Trust in the mainstream news media has been declining for decades — now, especially among Republicans and increasingly youth. Will this slide in confidence continue or can trust be regained?

In Gallup’s ranking of 10 U.S. civic and political institutions in 2024, mass media and Congress were the least trusted. Less than one-third of Americans indicate that they believe what the media tells them. This marks a record low in this country.

In the United States, an average of 2.5 newspapers are closing every week. Nearly a third of local print publications have folded since 2005. According to a report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, 2,900 dailies and weeklies have gone under over the last two decades.

The importance of this trend stems from the power of the media, aka the “fourth branch of government.” The media can serve both as a vital component of democratic governance and a bulwark of civil society, checking the reach of the state.

Unavoidably, the media shapes how we perceive the world around us. While the media does not determine what we think, it can prompt what we think about.

So, too, the media is anything but impartial. There is no immaculate perception. Balance lies in the eye of the beholder. Diverse opinions strengthen plural democracy.

A combination of factors explains the news media’s fall from grace.

A climate of political polarization and right-wing disinformation undermine the credibility of the media. A gulf separates leading mainstream daily newspapers, TV networks, CNN and NPR, on the one side, and Fox News, OANN, Breitbart and the Daily Wire, on the other. Common ground appears to be lacking.

Although the internet and social media were initially heralded as a boon for democratization, big-tech social media platforms have primarily advantaged their owners, major stockholders and advertisers.

Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, purchased Twitter (renamed X) and has used it to propagate President-elect Trump’s agenda for dismantling the “deep state.” Mr. Trump has denigrated reporters as “the enemy of the people” and brought lawsuits against news outlets that resist championing him.

Media billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s family trust, the largest shareholding of Fox Corp, owns The Wall Street Journal.

Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, and Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, control the content of their newspapers, as happened with the decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in 2024. In response to this attack on freedom of the press, several staff members resigned in protest.

Subject to a defamation lawsuit, ABC News, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Company, pledged to donate $15 million to a subsidiary charity associated with Mr. Trump’s foundation and museum.

With newspaper sales plummeting and fierce political pressures on the traditional media, self-censorship is afoot. What Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale, calls “anticipatory obedience” can be a harbinger of authoritarian populism.

In sum, democratic backsliding, technological innovations using anonymous social media algorithms and artificial intelligence, and corporate muscle are driving mistrust of the press.

Is there a way to escape this quandary? I have five suggestions.

First, expand fact-checking by nonprofits like FactCheck.org, PolitiFact and MediaWise.

Second, shore up investigative journalism. This reportage exposes malpractices and misconduct.

Third, educate high-school students in news literacy. Teach them how to determine the veracity of stories gleaned from numerous sources. The curriculum would integrate, among other subjects, ethics, law and technology. And the classroom could serve as a training ground for democracy.

Fourth, strengthen independent local news outlets. Local perspectives can enrich media content, foster creativity and spark respectful, civic discussions.

Finally, the system for financing the media is crucial. In the main, news coverage in the United States is profit-driven, with few exceptions such as PBS, akin to BBC and The Guardian in Britain. Private ownership of the news is imbued with bias favoring moneyed and powerful interests. Better to provide public funding and to rev up nonprofit media outside the marketplace, subject to citizen oversight.

Nowadays, the news media sows enough bad news. Yet there’s good news, glimmers of hope: The public can create alternative media that transcends both mainstream and right-wing outlets so long as it is based on sober facts.

Jim Mittelman, a Boulder resident and Camera columnist, is an educator, activist and author. His newest book is titled “Runaway Capitalism: The Greatest Pandemic” (due out in early 2026).