‘Biased, boring and bad’: U.S. teens say American news media is deceptive, fake, untrustworthy and misleading
Today’s journalism involves hundreds, even thousands, of internet citizen journalists: They watch what happens in their communities and government and report on it.
And they often have video to substantiate their reports.
Not much more than a generation back, before the Web, network and newspaper reporters watched what happened and then reported what they wanted.
And that, according to a new polling of teen citizens, hasn’t changed much.
A survey from the News Literacy Project confirms that teens, like adults, “tend to be distrusting of news media in the United States.”
It reported that teen’s descriptions of the media included:
- Biased
- Boring
- Bad
- Fake
- False
- Lies
- Crazy
- Chaotic
- Depressing
- Scary
- Deceptive
- Untrustworthy
- Compromised
- Wild
- Misleading
The report confirms “an overwhelming 84% of surveyed teens have a negative view of the media.”
Nine percent have a positive view, ranging from “OK” to “great.”
Forty-five percent of teens said “journalists do more to harm democracy than to protect it” and only 56% believe journalists and news organizations take journalism standards such as accuracy and fairness seriously in their work.
Eight of 10 said journalists fail to produce information that is more impartial than other content creators online, and seven of 10 think news organizations intentionally add bias to coverage to advance a specific perspective.
NLP said, “With views like these, it’s little wonder that many young people also indicated they do not see the value of preserving America’s Fourth Estate. About two-thirds (67%) of the teens we surveyed said they are a little or not at all concerned about the sharp decline in the number of news organizations in the U.S. over the last 20 years.”
The NLP noted young people are not alone in their views: “A 2025 Gallup poll showed record-low trust in mass media (newspapers, TV and radio) among U.S. adults, with only 28% of Americans having a great deal or a fair amount of trust and confidence in the mass media to report news ‘fully, accurately and fairly’ (Brenan, 2025).”
Reuters came up with similar results.
The NLP contracted to have more than 750 teen respondents to an earlier survey contacted again with follow-up questions.
“What we learned from this brief follow-up survey paints a shockingly bleak picture of how teens view and understand journalism and news media today. In short, they believe that unethical behaviors, including corruption and lying, are more commonplace in the profession than adhering to the ideals and standards based practices that are regarded as sacred and obligatory in legitimate newsrooms across the country.
“They are also much more likely to have negative associations with news media and journalism than positive ones.”
An explanation of the situation at the Washington Stand said, “The report found many of the respondents believed journalists were more ‘skilled at lying and deceiving than informing the public.’ At least 50% believe journalists ‘make up details,’ with at least 60% stating that photos and videos are taken ‘out of context.’ … Eighty percent ‘said that journalists fail to produce information that is more impartial than other content creators online.’ Sixty-nine percent ‘thought that news organizations intentionally add bias to coverage to advance a specific perspective.'”
In fact, 37% of the teens did not have “anything good to say about journalists today.”
Their suggestions?
Journalists should start “being honest” and “minimizing bias.”
The Stand explained, “NLP conducted this survey with a primary goal of ‘learn[ing] whether teens think journalists and news organizations these days are generally following professional journalism standards and ethical guidelines.’ The overarching consensus? ‘Teens consistently demonstrated the belief that unethical behaviors that overtly violate journalism principles are distinctly more common among journalists and news organizations than even the most fundamental standards-based practices.'”
So follow the NLP’s own recommendations:
“Encourage young people to distinguish between standards-based journalism and other types of information.”
“Teach students verification skills and how standards-based newsrooms operate.”
And, “Foster accurate perceptions of journalism by helping teens question unrealistic portrayals or sweeping statements about ‘the media’ and by acknowledging examples of high-quality journalism.”