Two recent surveys by the Knight Foundation and Gallup show that fewer Americans are paying attention to national news and the distrust of the media continues to increase.
A Gallup poll from the end of January found that voters trust the local media more than the national media.
Other polling firms like Pew Research find a large political divide between Democrats and Republicans on who they watched and trusted for their news.
A majority of Democrats–53 percent–trust the New York Times while 6 percent do not. Only 15 percent of Republicans trust the New York Times while 42 percent do not.
Fox News garners very different numbers with almost two-thirds of Republicans–65 percent–trusting it while 19 percent do not. Only 23 percent of Democrats trust Fox News while 61 percent do not.
Another poll by the Gallup/Knight Foundation revealed that fewer Americans are paying attention to national news now than at any time since early 2018.
The data showed only 33 percent of Americans said they pay “a great deal” of attention to national news.
The researchers of the survey said the percentage is the lowest in Gallup/Knight Foundation’s trend and a substantial drop from the 54 percent of Americans who said they paid a great deal of attention to national news in November 2020.
The survey also showed there has been an overall decline of interest in following COVID-19 and politics. Some of those surveyed said they were having “COVID burnout.”
Gallup says Democrats are tuning out the news after the 2020 news cycle. In that year, 69 percent of Democrats followed national news but, by the end of last year, that number had fallen to 34 percent. The poll shows independents are far more likely to follow the news than Democrats and Republicans.
While national TV news declines in numbers, in many markets, radio continues to garner listeners.
According to Inside Radio, FM radio and primarily talk radio is where Americans and registered voters still consistently tune in to get their national and local news.
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