MSNBC and Fox News were voted the two most trusted American news media brands, according to a new round of polling from Brand Keys. The most trusted news brand in the study is the UK’s BBC, which has an overall rating of 93%.
As of February 2020, 94% of respondents found MSNBC trustworthy. Fox News has a rating of 89%. PBS earned 88%, Bloomberg earned 86% and CNN had 83%. All of the network channels fell in the 70s.
MediaPost, which describes itself as “an integrated publishing and conference company whose mission is to provide a complete array of resources for media, marketing and advertising professionals,” published the results of the Brand Keys survey this week along with results from August 2018, February 2019 and August 2019. The February 2020 results are the fourth “wave.” Respondents for the latest wave included 4,624 viewers who were balanced for gender and political affiliation and who rated brands they watched three or more times per week using the Brand Keys Emotional Engagement Brand Analysis.
There were a few notable jumps through the waves. CNN rose from 69% in August 2018 to 83% this time around, while MSNBC went from 80% to 94%. Rounding out the cable news channels, Fox News stayed consistent, polling at 87% in August 2018 compared to 89% in February 2020.
For comparison, respondents also rated President Donald Trump. In August of 2018, he earned a trustworthiness rating of 29%. In February 2020, that had fallen to 15%.