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Close to two-thirds (63 percent) of those polled in a recent study from Tier One Partners say they’ve lost some of their faith in traditional news media. Even so, about the same number (64 percent) still regard legacy outlets as a trustworthy source of news.
Those numbers are just one indication of the contradictory nature of how today’s audiences are consuming news, the report says. For example, while 55 percent of respondents agreed that “independent journalism isn’t trustworthy,” considerably more (71 percent) still said that “independent journalists are more trustworthy because they answer only to their readers.”
A large majority of respondents (80 percent) also thought that “it’s essential to have media that’s independent from mainstream orgs.,” and 87 percent of those who subscribe to indie media platforms called them the best source for in-depth and investigative stories.
When asked to list their three top go-to news sources, local news (55 percent) and broadcast news (54 percent) came out on top, with social media (50 percent) and cable news stations (49 percent) close behind. Traditional print or online (i.e., the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post) lagged behind at 32 percent and independent journalism was only cited by 25 percent.
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Older audiences (55+) are more likely to rely on local news (at 67 percent), while the primary news source for Gen Z and Millennials is social media (63 percent). Another seeming contradiction—younger audiences were more likely to turn to traditional online and print outlets than older ones.
While they are growing, independent newsletter platforms have a smaller reach. When asked about Patreon, Substack, Ghost and Beehiiv, considerably more than half of respondents were either “not that familiar” with them or had not heard of them at all. Even Patreon, the top platform with survey respondents, only had a 12 percent subscriber rate, with Substack (10 percent), Ghost (7 percent) and Beehiiv (6 percent) following behind.
To deal with the fragmented news landscape, the report says that communicators “have to show up in more than one place” to have a strong effect—from a quote than runs in a business outlet to a company newsletter.
“Americans want something better when it comes to trusted news sources, but they don’t necessarily know where to find it,” said Kathy Wilson, co-founder and managing partner of Tier One. “This data reveals a public that’s skeptical of traditional news, intrigued by new models, but still navigating where trust really lives in the modern media ecosystem.”
Tier One’s survey was conducted online by Regina Corso Consulting between August 5–7, 2025, among 2,000 U.S. adults age 18 and older.
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