In 2025, New Zealanders’ trust in news in fell to 32% – the same level as the United States. We also have some shocking stats from our polling of our readers.
At Capsule, we trust that you trust us! And we don’t class ourselves as ‘hard news’. But you may be among the third of New Zealanders who don’t trust most of the news most of the time, as found by the 2025 Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand survey.
Are we experiencing overwhelm? Do we need to ‘Trumptox’? You’re probably fed up with hearing, seeing and reading about Agent Orange, so I’ve deleted my angry rant about him (and that royal visit) from this story. (Email hello@capsulenz.com if you want to read it!)
There’s another reason for deleting him. I initially thought this story would be about media fatigue with a subset of Trump fatigue. However, what emerged from conversations with women over social media and IRL is a story of mistrust of the news, and news avoidance.
We Capsule-ites recently polled our readers’ following of the news. 25% of you were actively avoiding any news at moment, 27% were only seeing the news on social media, 34% were reading and watching to stay informed, and 15% were reading and watching constantly and afraid.
We also asked if the amount of news you consume has changed in the last five years. 39% of you consumed less, 35% consumed more, 22% said ‘it’s stayed the same’, and 3% said ‘I don’t know’. And we asked, if the amount has changed, what do you put that down to? 57% of you said ‘too much bad news, I’m overwhelmed by it’, 17% said ‘I have less trust in the media’, 15% said ‘I’m too busy’, and 11% said ‘I’m sick of Trump & American politics’.
Finally we asked if you trust traditional news media outlets? 55% said mostly, 23% said a little, 16% said totally, and 6% said not at all. Golly. That means 45% of our readers don’t mostly trust the news media.
I’m surprised, but also, I’m aware of a few instances where news outlets misreported a story.
Startling Stats
Obviously our polls aren’t scientific. So we looked at the 2025 Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand report – the sixth annual report conducted by AUT’s research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy. The following two questions are about news in general, not separating local from international news. The 2025 report shows that a third of New Zealanders don’t ‘trust most of the news most of the time’. Just a third! Between 2020 and 2025, that measure of trust plummeted from 53% to 32%: a massive drop! A slightly better stat: 45% percent of New Zealanders trust the news they personally choose. Wow, that means 55% of New Zealanders don’t trust the news they choose to consume!
The Trust in News in Aotearoa NZ survey uses 16 questions, most of which mirror the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (based at Oxford University), whose survey covers 47 countries. It’s a great comparator. General trust in news in New Zealand has fallen to 32%: the same percentage as the United States (32%). Wow. That’s lower than the international average of 47 countries, which is 40% according to the 2025 Reuters Digital News Report.
Avoidance
We’re not just mistrusting media – we’re avoiding it – largely because of overwhelm. The report states that New Zealanders “felt ‘overwhelmed’ by the news these days – and felt it necessary to disengage from it for their mental health. Many cited the overwhelmingly negative tone of news – constant bad news, fear-based content, and sensationalism – as reasons for their avoidance.”
• “There’s far too much news about American politics and about Palestine which is depressing.” (Male, 35-44)
• “It is bad for my mental health – especially news which is written in a way that is intended to produce outrage.” (Male, Māori, NZ European/Pākehā, 25-34 years)
• “Too overwhelming with the crises (Ukraine, Gaza etc) and also trying to avoid anything about Trump as don’t want the anxiety and concern I had four years ago!!” (Female, NZ European/Pākehā, 55-64 years)
• “I generally try and avoid a particular type of news. For example, I think paying too much attention to Trump can make you feel powerless.” (Female, NZ European/Pākehā, 45-54 years)
• “I try to Trumptox as much as is possible – I find the man utterly exhausting and devoid of a soul – very disturbing energy. He’s hard to escape currently – so I find myself go[sic] near news generally less and less to avoid the creep.” (Male, NZ European/Pākehā, 55-64 years)
The creep of the creep.
Too much opinion?
The report states that another reason for news avoidance is “a lack of trust in the news” – particularly regarding perceptions of political bias and perceptions of opinion masquerading as news.
• “Unfortunately the articles in most traditional news sources have become opinion pieces pushing a specific ideology or agenda rather than good solid unbiased journalism that just presents the facts.” (Male, NZ European/Pākehā, 35-44 years)
• “I miss the days when news was balanced.” (Male, NZ European/Pākehā, 55-64 years)
• “I actively avoid a lot these days as it is full of opinion pieces and not a lot of factual well-researched unbiased news.” (Female, NZ European/Pākehā, 65-74 years)
• “Most of it is anti-government; negative and left-leaning bias.” (Male, NZ European/Pākehā, 75 years and over)
• “Too much right wing propaganda.” (Male, other European, 55-64 years)
• “Because it’s slanted towards the right-wing parties. We have mostly opinion writers now. Journalists not so much.” (Female, NZ European/Pākehā, 75+ years)
Bias?
Indeed, some people mistrust the news because of their perceptions of left-wing or right-wing bias.
