Public Trust In Media Registers Slight Uptick

Trust in the media is up versus a year ago. But that’s only a sliver of good news in an otherwise continued overall trend.

A Gallup poll says 44% of U.S. citizens “have a great deal or fair amount of trust and confidence in the mass media.” This is identical to 2011 and up from 40% in 2012 -- which was the lowest reading since Gallup regularly began tracking the question in 1997.

But on the down side, 55% in 2013 still have “not very much/none at all” trust in the media. A year ago, this was at a 60% level.

What got better in 2013? Apparently, there is more trust -- relatively speaking -- from Republicans and Independent voters. Some 33% of Republicans trust the media -- up from 26%. Independents are now at a 37% level, an improvement from 31%.

Democrat-minded voters are at a top 60% trust number, up from 58% a year ago, and 56% from 2011. The latest results are based on Gallup's annual Governance survey, conducted Sept. 5-8.

Gallup says Americans have consistently been more distrustful than trusting of the media each year since 2007, in contrast with 1997 through 2003, when the slight majority expressed trust in the media.

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