By: E&P Staff The United States and United Kingdom are rarities in the world--nations where the public trusts the government more than it does the media. And in the U.S. the most trusted source, according to a new study, is Fox News.
In 10 countries around the globe, 61% of respondents trust media vs. 52% who trust government, according to a poll conducted for Reuters, the BBC, and The Media Center. But government was ahead of media on trust in the U.S. (67%-59%) and United Kingdom (51%-47%).
Trust in media was highest in Nigeria (88% vs. 34% government), followed by Indonesia (86% vs. 71%) and India (82% vs. 66%).
Asked to name the news source they most trusted, without any prompting, 59% of Egyptians said Al Jazeera, 32% of Britons said the BBC, and 11% percent of Americans said Fox News, each leading their respective nations, although the U.S. numbers were all low.
The most trusted news brands globally were the BBC, Britain's publicly funded broadcaster, and CNN, which is owned by the world's biggest media conglomerate, Time Warner Inc.
The survey also found that lack of trust is driving consumers to switch news providers. "While some 72% of respondents characterized themselves as keen news followers, almost three in 10 people have abandoned a media source over the past year due to a lack of trust in its content," noted a statement accompanying the poll results.
National TV was the most trusted news source overall (trusted by 82%), followed by national/regional newspapers (75%), local newspapers (69%), public radio (67%), and international satellite TV (56%). Blogs were the least trusted source (25%).
TV was also seen as the most "important" news source (56%), followed by newspapers (21%), and the Internet and radio (both 9%).
Another key finding: Two of three people believe news is reported accurately (65%), but more than half (57%) believe governments interfere too much with the media and only 42% think journalists can report freely. People are divided on whether the media covers all sides of a story, with 41% disagreeing.
A total of 10,230 adults were questioned by GlobeScan in the U.K., U.S., Brazil, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, and South Korea.
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