What has happened to trust in news in the long run globally?

Book section : Chapter

Mapping long-term trends in trust in news across a wide range of countries can help us understand the changing role of news media in our societies. In this chapter, we combine World Values Survey/European Values Survey data with Digital News Report data to explore national levels of trust in news from 1981 to 2025 across 115 countries. We find that (i) on average trust in news has declined, (ii) the decline is evident from the 1980s but has accelerated as digital technologies became mainstream, and (iii) most countries have seen trust fall over this period. However, (iv) the downward trend is not universal, with trust stable in some countries and rising in others. Further analysis reveals that (v) trends in trust in news differ across levels of press freedom, with countries consistently classified as ‘not free’ generally seeing rising trust, and ‘free’ countries or countries with changing levels of freedom typically reporting declines, suggesting trust has different meanings in different contexts. Finally, (vi), even in the 1980s, fewer than half said they trust the news. Across half a century and countries accounting for three-quarters of the world's population, majority trust in news is thus the exception, not the rule.

Authors: Fletcher, R; Nielsen, RK

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Routledge
• Host title: Mainstream News Media Trust: Antecedents Consequences and Remedies
• Pages: 55-76
• Chapter number: 4
• Publication date: 2026-08-25
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003618041-6
• EISBN: 9781003618041
• ISBN: 9781041021735
• Language: English
• Subtype: Chapter