New data reveals stark political, generational divides in media skepticism. 

When CNN first launched – 45 years ago this week – it was a novelty. America’s first 24-hour news channel came at a time when most Americans got their news just once a day, from just three nightly network anchors. 

CNN changed how news was gathered, delivered, and consumed. Today, the media landscape would be unrecognizable to anyone in 1980. 

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But has this change been for better, or for worse?  

In 2000, most Americans still had faith in the press, according to Gallup. But today, fewer than one in three Americans say they trust the media a “great deal” or “fair amount.” 

Of course, trust in the media is now highly polarized. While Republicans were always more skeptical than Democrats, the divide exploded in the run up to the 2016 election. Here’s the share of each party who say they trust the media “none at all,” again per Gallup: 

Independents have largely joined Republicans in losing faith in the press, although by not quite as much: a majority still trust the media at least a little

The Silver Lining 

We might not be polarized on this issue forever. 

Gallup’s data finds that younger people meet in the middle on this issue: Republicans under 30 have more trust in the media than older Republicans, while Democrats under 30 are much more skeptical than their older counterparts.  

For the under-30 cohort, there is only an 11-point gap in media trust between the two parties. For seniors, the partisan gap is 60 points. 

If this trend holds, it could be bad news for the media companies’ bottom lines that have relied on polarized audiences to drive ratings and subscriptions. But it could pave the way for a new media landscape, one with new formats and maybe less politicization.  

The institutions that dominated the media landscape when CNN launched 45 years ago are still around. But will the trust they once commanded – and the business model they once relied on – survive the next 45 years? 

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