Nearly two-thirds of Americans have at least some trust in local news outlets, placing them ahead of major newspapers, national network television and cable news in a new Alliance for Trust/Medill Trust Tracker survey. The findings, published Oct. 28, highlight local journalism’s relative credibility amid broader skepticism about the news media.
The survey found that 45% of adults believe most journalists try to manipulate news for political or commercial purposes, while 37% believe journalists try to report as accurately as possible. Those perceptions differed sharply by political affiliation: 77% of Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents chose the manipulation description, compared with 24% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.
The research also found widespread distrust of news from AI chatbots, social media creators and online groups. Conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, the nationally representative survey included 1,057 adults interviewed Oct. 8–12 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
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