Increased Trust in Journalism: An Opportunity for Local Newspapers?
After decades of declining trust in news media, a new survey shows that since last year, trust in the press, especially local journalism, has increased.
(Source: Poynter.org)
A Poynter Media survey found that 76% of Americans have "a great deal of trust" in local television, and 73% trust in local newspapers. This contrasts with 55% of people who trust national television networks, 59% of people who trust national newspapers, and 47% of people who trust online newspapers.
The divide in attitudes toward local and national news is particularly stark among Republicans: 71% said they trust local television news, 43 percentage points higher than those who trust national television. Similarly, 62% of Republicans said they trust local newspapers, 33 percentage points higher than the rate for national newspapers.
These findings are reminiscent of the paradox that Americans disapprove of Congress, but support their lawmakers. Just as members of Congress serve their constituents and bring money to their states, local newspapers provide useful information to local people, said Jason Reifler, a political scientist at the University of Exeter in England and co-author of the Poynter study.
Reifler, along with Brendan Nyhan of the University of Michigan and Andrew Guess of Princeton University, surveyed 2,000 people to get the above results.
These findings really underscore that local and national journalism are different, and that the public perceives them differently, said Joy Mayer, director of the Trust in Journalism Project.
"Most local journalists don't cover national political issues. They cover school sports, local businesses, education, and crime that affects the local community."
According to Poynter's research, trust in local journalism is as high as Gallup recorded in 1976 — with 72% of respondents trusting all forms of media — when questions about trust in journalism began four years earlier.
“Anyone who says people don’t trust the media isn’t looking closely. Trust is based on experience, and people have had deep and long-standing experiences with local news publishers,” said David Chavern, president and CEO of the News Media Alliance.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the press for reporting fake news, trust in all forms of journalism has increased since a Poynter survey in November 2017. At that time, only 54% of respondents expressed “a great deal of trust” in the press, compared to 49% in a previous survey just eight months earlier.
Gallup's previous survey in September 2016, during the US presidential election, recorded 32% of respondents trusting the press, but after 1 year, in September 2017, this rate increased to 41%.
“It’s dangerous to think that being a Republican means hating the press or being harsh on the press,” said Nyhan, co-author of the study. “The survey found that attitudes toward local journalism are not influenced by political party.
“When the media reports on things that people experience in their daily lives, they feel that the information is accurate,” said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York. “When people watch, hear, or read information from the White House briefing room, they are less aware of the nature of the press than they are of their feelings about politics or about the president.”
The findings from this new Poynter survey on local news could help news organizations find readers/viewers to increase advertising revenue in the current climate of news organizations struggling to survive.
"We all wonder about the future of local newspapers, which are difficult to compete on a large scale but also vulnerable to the impact of trust issues in journalism," said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute in Washington, DC.