Poll: Most Trust Media

May 31, 2005 -- -- Despite the recent Newsweek controversy, six in 10 Americans generally trust the media to report the news accurately, and more approve than disapprove of the use of anonymous sources by journalists.

Fifty-eight percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll trust the media to report the news fully, fairly and accurately. That's up from 44 percent in a similar question in a Gallup poll last September, in the midst of the CBS "60 Minutes" scandal, and just above where it was in the late 1990s through 2003.

Still, confidence is not as high as it once was -- close to seven in 10 in the post-Watergate 1970's. And just 11 percent express a "great deal" of trust in the news media.

There's more of a change in whom people trust more when government officials dispute the accuracy of a news report. Americans by a 20-point margin say they're more inclined to believe the media, 46 percent-26 percent, but a sizable 22 percent say it depends on the situation. The media have slipped quite a bit on this score; it's back near what it was in 1983 (during a controversy over media access to the invasion of Grenada), but well down from polls in 1997, when 66 percent trusted the media over the government, and 1994, when 56 percent did.

Fifty-three percent generally approve of journalists using unidentified sources in their reports, and that rises to about two-thirds if it's the only way a reporter can get an important story. Moreover, while one-third say anonymous sources are used too often, six in 10 say they're used about the right amount, or not often enough.