media people do trust, and for what reason. That might be most informative.