The annual Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has recorded its lowest trust figures for news media since the research programme began tracking the subject in 2015, with a global survey spanning dozens of countries finding that public confidence in journalism has continued to erode across most regions and demographic groups in ways that have profound implications for democracy and public discourse.
The headline finding — that fewer than four in ten people globally trust most news media most of the time — represents not just a statistical data point but a significant statement about the relationship between journalism and the publics it is supposed to serve. Trust is the essential currency of journalism: without it, factual reporting cannot compete effectively with misinformation, and the role of a free press in holding power to account is severely diminished.
The research identifies several drivers of declining trust that operate differently in different contexts. In some countries, particularly those with strong partisan media ecosystems, distrust is primarily driven by people not trusting media that they perceive as politically opposed to their own views. In others, the concern is more generalised — a sense that news organisations are influenced by commercial or political interests that compromise their independence and reliability.
Younger people across almost all markets show lower trust in news media than older demographics, a finding that is particularly significant for the long-term prospects of journalism as an institution. If the habits and attitudes formed in young adulthood persist through the life cycle — as research on media behaviour generally suggests they do — the current generation of young adults represents a future audience that is fundamentally less confident in established journalism than previous generations were.
The proliferation of misinformation and the difficulty of distinguishing reliable from unreliable sources online has contributed to a paradox in which awareness of the problem of misinformation does not straightforwardly translate into greater trust in established news media. Instead, many people respond to the perceived unreliability of information online with a general scepticism that encompasses both fake news and legitimate journalism, treating them as similarly uncertain.
News organisations that have invested in transparency — explaining their reporting methods, disclosing their funding sources, publishing corrections prominently, engaging with criticism — show modestly better trust figures in the research than those that have not made these investments. This suggests that the relationship between journalistic practice and audience trust is not entirely severed, and that demonstrable commitment to honesty and accountability can make a measurable difference.
The social media platforms on which much news consumption now occurs have done little to bolster trust in journalism and in some cases have actively undermined it by platforming content that promotes distrust of mainstream media. The business model of engagement-maximising algorithms rewards content that generates emotional reaction, of which outrage at “fake news” is a reliable example, creating structural incentives that work against rather than for media credibility.
The implications of declining media trust extend well beyond the economics of the journalism industry. Healthy democracies depend on an informed citizenry that can make meaningful judgments about the conduct of those who hold power. When the institutions responsible for providing that information are not trusted, the quality of democratic decision-making is genuinely compromised in ways that are difficult to reverse. The Reuters Institute’s findings are, in this sense, not just a story about media but about the foundations of democratic governance.
