Produced by the Auckland University of Technology Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD), in collaboration with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (University of Oxford), the survey found RNZ was the most trusted of 17 national and local outlets by a small margin, with a mean score of 6.0 out of 10.
The Otago Daily Times scored 5.9 out of 10, and TVNZ and NBR were not far behind on 5.6.
The newcomer in the survey, The New Zealand Listener, ranked fourth-equal along with Stuff, Newsroom, BusinessDesk, The New Zealand Herald, ThreeNews and interest.co.nz — all on 5.5.
The results were drawn from Horizon Research’s national online survey of 1058 New Zealand adults, aged 18 years or over, between February 10 and 14, 2025.
A JMAD report on the 2025 survey said New Zealanders’ trust in news was showing signs of stabilising after major falls in trust over the past five years.
Trust in news in general fell significantly from 42% in 2023 to 33% in 2024 and in 2025, the trust in news in general fell another percentage point to 32%.
"We have measured New Zealanders’ trust in the news since 2020," the report said.
"From 2020 to 2025, general trust in news in New Zealand fell from 53% to 32%.
"While the trust in news was showing signs of stabilising in 2025, the level of public trust in news was still substantially lower than before the Covid period."
The 32% trust was substantially lower than the 2024 Reuters Digital News Report’s international average of 40% in 47 countries.
"In 2025, general trust in news in New Zealand fell to the same level as in the United States (32%), but fell below the United Kingdom which gained in trust (36%).
"Internationally, trust in news was highest in Finland (69%) and lowest in Greece and Hungary (both 23%)."
University of Otago media lecturer Dr Olivier Jutel described 2024 as a "crisis point" and a "media apocalypse".
He said global multinational corporation Warner Bros Discovery closed down all Newshub operations on TV Three with the loss of 250 jobs.
Then Google and Facebook refused to entertain the government’s call for them to share revenue made from publishing New Zealand media stories with New Zealand media.
"And then we’ve got this crazy Canadian private equity guy taking over NZME," Dr Jutel said.
"With TV Three going the way it did and with cuts to NZME and media across the board, that does not augur well for this overall question of trust and polarisation.
"These are all sorts of concentrations of offshore corporate power that we shouldn't really allow in our journalism."
He said RNZ and the ODT stood like "bulwarks" against that — a national broadcaster and an independent, family-run, local media company.
"I think people really understand that deep down.
"And as far as the ODT goes, we see on issues like the hospital how important that is to local democracy and, again, how important regional reporting is."
He said the drop in trust of New Zealand’s media over the past five years was "a shocking place to be".
"But the recent results are encouraging.
"I think the public are acknowledging locally based journalism ... that's the thing they really, really value.
"And the cynicism comes from media being a plaything for private equity or global multinationals — that's the thing that really engenders a lack of trust.
"So, we're holding the line and hopefully we can go up from there."
