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A recent survey found that the United States ranks last among 46 nations in media trust, with only 29 percent of Americans who were polled expressing confidence.
The annual digital news report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism stated that trust in media has increased in a number of countries and generally across the worldâbut not in the United States.
âFinland remains the country with the highest levels of overall trust (65%), and the USA now has the lowest levels (29%) in our survey,â according to the report.
It noted that a number of Americans are turning away from consuming news or are âavoiding news altogetherâ following the 2020 election.
âInterest in news has fallen sharply in the United States following the election of President Bidenâespecially with right-leaning groupsâ of Americans, it stated.
The report found that interest in the news has dropped in the United States by about 11 percentage points to 55 percent.
âTo some extent,â the report stated, âthis is not surprising as our poll was conducted after the turbulent events on Capitol Hill in January and the departure of Donald Trump.â
âBut our data show signs that many former Trump supporters may be switching away from news altogether. Almost all of this fall in interest came from those on the political right.â
Poynter, a left-leaning journalism school, theorized that itâs causedâat least in partâby the âextreme political polarization in the U.S.â
âThis study, like many others, found extremely high levels of distrustâ75 percent of those who identify as being on the right thought coverage of their views is unfair,â according to an article from the institute.
But following the publication of the Reuters Institute survey, media critics pointed to the lack of introspection on behalf of corporate-owned media outlets for the reason why theyâre no longer trusted.
Longtime journalist and legacy media critic Glenn Greenwald, who previously worked for The New York Times and The Guardian, said it isnât a surprise that Americansâ trust in the media has cratered.
âThis is an extraordinary (though unsurprising) finding. Most amazing is that the corporate sector of the US media is failing in every respect: financially, culturally, collapsing trust,â he wrote in a tweet on June 24.
Greenwald noted that âany other industry failing like this would engage in self-critique, asking why.â But, he said, journalists and media executives ânever do.â
Mike Glenn, longtime reporter of The Washington Times, added: âThere was some media introspection for a few moments after [former President Donald] Trumpâs election. But that quickly disappeared.â