Report: Vast Majority Don’t Believe Media Will Cover Trump Fairly
A recent survey indicates that a majority of Americans lack confidence in the news media’s ability to report on President Trump in a fair and accurate manner.
The YouGov poll, released on Friday, revealed that 67% of respondents have "not very much" or no trust at all in news organizations to deliver factual, balanced, and complete coverage of Trump’s second term. Meanwhile, approximately 24% expressed a "fair amount" of trust, and only 4% said they had a "great deal" of faith in media reports on the president, according to The Hill’s summary of the findings.
Additionally, the survey showed that 5% of participants did not express an opinion on the matter.
Conversely, 44% of respondents indicated at least a "fair amount" of trust in the Trump administration’s ability to communicate facts accurately—outpacing trust in the media, which has seen a steady decline, the poll found.
However, 51% of those surveyed stated they had little to no confidence in the administration’s ability to relay information fairly, while another 5% remained undecided, the results indicated.
The findings also highlighted a stark partisan divide, with 35% of Republican voters expressing zero trust in the media, compared to just 13% of Democrats.
The poll further showed that 25% of Americans perceive news coverage of Trump’s second term as fair. However, a larger proportion—35%—believed the reporting has been "too negative." Meanwhile, 23% contended it has been "too positive," reflecting a rise from 2017 when only 14% held that view, The Hill reported.
A significant number of Democrats (42%) viewed the media’s portrayal as "too positive," whereas nearly two-thirds of Republicans (63%) argued it has been "too negative," according to the survey.
A majority of Americans (59%) expressed the belief that media coverage of Trump and his administration should be "neutral," yet only 16% felt news organizations were achieving that standard. About 22% said the press should want the president to "succeed" over the next four years, while 10% felt they should want him to fail, with 9% remaining unsure.
Following Trump’s 2016 election win, 26% of respondents—including 42% of Democrats and 9% of Republicans—believed that media coverage of him was neutral, the survey indicated.
Trump has frequently criticized media portrayals of him, a contentious relationship that began during his 2016 campaign and has persisted throughout his presidency. The president recently accused The Associated Press (AP), PBS, and CBS News of unfair reporting, while branding liberal-leaning MSNBC as "the enemy."
Furthermore, Trump has suggested leveraging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke NBC and ABC’s broadcast licenses.
In a separate move, the administration denied The Associated Press (AP) access to the Oval Office and Air Force One after the outlet refused to adopt the term "Gulf of America" in its stylebook instead of "Gulf of Mexico." In response, AP filed a lawsuit against three White House officials on Friday, alleging that their First Amendment rights had been violated, according to The Hill.
"The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom," the AP stated in the lawsuit, which has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee.
Meanwhile, MSNBC is undergoing a significant programming shift under its new president, Rebecca Kutler. According to reports, liberal host Joy Reid’s primetime show is being canceled.
Reid’s 7 p.m. program, known for its sharp criticism of Trump, will be replaced by a new panel discussion show featuring co-hosts Alicia Menendez, Michael Steele, and Symone Sanders Townsend, The New York Times reported, citing sources within the network.
The final episode of The ReidOut is scheduled to air this week, bringing an end to its five-year tenure as a fixture in MSNBC’s evening lineup, according to the report.
This marks the first major programming change instituted by MSNBC’s new leadership since Kutler took charge earlier this month, The New York Post reported.