• Among the selected media brands, Antena 3 (50% trust), RTVE (48%), Onda Cero (46%) and Cadena SER (45%) stand out.

• The data reveal a general decline in trust in all selected media, regardless of their publishing house orientation.

The 2025 data on trust in the main journalistic brands in Spain reveal, firstly, a very uneven panorama, where media outlets widely supported by their audiences coexist with others whose credibility is clearly eroded. Secondly, practically all the brands analyzed have suffered a decline in credibility.

Specifically, the source that once again obtains the greatest trust from respondents (51%) is regional or local newspapers, compared to 18% who distrust them, which points to a strong connection between citizens and local media, which are perceived as closer, less politicized and more useful for everyday life. Nevertheless, trust has fallen by more than three points compared to last year.

importantgrade 1: this list is based on a selection of a determined group of journalistic brands and therefore should not be considered as a ranking of the credibility of the totality of the media in Spain.

importantgrade 2: on a scale from 0 (not reliable) to 10 (very reliable), values 6 to 10 have been grouped as "confidence" (gray plot). On the other hand, values 0 to 4 are grouped as "distrust" (blue plot). The intermediate plot groups the value 5. You can consult here some frequently asked questions about the methodology.

Among the selected media brands, Antena 3 stands out, with a declared confidence level of 50% and a very well balanced profile: only 25% of those surveyed declared a lack of confidence. Next to it, RTVE (48% confidence), Onda Cero (46%) and Cadena SER (45%) complete the group of media with a level of declared support above 45%. However, within this group of media, the greatest losses in credibility with respect to last year are: RTVE (-5.6 pp), Cadena SER (-5 pp), Onda Cero (-5.6 pp) and Cadena SER (-5 pp). Cadena SER (-5 pp). Onda Cero has been included in the selected list for the first time and therefore there is no previous comparison.

This is followed by a group of journalistic brands with a consolidated news profile , such as El País and COPE (both with 43%), as well as La Sexta (42%): all of them maintain high levels of trust, although the percentage of users who express a certain skepticism is beginning to grow, especially in the case of La Sexta, where 34% say they do not trust. In the case of the main newspaper of the Prisa group , trust in El País has fallen by almost five points with respect to 2024, while COPE recorded a drop of three percentage points.

Two of the major national newspapers -El Mundo and ABC- have a 41% trust rating each, with distrust levels close to 30%, which sample an audience divided between traditional loyalty and critical perception. Compared to last year, the credibility of El Mundo has fallen by 5.5 points and that of ABC by almost two points.

The selected digital native media present a more balanced, but less consolidated, patron saint . Both elDiario.es and 20 Minutos obtain 38% of declared trust, but also 36% of users who place themselves in a neutral position, which reflects that, although these media have gained space, they have not yet managed to position themselves as unquestionable references of trustworthiness. El Confidencial, on the other hand, is located in an intermediate point with 36% of confidence and 28% of distrust. The three newspapers have seen their trust percentages fall with respect to 2024, especially 20 Minutos (-4.4 pp), elDiario.es falls 1.8 points and El Confidencial, 0.7 points.

On the leave are Telecinco and Okdiario. Only 32% of those surveyed trust Telecinco, compared to 40% who express distrust. In the case of Okdiario, distrust reaches 37%, with only 31% support, which places it as the selected media with the worst credibility balance of the entire list. While Mediaset's channel drops two points with respect to 2024, Okdiario grows 0.2 points.

Once again this year, trust goes in ideological neighborhoods

The graphs eloquently illustrate how trust in the selected journalistic brands is deeply conditioned by the ideological orientation of citizens. This phenomenon of ideological segmentation of trust is not exclusive to our country, but here it reaches levels that reinforce the image of a polarized media ecosystem, in which each ideological bloc tends to preferentially believe in its media.

In the case of RTVE, La Sexta, Telecinco, El País and Cadena SER, trust is especially high among the left-wing segments. For example, RTVE reaches 66% among those who identify themselves with the extreme left, and more than 50% among the left and center-left sectors. However, its credibility drops sharply among center-right (31%), right (13%) and extreme right (9%) respondents. A similar guideline is followed by La Sexta, with 56% trust among left-wing voters, but only 19% on the right and a meager 6% among the extreme right.

