Five years after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re starting to see how that event has accelerated mistrust toward some traditional news outlets. Yet, As trust in national news erodes, platforms like local radio appear to be holding onto credibility.
A new Pew Research Center report found 54% of Americans believe the media exaggerated COVID risks.
Pew reports this view was overwhelmingly held by Republicans, with 80% saying coverage overstated the dangers, compared to just 30% of Democrats. The pandemic also reinforced a partisan divide in confidence toward accessing reliable health information. While 74% of Democrats express confidence in their ability to find accurate information during a future health crisis, only 46% of Republicans share that view.
Overall, just 60% of Americans feel prepared to navigate a future health emergency, reflecting ongoing skepticism about official sources.
The study also highlights a broader shift in media trust, particularly among Republicans and younger adults. Republicans are now nearly as likely to trust social media (37%) as they are national news organizations, a stark contrast to 2016 when 70% trusted traditional news outlets. However, 66% of Republicans still express trust in local news, signaling a preference for community-based reporting over national coverage.
Among Democrats, the trust gap remains significant. While 78% still trust national news organizations, only 38% say they trust social media as a news source.
The most pronounced changes appear among younger Americans. Adults under 30 now report near-equal trust in social media (52%) and national news (56%). That trust declines sharply with age – only 22% of adults 65 and older rely on social media for news, while 61% trust national media and 78% trust local sources.
Local news remains the most credible source across demographics, but within the Democratic Party, a generational divide is growing. Democrats 50+ are far more likely to trust national news (86%) compared to Democrats under 30 (69%).
This can likely help explain radio’s trust advantage among legacy media platforms. Last year, Katz Radio Group found traditional radio to be the most trusted mass medium. The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found that nearly 80% consider radio trustworthy or very trustworthy, surpassing newspapers and ranking more than ten points ahead of television and magazines.
Additional data from Morning Consult reinforces radio’s position as the most credible news source, with trust in AM/FM rising from 60% to 63% over the past four years.
People have such short memories or are myopic. Those of us who followed the news in NYC during the pandemic were well aware of the overflowing morturaries and leased refrigerator trucks at NYC hospitals and the repurposed hallways outfitted with intubators, the last resort for patients who were on their deathbeds! And that scene also played out across the US in one city after another. One of the best statistical resources was Johns Hopkins which I monitored daily. No wonder the average IQ measures around 95! And therein lies a primary statistic for those American’s being most susceptable to politcal propoganda. They really can’t think clearly for themselves.