Trust in news rises after years of decline in NZ. What’s behind the shift?
- Written by: Greg Treadwell, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Auckland University of Technology
Public trust in news in has risen for the first time since records began in 2020.
According to the latest Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand[1] report, 37% of respondents now trust the news generally, up from just 32% last year. In the context of recent trends, that’s a fairly sizeable jump.
The report also shows 50% now trust the news they personally consume, also up five percentage points from 45% in 2025.
These are the first positive results about the public’s trust in news since we began researching the subject at the AUT Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy[2] in 2020.
As we have every year, we asked New Zealanders if they felt they could “trust most of the news most of the time”. We also asked about their trust in the news they personally consume, their views on particular news brands, how much they avoid the news, and to what extent they pay for it.
Many of our questions match those asked in a global study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism[3], which allows us to make international comparisons.
The survey of more than 1,000 New Zealanders is weighted by age, gender, highest educational qualification, personal income, ethnicity and region. This means respondents accurately represent the adult population in these demographics.
What explains the change?
A significant contributing factor to the upturn in trust, we think, is greater public awareness of disinformation, deep fakes and AI slop[6].
The prevalence of such poor-quality information, distributed on social media for commercial or political gain, and the growing public debate it, seems to have made people more conscious of the need for verified facts.
As one male Pākehā respondent aged 35–44, put it:
Traditional news networks and journalists will end up regaining trust, because [there] will be no way to tell whether something is AI bullshit or not.
Indeed, this year we asked respondents where they go to check news they don’t trust. More than half said they went to a news source they did trust, among other places. Only 8% checked suspicious information using a chatbot.
Overall, our improved level of trust in news (37%) takes us back to near the international average (40%) of the 48 countries surveyed by Reuters, but is still much lower than it was 2020 (53%).
Has time made a difference?
As the COVID pandemic and its related social discord fade a little into history, are we perhaps also seeing a shift back towards a more reasonable national conversation?
The picture isn’t clear. There were plenty of anti-media comments from respondents this year (as there always are). For example, a male Pākehā respondent, 35–44, who voted for New Zealand First in 2023, said:
Mainstream media is biased, woke, swings extremely to the left, and is by and large completely untrustworthy.
This distrust is not confined to the political right. A Green voter from the same demographic said:
Most providers are owned by the wealthy and often put a right wing spin on reporting.
But among the almost 350 comments from mistrustors, there was also significantly less focus on the (now disestablished) Public Interest Journalism Fund[7], a COVID-era media support package that some saw as a government bribe in return for favourable coverage.
There was also less conspiratorial sentiment about a climate change hoax involving the entire news media.
Anecdotally, at least, it seems the public might be moving on from overtly polarised positions.
Editorial independence important
New Zealanders have also clearly rejected commercial and political meddling in newsrooms.
Asked this year how they would react if media company managers or board members interfered with editorial decision making, 43% of respondents said their trust in the outlet’s news would decline.
Another 27% said they would consider cancelling their subscription to the news outlet.
Overall, that’s 70% who reject that kind of interference in the news.
Support for professional journalism
Asked which information sources they paid most attention to, 61% of respondents said traditional news media were among them.
It seems a significant proportion also still values public-interest journalism for its professionalism, accountability, verification processes, and the checks and balances on its own work.
For the first time, we asked respondents who said they trusted news why they trusted it.
The responses reveal the difference between those who have lost trust in news and those who retain it. Fact-checked stories with reputable sources that are reported on by multiple outlets are trustworthy, they said.
Female Pākehā, 45–54, voted Green:
I trust it because I know how it is produced and I understand its limitations.
Māori, 45–54, voted Te Pāti Māori:
I trust in the integrity of professional journalism here.
Indeed, there seemed to be a degree of push-back against online conspiracies about the news media making things up.
Male Pākehā, 25–34, voted Labour:
I trust the news because, one, it’s true, and two, it’s definitely true.
A sense of perspective
It’s important to be realistic about any positive trends in this latest survey. Since we started publishing the report, trust in news has been declining dangerously.
While welcome, this recent upturn doesn’t alter the overall downward trend over time, which is fairly steep.
But over recent years, the news media have responded to the growing trust issue[8], and promoted transparency and verification processes. The government has also made public trust a key issue for the state-owned broadcasters[9].
Facing an overload of misinformation, particularly on social media, the public may be reacting.
It’s still too early to say anything definitive. But this report suggests things are changing – potentially for the better.
References
- ^ Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand (www.jmadresearch.com)
- ^ AUT Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (www.jmadresearch.com)
- ^ Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (www.trust.org)
- ^ JMAD (www.jmadresearch.com)
- ^ CC BY-NC-SA (creativecommons.org)
- ^ AI slop (theconversation.com)
- ^ Public Interest Journalism Fund (www.stuff.co.nz)
- ^ responded to the growing trust issue (thespinoff.co.nz)
- ^ a key issue for the state-owned broadcasters (www.treasury.govt.nz)
Authors: Greg Treadwell, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Auckland University of Technology
