A new poll gives a solid indication on just how impactful Donald J Trump was on the news during his presidency.
Since Trump left office in January, news consumption has dropped dramatically, with just 55 percent of respondents in the Digital News Report 2021 poll saying they are interested in news.
Meanwhile, the survey of free nations also found Americans' trust in the corporate news media is the lowest in the free world and is likely driving more and more away from traditional news sources.
Of the free nations surveyed in the Digital News Report 2021, U.S. “trust” in the media ranked 46th of 46.
Cable TV gets the worst ranking. According to the report from Oxford University and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, “cable news channels Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC have some of the highest levels of distrust.”
Trump’s impact on news consumption and “interest” was a feature of the report’s U.S. sections. It noted that a 2016 “Trump bump” helped the media gain readers and viewers. But it also said that Trump’s exit from Washington had driven people away from news, especially right-leaning consumers apparently disinterested in Joe Biden.
“While many remain very engaged, we find signs that others are turning away from the news media and in some cases avoiding news altogether. Interest in news has fallen sharply in the United States following the election — especially with right-leaning groups,” the report said.
The report said: “In some countries, lower interest may be as much to do with changed politics as the coronavirus crisis itself. Interest in the news in the United States has declined by 11 percentage points in the last year to just 55%. To some extent this is not surprising as our poll was conducted after the turbulent events on Capitol Hill in January and the departure of Donald Trump. But our data show signs that many former Trump supporters may be switching away from news altogether. Almost all of this fall in interest came from those on the political right.”
INFORMATION WORLD WAR: How We Win . . . . Executive Intelligence Brief
