The most striking finding from a November 2025 News Literacy Project (NLP) survey is that an overwhelming 84% of U.S. teens describe today's news media in negative terms, with common words including "biased," "boring," "fake," "crazy," "bad," and "sad."
The report, titled “Biased,” “Boring” and “Bad”: Unpacking perceptions of news media and journalism among U.S. teens, draws from an online survey of 756 teens ages 13-18 conducted in spring 2025 (April 28–May 12) as a follow-up to the organization's 2024 study on teen news habits.
It reveals deep cynicism toward journalism, with many teens viewing the media as deceptive, chaotic, stressful, or intentionally biased. Only 9% offered positive descriptions (such as "interesting" or "informative"), while 7% gave neutral or unclear responses.
This negativity extends to perceptions of journalistic practices:
- Roughly half of teens believe reporters frequently engage in unethical behaviors, such as making up details like quotes or paying sources.
- Nearly 45% said journalists do more to harm democracy than protect it, and 69% thought news organizations intentionally add bias to advance specific perspectives.
- Many teens also appeared to conflate legitimate journalism with social media content or misinformation, contributing to widespread distrust.
Despite this bleak outlook, a strong counterpoint emerged: 94% of U.S. teens believe news or media literacy should be part of their education, with an overwhelming majority supporting required instruction in schools to help navigate information critically. This echoes findings from the NLP's prior 2024 survey, where the same 94% figure appeared regarding mandatory media literacy.
Experts from the News Literacy Project note that while some distrust stems from real issues in coverage, much appears driven by misperceptions about how professional newsrooms operate, including standards of accuracy, fairness, and fact-checking. The findings arrive amid broader low trust in media among U.S. adults (e.g., record lows in Gallup polls) and highlight risks for young people forming worldviews in a misinformation-heavy environment.
The organization stresses the urgency of expanding news literacy programs nationwide to equip teens with skills to evaluate sources, understand journalistic processes, and recognize quality reporting—potentially rebuilding confidence in a free press essential to democracy.
The full report is available on the News Literacy Project website.