El País also reproduces this patron saint of ideological affinity. While it enjoys 57% trust among the left, it falls to 23% on the right and 8% on the extreme right. The case of Telecinco, however, is somewhat more transversal: although it obtains greater support among center-left voters (39%), its figures in the rest of the spectrum are more balanced -which could be due to a more generalist and entertainment rather than ideological coverage. Cadena SER also maintains a strong identification with progressive sectors (60% on the left), but retains intermediate levels on the center-right and right (34% and 28%, respectively).

In the case of Antena 3, El Mundo, ABC, COPE and Onda Cero the status is reversed. Trust grows as one moves to the right of the political spectrum. Antena 3's credibility is around 70% among center-right respondents and 60% of right-wing users, but it attracts 55% of center-left and 41% of left-wing users. In the case of El Mundo (61% trust among the right), its credibility declines among the center-left (42%) and left (32%). ABC also has a broad base of trust among center-right (60%) and right-wing (54%) voters, but barely enjoys the credibility of the center-left (41%) and left (29%). Among radio stations, COPE and Onda Cero reflect a similar dynamic: while they are highly valued by the right (around 60%), trust is notably weakened among the left, especially in the case of COPE (40% of center-left users and 26% of the left), whose closeness to the conservative ideological speech is more evident.

The last group is made up of the selected digital natives: 20 Minutos, El Confidencial, elDiario.es and Okdiario. The first three present a more transversal profile : they oscillate between 38% and 43% of trust across the ideological spectrum, which suggests a lower perceived ideological load and a style more focused on general information. In the case of Okdiario, it is presented as the most extreme case of polarization. Only 22% of left-wing voters trust it, while on the right (especially the extreme right) the figures rise significantly: 49% on the right and 51% on the extreme right. It is the media with the largest gap between ideological extremes, which confirms its association with highly polarized discourses.

A five-year period of growing distrust (2020-2025)

The Spanish media landscape has undergone a radical transformation in the last five years, marked by a generalized decline in the trust that citizens place in information sources. What began as a one-off discontent has become a structural crisis, with media of all ideological orientations facing the same diagnosis: an accelerated erosion of their credibility, especially among those who were once their most loyal audiences.

The drop in trust has affected major newspapers, television stations and selected digital media equally. The data reveal a generalized decline in trust in all media, regardless of their publishing house orientation and the ideological group analyzed. There are no positive exceptions: neither the right maintains its favorite brands, nor the left retains the levels of support of five years ago. Moreover, what is striking about this crisis is that there are no clear winners. While some might expect the discrediting of some to benefit others, the data show that distrust has spread among all, burning progressives and conservatives, old and new media alike.

This generalized drop in trust would not be so worrying if it were not accompanied by another crucial fact: trust is also falling within each ideological group . That is, not only are progressives increasingly distrustful of conservative media (and vice versa), but even within each group, trust in their own media is cracking. Spaniards are not simply migrating from one source to another; in many cases, they are abandoning the very idea that the media can offer a reliable view of reality.

Among the left-leaning public, the drop in confidence has been drastic in the last five years. RTVE has lost 22 points, La Sexta (-12.5 points) and Telecinco (-15 pp). The most moderate decline in this group has been suffered by El País (-12 pp) and Cadena SER (-12 pp). These figures are particularly significant because these media started from a strong position of support in this segment, suggesting a progressive disappointment with the perceived news treatment. At the same time, among right-wing voters, these media have not only not gained ground, but have increased their levels of distrust: RTVE (26 pp), La Sexta (14 pp), El País (12.6 pp), Telecinco (14.8) and Cadena SER (13). In other words, while the left is losing confidence, the right is consolidating its rejection.

In the case of the most credible media for the right-wing electorate, their evolution since 2020 also sample a significant loss of trust among their affinity audience. El Mundo, for example, falls 14 points among right-wing voters, ABC leave 7.6 points, and COPE, 9. Antena 3 is the only brand that improves very slightly among the right (4.9 points of trust). At the same time, these media increased distrust among the left, with very high figures in El Mundo (12.6) and Telecinco (12.5). In the case of Antena 3, distrust grows almost ten points among those who identify with the left, thus consolidating the perception that these media are not credible outside their usual ideological spectrum.

When they burst onto the scene, digital native media promised to renew the news landscape, offering fresh alternatives to the old oligopolies. However, a decade later, many have ended up suffering the same patterns of polarization as their competitors. elDiario.es loses 12 points of trust among the left (its main audience), and increases its rejection among right-wing voters (8.1 pp). El Confidencial loses confidence both in the center (-10 pp) and on the right (-12.8 pp) and increases its distrust especially among the left (+11.8 pp). Finally, 20 Minutos, which usually presents a more transversal profile , falls among all groups (-11.7 on the left; -10.6 on the right) and registers parallel increases in distrust.

