The latest survey from Harris Polls is out, and it has good news for local newscasters when it comes to trustworthiness. But no medium blows the doors off when measured this way.
Local television is #1, with 53% trusting it a lot and 53% trusting it some for a general trustworthiness rating of 78%. The 25% assessment was tops among all media measured for the survey.
Next is newspaper, at 76% overall trustworthiness, and radio, at 73%.
No other medium made it into the 70s. Online sites of traditional news outlets was #4 with 67%, followed by cable and national newspapers, tied at 66%, network TV at 65% and online only at 61%.
| Medium | A lot | Some | Not much | None | Trust net |
| Local TV | 25 | 53 | 12 | 6 | 78 |
| Local Nwspr | 21 | 55 | 13 | 6 | 76 |
| Radio | 16 | 57 | 14 | 6 | 73 |
| Online/trad | 17 | 50 | 18 | 9 | 67 |
| Cable | 15 | 51 | 18 | 9 | 66 |
| Natl Nwspr | 17 | 50 | 19 | 8 | 66 |
| Net TV | 17 | 48 | 19 | 11 | 65 |
| Online only | 11 | 50 | 21 | 11 | 61 |
| Source: Harris Poll |
Age is most certainly a factor – the 69+ demographic is very happy with local news sources in general but not convinced whatsoever when it comes to internet only, which is trusted by a mere 45%.
The story is reversed among 18-37 respondents, who generally fall in line with overall results but at the same time are least trusting of local. Their least trusted source is network TV – the two age groups in the middle surprisingly are the most trusting of internet only sources.
| Medium | 18-37 | 38-49 | 50-68 | 69+ |
| Local TV | 71 | 79 | 84 | 82 |
| Local Nwspr | 71 | 75 | 81 | 78 |
| Radio | 67 | 72 | 80 | 70 |
| Online/trad | 64 | 69 | 71 | 65 |
| Cable | 60 | 68 | 71 | 71 |
| Natl Nwspr | 65 | 66 | 70 | 60 |
| Net TV | 57 | 66 | 72 | 65 |
| Online only | 63 | 65 | 63 | 45 |
| Source: Harris Poll |
And yes, politics is a factor. As a rule Democrats trust the news they are getting the most and independents the least, with Republicans in the middle. The exception is online, where only 53% of Republicans are trusting compared to 60% of independents. 70% of Democrats trust the medium by contrast.
| Medium | Rep | Dem | Ind |
| Local TV | 80 | 85 | 75 |
| Local Nwspr | 76 | 83 | 72 |
| Radio | 71 | 79 | 70 |
| Online/trad | 70 | 71 | 64 |
| Cable | 68 | 73 | 60 |
| Natl Nwspr | 62 | 77 | 61 |
| Net TV | 60 | 79 | 56 |
| Online only | 53 | 70 | 60 |
| Source: Harris Poll |
Harris added some additional color to the survey results. It said, “One might expect that today’s 24-hour news cycle should have room for everything. When the news never stops coming, it stands to reason that there’s sufficient bandwidth to leave no topical stone unturned… in theory. But of course, that doesn’t mean that every sort of story gets the same level of coverage. When provided with several types of news stories and asked which are under-, over-, or appropriately covered, three-fourths of U.S. adults (76%) say celebrity gossip/scandal stories are over-covered, while half (49%) say the same about general entertainment news and 44% believe sports news gets too much coverage. And perhaps the midterms are to blame, but a third of Americans (33%) feel U.S. elections are over-covered in U.S. news media.”
Harris continued, “Looking at the other end of the coverage spectrum, nearly half of Americans feel humanitarian issues in the U.S. (47%) and education (also 47%) are under-covered. Over four in ten also identify science (45%), government corruption/political scandals (44%), and corporate corruption/white collar crime (42%), while a third say the same of global/international humanitarian issues (33%) and three in ten feel health (30%) stories are under-represented.”
