What percent of Americans have a great deal/fair amount of trust in the mass media?

1. How accurate was your prediction?

2. What most surprised you about this information?

3. What is one trend you see in this chart?

4. What is one reason for that trend?

5. What is one consequence of this trend?

6. Is this good news?

7. In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media?

8. Trust in the media seems to go down during presidential elections and then back up afterwards. Why do you think that is?

9. Explain which form of the mass media - newspapers, radio, television, internet - you think people trust the most and the least.

10. What do you think this chart looked like in 1950 and what will it look like in 2050?

11. How do you think media coverage of the 2016 election will affect America's trust in the media?

12. Do you think Republicans of Democrats trust the media more?

13. Do you think that Americans are right to distrust the media?

Bonus Map

Learning Extension

Read the most recent Gallup report on the media.

Action Extension

Take a tour of the news media (watch, read, listen to the news for 17 minutes) and share with class your analysis of how much confidence and trust you have in the media.