• “Because it [the news] is corrupt and dishonest. They are far left and just nasty.” (Female, 25-34 years, Māori, ACT)
• “The reporters never seem to research anything and let the politicians just make stuff up with no challenge and they have a right-wing bias.” (Female, NZ European/Pākehā, 45-44 years, Labour)
• “I didn’t say I don’t trust the news – I don’t trust news from colonial backgrounds.” (Male, Māori, 45-54 years, Te Pāti Māori)
• “I actively avoid any news of Donald Trump. If I hear any extreme right-wing views voice on the news I am listening to (for example, RNZ yesterday morning read out some pretty vile comments in response to a debate on social housing) I will turn it off. There is no place for that.” (Female, NZ European/Pākehā, 35-44 years, National)
• “Our media is more concerned with maintaining audiences so they continue to amplify the same ideological positions their audience expects.” (Male, NZ European/Pākehā, 35-44 years, Labour)
• “I’ve found the NZ media is pretty hostile to the conservative world view, which means our media is extremely bias and pushes one view point positively and others negatively.” (Male, NZ European/Pākehā, 45-54 years, National)
Another reason for mistrust is a blurred line between fact and opinion, and the marginalisation of dissenting voices.
- “Very biased or opinion-based. Needs to be neutral and report facts from all perspectives.” (Male, NZ European/Pākehā, 35-44 years)
- “It’s all sensationalist and designed to trigger anger or disgust. It’s also opinions presented as fact.” (Male, 25-34 years)
- “Because the quality of journalism is poor. Newsrooms lean mostly left and I prefer unbiased news that isn’t opinion driven.” (Male, NZ European 45-54 years)
- “I don’t trust it to be true and there seems to be a lot of Māori bashing.” (Female, Māori, 45-54 years)
Sensationalism and clickbait were other reasons for mistrusting the news.
- “It seems like it’s heavily sensationalized for attention and is focused on negative aspects that bring out the worst in people, e.g. racism, separatism, discrimination.” (Female, Māori, NZ European Pasifika, 35-44 years)
- “Emotive reporting. Left-wing bias in political news. Clickbait headlines. Narrow range of viewpoints on contestable subjects. Advocacy disguised as journalism.” (Male, NZ European, 45-54 years)
- “They focus on one part of the picture to create drama.” (Female, NZ European, 45-54 years)
Most trusted news
The survey shows that, from 15 New Zealand news brands, Radio NZ was the most trusted news source, The Otago Daily Times was a close second, and TVNZ and the National Business Review received the third-highest scores.
In 2024, RNZ and TVNZ put out public statements about working toward more trust and transparency. Handily coinciding with this story, Tim Watkin, Executive Editor, Audio at Radio NZ, has just written a book called How to Rebuild Trust in Journalism, just published by BWB Texts (small books for big ideas). We trust Tim. An award-winning journalist, he has spent three decades working across print, TV, radio and podcasting.
In his book, Watkin explores how the public increasingly mistrusts journalism (defined by him as “the gathering and telling of news, current affairs and factual information”).
He explains that the ‘arranged marriage’ between journalism and the public has broken down at certain points in history. “But today’s trust wildfire is bigger and more complex than those that have gone before.”
“What we’ve seen this century, instead, has been the kindling of social media, falling revenues, shrinking newsrooms, new technologies, political polarisation, a seismic growth in available information, and more, piled onto long-smouldering embers of distrust. And blowing on those coals has been a rise in sensationalism, clickbait and opinion-led reporting, alongside too many under-sourced, biased and simply inaccurate stories.”
That has to change. “Journalism matters. And that is why it needs to get its house in order. Trust is no longer a ‘nice to have’… without it, the news is broken.”
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has found, based on surveys from 47 countries, that the public has a lot in common regarding what they want from news. Watkin notes what is top of the list time and again. “Transparency, high journalistic standards, a freedom from bias, and treating ‘people like me fairly’.” Also, a survey commissioned by Radio NZ showed that what helped respondents trust the media included ‘accuracy in reporting without twisting things’, ‘no bias, facts’ and ‘correct information’.
“If you see journalism’s trust problem through the lens of a relationship, it all makes perfect sense,” Watkin writes. “We all demand transparency and understanding in a relationship, so why not with our news?” This transparency is about how the news is produced – such as how journalists check and verify stories – and also transparency about how news outlets are independent from its owners and advertisers. Also, he adds, journalism needs to clearly distinguish ‘fact’ (factual news stories) from ‘comment’ (‘opinions’ or ‘reckons’).
Watkin outlines many issues we don’t have the scope to cover here, including consumption of ‘news’ via social media (readers, do you want a story on that?) and potential paths forward. “Journalism has to prove once again that it is a source worth trusting, is the home of information experts, and is the social institution best placed to guide people in their understanding of the world that can’t see or touch themselves.”
“It means rediscovering and reinventing why the public fell for journalism in the first place – what I’ve called journalism’s superpowers: objectivity, verification, transparency and caring.” Journalism, he writes, needs to adopt and stick with these superpowers. “If it does that, it’s got a good chance of earning the public’s trust, as it has before, and rebuilding a happy, healthy marriage.”