The one exception for both Democrats and Republicans is, interestingly, Fox News. The outlet is among the least trusted among Democrats, but in the years since Trump left office, has seen an 11-point increase in credibility. At the same time, even though it’s historically one of the most trusted for Republicans, after a dip between 2018 and 2020, perceptions have not recovered to former highs.
When Trump was in office, the right-wing outfit was the president’s biggest media ally, touting his policies and defending his behavior to its conservative viewership, which in turn made it less credible in Democrats’ eyes. But since the turbulent end of his presidency which culminated in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the relationship between Trump and Fox News has been strained.
For a while, the network’s record-breaking $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems — a by-product of its promotion of Trump’s insistence that the 2020 election was stolen — made the former president a persona non grata on its airwaves, and was said to be a reason behind the high-profile ouster of Tucker Carlson, a favorite among Fox’s dedicated Republican viewership.
Those incidents, along with the network’s recent habit of fact-checking Trump’s stolen election claims, may have helped propel Fox’s favor among Democrats, while at the same time tempering Republicans’.
Beyond potential viewers’ political affiliation — of obvious importance to news execs during a presidential year — outlets would be remiss to overlook a concerning lag in perception among young consumers. On average, 46% of Gen Z, a historically distrustful generation, said they found the nine major outlets tested to be credible. That trails far behind millennials (60%), Gen X and boomers (both 55%).
Gen Z is less likely to find every single of the nine outlets credible compared to the average U.S. adult, but TV networks saw the most severe gaps. Even more troublingly, much higher shares of Gen Z said they’ve never even heard of networks like MSNBC, CBS and NBC, which bodes very poorly for the future of broadcast news.
At the same time, trust in news sources is growing
Though they may not be turning to traditional sources of news, younger consumers are helping drive increased trust in social media and podcasts, both of which have become crucial distribution channels for news and will likely continue to grow in importance in the coming years.
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