More people trust the media than their governments, especially in developing countries, according to a ten-country opinion poll for the BBC, Reuters, and The Media Center.
Media is trusted by an average of 61 percent compared to 52 percent for governments across the countries polled. But the US bucked the trend — with government ahead of media on trust (67% vs 59%) along with Britain (51% vs 47%).
Trust in media was highest in Nigeria (88% vs 34% gov’t.) followed by Indonesia (86% vs 71%), India (82% vs 66%), Egypt (74%, gov’t. not asked), and Russia (58% vs 54%).
National TV was the most trusted news source overall (trusted by 82%, with 16% not trusting it) - followed by national/regional newspapers (75% vs 19%), local newspapers (69% vs 23%), public radio (67% vs 18%), and international satellite TV (56% vs 19%). Internet blogs were the least trusted source (25% vs 23%) – with one in two unable to say whether they trusted them.
TV was also seen as the most 'important' news source (56%) followed by Newspapers (21%), internet (9%) and radio (9%).
One in four (28%) reported abandoning a news source over the last year after losing trust in its content.
A total of 10,230 adults were questioned by GlobeScan in the UK, USA, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, and South Korea in March and April.
Other key findings included:
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Strong demand across all countries and ages for news: seven in ten (72%) follow news closely every day — including two in three (67%) in the 18-24 age range.
• Two in three people believe news is reported accurately (65%), but more than half (57%) believe governments interfere too much with the media and only 42 percent think journalists can report freely. People are divided on whether the media covers all sides of a story, with 41 percent disagreeing.
• Nigerians believed most strongly that government interferes too much in the media (75%) followed by South Korea (71%), Brazil (64%), Indonesia (59%), Britain (58%), India (56%), and the US (52%).
• Three of four (77%) prefer to check several news sources instead of relying on just one, especially Internet users.
• More men (76%) than women (69%) said they followed the news closely every day.
• Trust in media has increased overall over the last four years — in Britain up from 29 percent to 47 percent and in the US from 52 percent to 59 percent.
• Younger people use online sources most, being the first choice among 19 percent aged between 18 and 24 compared to just 3 percent in the 55-64 age range. But 56 percent overall valued the opportunity to obtain news online — South Koreans being the most enthusiastic at 85 percent. Britain was on 57 percent and the US on 60 percent.
GlobeScan President, Doug Miller, said: "The poll suggests that media is generally trusted across the world
— more so than national governments, particularly in the developing world."
“National TV is still the most trusted news source by a wide margin, although the Internet is gaining ground among the young. The jury is still out on ‘blogs’ — just as many people distrust them as trust them.”