Trust in News Media Collapses Among Right and Left-Wing Voters in the UK

Trust in media among the British public has collapsed over the last five years, in particular among left-wing voters, new research has revealed on Tuesday.

Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that just 15% of left-leaning voters say that they trust the news most of the time, a drop from 46% in 2015.

This compares with right-leaning voters who were found to trust the news at 36% but still a decline from nearly 60%. 

While the left leads in their distrust of the news. The drop among right-leaning voters comes amid accusations of bias against Brexit by the mainstream press.

On Monday, it was revealed that former Director of BBC News and now Journalism lecturer at Cardiff University, Richard Sambrook made a series of social media posts criticising Prime Minister Boris Johnson and calling the UK's decision to leave the EU "utterly stupid", in spite of the state broadcasters impartiality pledge.

​Reputations of broadcast remain high despite seeing a drop in trust and The Guardian was found to be the most trusted non-financial paper in the country.

The findings indicate that there is an overall decline in trust among voters on all sides of politics in the UK. Coinciding with major political events.

A decline can be seen following the 2016 Brexit vote, particularly among the right. However, the largest hit among left-leaning voters takes place following the 2019 general election campaign which saw the Conservatives win a substantial 80-seat majority in parliament.

Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, who contested the election against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, accused the media of bias against the former Labour leader.

A study by the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2016 discovered that 75% of media coverage of Corbyn either misrepresented or was negative.