Trust in Journalism Continues to Decline
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If you needed another reason to pour something strong in your coffee this morning, the Reuters Institute just dropped its 2026 Digital News Report. For anyone working in a local TV newsroom or running a digital news desk, the data is a total gut punch.
The headline we all need to be talking about? Trust in news has cratered to a 10-year low.
Globally, general trust in the news has plummeted to just 37%. But if you think the view from the anchor desk in the United States looks any better, brace yourself: Only 25% of Americans say they trust the news most of the time.
Let that sink in. Three-quarters of the people walking past your live truck or flipping past your station's signal don't trust a single word coming out of your mouth. It is the lowest number Reuters has recorded since they started tracking this metric in 2015.
It’s not just that people don't trust us—they’re actively avoiding us, too. This isn’t a slow, gentle drift away from traditional journalism; it’s an absolute exodus.
For the first time ever, social media and video platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X) have officially overtaken traditional TV and owned-and-operated news websites/apps as the primary global source of news.
54% of people now turn to social/video platforms for news.
52% look to traditional television (down from 64% just five years ago).
51% use a publisher’s direct website or app.
Remember all that money your corporate bosses spent pushing "digital first" and demanding you cut video for the station app? Well, video consumption on news organizations' own sites has tanked by 10 percentage points since 2021. Meanwhile, 77% of people still watch news video weekly—they're just doing it on social media.
Audiences are trading the 6 o'clock anchor for independent "news creators" and influencers because they find them "more entertaining and easier to understand."
As if losing our audience to TikTok influencers wasn't enough, the tech giants are preparing to cut off what little traffic we have left.
With Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT turning into "answer engines," news organizations are now forecasting an apocalyptic 40% decline in search referral traffic over the next three years. Why would a viewer click on your station's web link when an AI chatbot can just scrape your reporting and summarize it for them?
FTVLive’s Take:
For years, consultants have told newsrooms to do "more with less," resulting in generic, cookie-cutter broadcasts, stripped-down investigative teams, and burned-out reporters regurgitating press releases.
Surprise! The public noticed. When you give them generic garbage, they go elsewhere.
But until local TV executives stop treating newsrooms like content factories and start treating journalists like a vital community resource, that 25% trust number isn't going to budge.
Tell your boss that you've got 75% of an audience to win back.