Polarization as a driving force: information trenches and echo chambers

The comparative graphs for 2020 and 2025 allow us to clearly visualize not only the ideological polarization of trust in the selected media, but also its transversal erosion over time. As will be seen, this double dynamic -segmentation and erosion- affects all the ideological groups and practically all the selected news brands, although with different intensities and nuances depending on the profile publishing house of the media and its perceived alignment.

Parallel to this free fall in trust, the data offer another equally worrying phenomenon: an accelerated radicalization in the perception of selected media. If in 2020 there were still certain neutral territories where journalistic brands of one ideology could obtain a minimum of credibility with opposing audiences, these gray zones, these spaces of possible dialogue or, at least, of respectful listening, have shrunk to the point of almost disappearing in 2025.

A clear example is RTVE: in 2020, a considerable percentage of center-right (52%) and right-wing (54%) voters still placed their trust in it. Five years later, those figures have fallen to 38% and 31% respectively. While he retains 66% B among left and left-leaning voters, he crashes dismally at the other end of the spectrum, where only 13% of far-right voters give him any credit . Even in the political center, that theoretically more temperate space, he has lost 11 points of confidence, going from 53% in 2020 to 42% in 2025.

Antena 3, despite its generalist vocation and its attempt to maintain a balance, has seen its credibility suffer slightly in the right-wing group and more severely among those polled on the left, with a loss of nine points. It has not managed to consolidate its position as a refuge for the disaffected of other, more marked channels. In the case of La Sexta and Telecinco, channels that five years ago had a certain amount of popularity among the center-right (over 40% and 50%, respectively), now barely seduce 26% and 31% of this group, respectively.

In the case of newspaper brands, El País suffers a B in the trust of center-right (thirteen points, from 50% to 37%) and right-wing (fifteen points, from 50% to 35%) respondents. In the center and center-left groups, the drop is about ten points (from 67% to 57%, and from 52% to 42%, respectively), while among left-wing users the drop is six points (57% to 51%).

In the case of El Mundo, the erosion is especially intense in the progressive wing: credibility on the extreme left sinks seventeen percentage points (from 34% to 17%) and thirteen on the left and center-left (45% to 32% and from 55% to 42%). Among center respondents, confidence falls eleven points (56% to 45%). In contrast, in the center-right it resists with only five points less (from 66% to 61%) but loses fifteen points among the right (from 67% to 52%).

In ABC, the decline in trust is more moderate among the ideological groups that are less sympathetic to the conservative newspaper and that start from a significantly lower level of trust -eight points less in both the extreme left (33% to 25%) and the left (from 37% to 29%), and just three in the center-left (from 44% to 41%). Among center-left respondents, credibility is down six points (from 51% to 45%). Finally, trust in the center-right is maintained (60%) but registers the greatest loss of sixteen points among those on the right, from 70% in 2020 to 54% in 2025.

In the radio stations sector, Cadena SER maintains high trust figures among left (54%) and center-left (60%) respondents, but only convinces 39% of the center-right and 34% of the right, fourteen points less than in 2020. On the opposite side, COPE, with a firm anchor among conservatives, is believed by 62% of right-wing voters, while only 26% of left-wing respondents give it credibility, nine points less than five years ago.

Some digital native media were born with the aspiration of building bridges between different ideological sensibilities, seeking a more centrist or generalist profile . The results for these media are particularly disappointing, as they suggest that the strategy of the right middle ground is not succeeding in reversing the dynamics of polarization. Thus, 20 Minutos, a free newspaper that by its nature could aspire to a broad and diverse audience, has also suffered drops in trust among both left-wing (-11.7 pp) and right-wing (-10.6 pp) voters. Even El Confidencial, perceived as a media with rigor and with the capacity to reach a center and right-wing audience concerned about Economics and politics in depth, registers declines of more than ten points in these segments. For its part, elDiario.es had consolidated its identity in 2020 as a progressive referent, with trust figures above 50% in 2020 in practically all ideological segments. Five years later, its credibility has been damaged by more than ten points among the groups closest to the center-right and right. Finally, among digital natives, Okdiario stands as a paradigm of this ideological divide: it enjoys 51% trust among far-right respondents and plummets to a meager 22% among left-wing voters.