“Emotional trust” in news organizations is meaningfully linked to whether people want to pay to receive news coverage and to how they feel about the state of American democracy in general, a report from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Gallup finds.

For the report, American Views 2022: Part 2 (64 pages, PDF), 5,600 Americans were surveyed in an effort to explore the disconnect between newsrooms’ efforts to rebuild public trust and the continued decline of confidence in that effort by posing questions that distinguish between the practical and emotional dimensions of trust. According to the report, respondents have higher levels of emotional trust in local news (44 percent) compared to national news (21 percent); when Americans perceive that local news organizations do not have the resources to report the news accurately and fairly, they are more likely to say they would consider paying for news in the future; and few Americans have favorable opinions of the media (26 percent), the lowest level on record.

“This data offers further evidence that sustainable journalism begins and ends with trust,” said Knight Foundation president Alberto Ibargüen. “We believe a citizenry that trusts the news is more informed, more engaged, and better prepared to participate meaningfully in our democracy.” 

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