• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

A new survey shows the highest “trust” in news sources is with The Weather Channel (TWC), BBC, PBS, Forbes, and ESPN, according to a new poll from YouGov.

The Weather Channel has a +49 “trust” score, followed by the BBC, with +26; PBS, +25, and ESPN, +24. YouGov says these results are similar for these outlets versus a year ago.

The "net" trust score, says YouGov, is the percentage-point difference between U.S. adults who say each new source is trustworthy (or very trustworthy) versus the percentage who say it is untrustworthy (or very untrustworthy).

Among major TV networks, the "net" trust scores are as follows: NBC at +16; CBS (+16); ABC (+13); CNN (+8); MSNBC (+6); CNBC, (+6); Fox Business (+2); Fox News Channel (+0) and Newsmax (+0). OAN posts a negative (-2).

NBC inched up two points from a year ago in its trust score, while CBS added one point and ABC was down two points.

Among cable news networks, CNN and MSNBC grew by six points each, while CNBC was up by four and Fox Business also gained four.

Fox News Channel was up 10 points (from a negative 10 score a year ago). Newsmax improved its score by four points.

Overall, net trust in all news outlets -- linear TV, digital and print-based publications -- was up to a +8 score from +4. YouGov says this is a reverse trend compared to a year ago.

YouGov authors also said: “Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say they trust the news in general, and the same is true for trust in most specific news outlets included in the poll.”

When asked specifically about 52 news organizations, Democrats said they trusted 85% of those outlets (a total of 44), while Republicans trusted 40% (21 outlets).

Democrats had the most trust in PBS, BBC, and NBC, while Republicans particularly trusted Fox News Channel, Fox Business, and Newsmax.

The YouGov poll was conducted with 2,211 U.S. adult citizens from May 11-12, 2025 -- using a random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration). It was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey.