Gallup: America's Most Trusted News Sources Are...

Many more Americans trust news on the internet than did so in 1998, when only a small fraction of Americans got their news this way, according to a new Gallup survey.

Currently, 40% of Americans say they trust online news, up from 25% in 1998, the last time Gallup measured opinions on the subject. Since 1998, Americans' use of the internet as a news source has grown more than five times compared with what it was.

Trust in talk shows on radio and television each also rose by double digits over the same period. Meanwhile, of the 14 news sources tested by Gallup in 1998 and 2019, CNN and network nightly news shows were the only ones to become significantly less likely to be trusted.

Of 15 news sources measured in Gallup's May 15-30 poll, three local sources -- television, newspapers and radio -- engender more widespread trust than any of the dozen other sources. Local sources were among the most trusted in the 1998 survey, but all three did not sit atop the list as they currently do.

In addition to local television (74%), local newspapers (67%) and local radio (65%), several other news sources garner majority-level trust from the public. They include discussions with friends or family (62%), public television news (59%), National Public Radio (55%), nightly network television news programs (54%), and national morning television network news and interview shows (51%).

Fewer than half of Americans say they trust national newspapers (49%), CNN (48%), Fox News (43%), online news (40%), radio talk shows (38%), television talk shows (33%) and half-hour television entertainment news programs (29%).