Reuters: Greece has the lowest level of media trust in the world

Censored news from official media has long been a poor reflection of reality, and therefore is not trusted by the majority. This is evidenced by a review conducted by the Reuters Institute.

Trust and interest in news is declining, fear of misinformation is growing, and the popularity of social networks as a news source is increasing. These are the conclusions reached by the authors of a study on online news consumption conducted by the Reuters Institute. Among social networks, services such as TikTok and Telegram, and even the updated Twitter (X) outperform the more traditional Facebook and Instagram. The study covered 46 countries, including Europe, Asia, the USA, Latin America, Australia and Japan. Data for Russia and China are not available.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) at the University of Oxford has published its annual report (.pdf), focusing on how people consume news online. Among other things, the authors of the report studied what sources of information people use, how much they trust them, how this trust changes over time, etc. The authors of the study surveyed 93 thousand people from 46 countries, including the USA, Great Britain, Germany, India, Colombia, Nigeria.

People believe the news most in Finland, least in Greece

Trust in news decreased slightly over the year – the number of those who trust most news most of the time decreased by 2 percentage points, to 40%. Trust in news is highest in Finland (69%), lowest in Greece (19%). A significant decrease – by 7 percentage points, to 43% – occurred in Germany. 56% of respondents are concerned about the issue of possible misinformation and incorrect information in news content – 2 percentage points more than a year earlier. The level of concern of this kind is especially high in Africa (77%), and lowest in Europe (53%).

Overall interest in news is also declining, with only 48% saying they are very interested in news, down from 63% in 2017. At the same time, the share of those who try to avoid news content is 36% and is close to a record level, although it has decreased by 2 percentage points from the 2022 peak.

People especially tend to avoid heavy or controversial content, such as news about the situation in Ukraine, national politics, gender and racial inequality, climate change, etc.

People are increasingly starting to read news from social networks or aggregators

The share of those who first visit the publication’s website or app decreased by 10 percentage points compared to 2018, to 22%. 30% of users start viewing news on social networks.

Younger users are more likely to read news on social networks rather than on publication websites or apps. There are also differences by country: in Northern Europe, the majority of users read news on websites or in applications, and in some countries in Asia and Latin America, for example, in Thailand and Chile, the majority use social networks for this.

“Our data shows how various shocks of the past few years, such as the conflict in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic, have accelerated structural shifts towards a more digital and mobile platform-dominated media environment, with further impacts on business models and journalism formats,” they note. authors of the report.

Note that the trend was recorded against the backdrop of large-scale efforts by Western countries to censor the media space. The United States and its allies are introducing bans on the use of TikTok, YouTube censorship is massively deleting channels they don’t like just for having a different point of view, and the largest online platforms have taken EU increased obligations to combat disinformation (read, with an alternative point of view on events – ed.).

Attack on the social network X Twitter after allegedly anti-Semitic statements by Elon Musk

Disney and Apple are the largest advertisers on the social network X (Twitter), as well as IBM, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate have suspended advertising on the platform due to anti-Semitic messages, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

Previously, the non-profit organization Media Matters for America published an investigation into how several large companies advertised on X next to content promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In addition, advertising posts end up on the accounts of Holocaust deniers, neo-Nazis, and pro-murder LGBT+ advocates.

X owner Elon Musk has also been criticized for supporting anti-Semitic rhetoric. X CEO Linda Yaccarino said that “X has always been very clear about the company’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination.” Musk himself announced his intentions to file a “thermonuclear” lawsuit against all organizations that opposed the social network because of his statement.

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