Gallup poll shows trust in news at historic lows—CFINR offers a path forward

Walter E. Hussman Jr., chairman of WEHCO Media Inc., Friday Dec. 16, 2022 in the company's Little Rock offices. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal).

How can we have a sustainable democracy without a well-informed public—and how can we have a well-informed public if they don’t trust the media?”

CFINR founder Walter E. Hussman Jr

Gallup’s recently released 2025 annual survey finds that just 28% of Americans now say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television, and radio to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly—a record low since Gallup began measuring in the 1970s. Nearly seven in ten say they have “not very much” or “none at all.” Among Republicans, that confidence has plummeted to 8%, while independents hold steady at 27% and a slim majority of Democrats (51%) still express trust.

The generational gap is just as stark: only 43% of adults 65 and older trust the media, compared to 28% or fewer in younger age groups. That divide has widened over two decades, with younger Americans increasingly skeptical of traditional news sources.

Gallup put the problem plainly: “With confidence fractured along partisan and generational lines, the challenge for news organizations is not only to deliver fair and accurate reporting but also to regain credibility across an increasingly polarized and skeptical public.”

That challenge underscores what the Center for Integrity in News Reporting (CFINR) has been advocating since its founding: restoring trust starts locally—by returning to impartiality, transparency, and objective news reporting as first principles.

As CFINR founder Walter E. Hussman Jr. says often, “How can we have a sustainable democracy without a well-informed public—and how can we have a well-informed public if they don’t trust the media?”

Those convictions drive CFINR’s mission: to elevate integrity, objectivity, and transparency in reporting through programs that make impartial journalism visible again.

CFINR offers three interconnected programs to rebuild credibility where it begins—inside the newsroom and inside America’s journalism schools:

1. Publishing Core Values
   Helping newsrooms craft and display clear, public statements that distinguish news from opinion and affirm fairness, accuracy, and independence. “Impartiality is the engine of credibility, and truth-telling is journalism’s core mission,” the Center’s framework states.
2. Rewarding Impartial Reporting
   Through its annual awards program—honoring work across print, broadcast, cable, digital and more—CFINR celebrates journalists who earn, not demand, trust. The awards carry $25,000 prizes, the largest in American journalism.
3. Teaching the Next Generation
   The CFINR Campus Speaker Initiative sends award-winning reporters into classrooms across the country to mentor students on objectivity, impartiality, and ethics—at no cost to host universities.

CFINR’s work to restore trust is centered around adopting a Core Values statement and on separating news from opinion, each one a visible step signaling accountability and reinforcing the foundation of trust with readers.

Trust can be rebuilt. And CFINR is helping lead the way.

Contact:
Rufus Friday, Executive Director
rfriday@cfinr.org