People from across the political spectrum have bemoaned the decline of cable news over the past couple years. Networks that began as trusted, reliable sources of information around the clock have sunk to new lows of petty squabbles, extreme grandstanding and un-nuanced moralizing, and the American people are suffering for it.
In a new survey from The Hollywood Reporter and Morning Consult, 2,200 adults have reported which cable and broadcast news personalities they trust most and least. There are clear leaders here (broadcast), but really, everyone comes out looking less-than-sterling.
The most trusted news reporter in America is NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt. He’s trusted “a lot” by 32 percent of respondents and “some” by another 30 percent (note: that means 38 percent of people aren’t sure they trust a leading national news host—worrying, eh?). Second on the list is ABC News’ David Muir (28 percent say they trust him “a lot”) and Robin Roberts of Good Morning America (28 percent as well).
Only one cable news host—Anderson Cooper of CNN—had a rate of high trustworthiness over 25 percent.
Low scorers include Fox News’ Sean Hannity (30 percent don’t trust him “at all”), MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (26 percent), CNN’s Don Lemon (25 percent) and MSNBC’s Mike Brzezinski (23 percent).
In broader terms, 31 percent of Americans trust broadcast news “a lot” while only 27 percent say the same about cable news. (h/t Hollywood Reporter)
