Survey: CNN, Fox the most divisive US news outlets
July 23, 2024
America’s trust in the media has plateaued over the last few years with only around one-in-three Americans saying they trust the news.
Harrison & Hunter Agency Partners, the digital PR & content marketing agency, visualised the percentage of Americans who trust (or distrust) various news organisations. Data is sourced from a 2024 YouGov survey commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
CNN & Fox Are the Most Divisive News Outlets
Local TV stations and newspapers are still Americans’ most trusted news organisations, despite the gutting of local news outlets over the last decade.
| Brand | Trust | Neither | Don’t Trust |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📺 Local television news | 62% | 21% | 17% |
| 📰 Local newspapers | 58% | 24% | 18% |
| 🅰️ ABC News | 52% | 20% | 28% |
| 🌍 BBC News | 52% | 25% | 23% |
| 📺 CBS News | 52% | 20% | 28% |
| 🗽 New York Times | 50% | 20% | 30% |
| 📺 NBC/MSNBC News | 49% | 18% | 32% |
| 💼 Wall Street Journal | 49% | 26% | 25% |
| 📺 CNN | 48% | 15% | 37% |
| 📻 NPR News | 47% | 23% | 29% |
| USA Today | 47% | 27% | 27% |
| 🏛️ Washington Post | 46% | 23% | 31% |
| 🦊 Fox News | 43% | 15% | 43% |
| 🌐 Yahoo! News | 40% | 29% | 30% |
| 📰 HuffPost | 39% | 28% | 32% |
Note: Figures are rounded and may not sum to 100.
Meanwhile, broadcasters ABC, BBC, and CBS are also more trusted than not for at least half of those surveyed. Print and digital newspaper The New York Times also managed a 50 per cent trust rating—the only named newspaper to do so.
Towards the bottom of this sample of companies, HuffPost is the least trusted (39 per cent) news brand. In 2012, the organisation was the first commercially-run US digital news website to win a Pulitzer Prize. In 2015 ownership moved when Verizon acquired AOL (which owned HuffPost). As of 2020, the company is now by Buzzfeed.
Fox News is the most polarising brand listed, with an equal 43 per cent share for ‘trust’ and ‘don’t trust’. It is also the only listed outlet where more than 40 per cent of those surveyed didn’t trust it.
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