Simmons Research News Media Trust Index Shows Americans Have Low Trust In News Sources

Trust Rankings

SIMMONS RESEARCH has released its News Media Trust Index, ranking 38 news sources by the public's level of trust in them, and the results indicate that the public's trust in news organizations is down to 40%, a figure SIMMONS said is "a clear sign the news media is in crisis." 

Interestingly, while the distrust of news organizations has been a theme of President TRUMP's administration, highly partisan news sources, including conservative sites like THEBLAZE, BREITBART, INFOWARS, and THE DAILY CALLER as well as liberal sites like MOTHER JONES, DAILY KOS, the PALMER REPORT, and OCCUPY DEMOCRATS, mostly ranked at the bottom of the trust rankings; mainstream sources, the target of TRUMP's ire, tended to rank much higher, with the WALL STREET JOURNAL edging out ABC, CBS, the BBC, FORBES, and NBC.  THE NEW YORK TIMES and THE WASHINGTON POST, the newspapers most directly targeted by TRUMP, ranked in the top 10, and CNN, another TRUMP target, outranked FOX NEWS, which TRUMP favors.

SIMMONS also classified 13% of Americans as "doubters" -- believing all news is "fake news."  This group was less likely to vote but those who did heavily supported TRUMP (62.2% v. 27.8% for HILLARY CLINTON).  The "doubters" tend to be less well educated, less affluent, and less politically knowledgeable, although they also spend less time on social media and are less likely to consume any media.

The rankings, with percentage indicating trust in the source:

• 1 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL  57.7%
• 2  ABC NEWS  55.9%
• 3  CBS NEWS  55.4%
• 4  BBC NEWS  55.2%
• 5  FORBES  54.2%
• 6  NBC NEWS  54.1%
• 7  THE NEW YORK TIMES  53.8%
• 8  THE WASHINGTON POST  53.6%
• 9  USA TODAY  51.1%
• 10  THE WASHINGTON TIMES  50.0%
• 11  MSNBC  47.4%
• 12  REUTERS  46.6%
• 13  BLOOMBERG  46.3%
• 14  CNN  46.1%
• 15  NPR  45.1%
• 16  CHICAGO TRIBUNE  44.8%
• 17  FOX NEWS  44.7%
• 18  THE ECONOMIST  44.7%
• 19  LA TIMES  42.9%
• 20  HUFFINGTON POST  38.4%
• 21  THE GUARDIAN  37.9%
• 22  POLITICO  36.6%
• 23  NATIONAL REVIEW  34.7%
• 24  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  34.0%
• 25  THE HILL  31.8%
• 26  THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE  31.6%
• 27  DRUDGE REPORT  31.5%
• 28  THE BLAZE  30.1%
• 29  DAILY BEAST  29.5%
• 30  BUZZFEEDNEWS  29.1%
• 31  SLATE  28.5%
• 32  MOTHER JONES  28.2%
• 33  BREITBART  27.4%
• 34  DAILYKOS  27.4%
• 35  PALMER REPORT  26.1%
• 36  OCCUPY DEMOCRATS  24.7%
• 37  INFOWARS  24.3%
• 38  DAILY CALLER  22.5%

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