Young Americans have decidedly negative views of news media and journalism, according to a national survey published in November 2025 by the News Literacy Project (NLP). Biased, Boring, and Bad follows up on NLP’s 2024 Survey of Teen Information Attitudes, Habits, and Skills.
Among the key findings:
- The vast majority of teens (84%; ages 13-18) surveyed expressed negative views of contemporary media.
- Teens believed that journalists engage in deceptive practices (81%) and don’t do anything well (66%). This includes giving advertisers special treatment; making up details, such as quotations; paying or doing favors for sources; and taking photos or videos out of context.
- Young people’s top recommendations to journalists are to be honest, factual, minimize bias, and improve balance.
As was evident in last year’s survey, teens with higher trust in news media had more positive views of professional journalists and news organizations. For example, high-trust teens were more than twice as likely to say that journalists correct errors when they happen, and are half as likely to believe that news organizations give advertisers special treatment.
NLP concludes the survey with three recommendations:
- Encourage young people to distinguish between standards-based journalism and other forms of information;
- Teach students verification skills and how standards-based newsrooms operate; and
- Foster accurate perceptions of journalism by challenging sweeping generalizations about modern media and exposing students to high-quality journalism.