News Media 'Trust' Takes A Hit

Even as NBC News wrestles with what to do with evening anchor Brian Williams, fewer Americans are getting their news predominately from television, and they trust the news they are getting less than they did a year ago.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of American Adults regard the news reported by the media as at least somewhat trustworthy, but that includes just seven percent (7%) who think it is Very Trustworthy.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) do not trust the news media, with eight percent (8%) who believe the news reported is Not At All Trustworthy. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The survey of 800 American Adults was conducted on February 7-8, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Last June, Gallup asked Americans to rate their confidence in television news in their annual Confidence in Institutions poll. Overall in 2014, only 18% of Americans said they had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in television news, putting it next-to-last on the list of 16 institutions tested, ranking above only Congress (which has a 7% confidence rating). Television news was the lowest rated of the three media sources tested, slightly below Internet news and even further behind newspapers.