Growing trust gap between traditional and new media
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 03 May 2019

Research from the European Broadcasting Union has found that despite increased competition from digital alternatives, traditional broadcast media remain the most trusted throughout Europe.

The Trust in Media 2019 report found that radio was the most trusted medium by EU citizens, trusted by 59% of the population with half of all EU citizens trusting TV. On the other hand, the internet is trusted by only 32% of citizens and social media by 19%. These were down from 36% and 21% respectively in 2014.

Public service media (PSM) were found to be among the top five most trusted news brands in more than 80% of North and Central European markets. In more than 60% of those markets, PSM is the number one brand for trusted news. There was also a positive correlation between the perceived trustworthiness of national news and citizens’ satisfaction with democracy. This meant, said the EBU, radio and television are indispensable assets for European society.

For TV specifically, three quarters of the sample said that they trusted the medium. In all 25 out of 33 European countries tend to trust TV, 18 of which with a Net Trust Index above 10. Spain and France were among the four countries that do not trust TV while the Nordic countries showed most trust in their TV services. On an EU level, trust in TV decreased by 2 index points as compared to 2017 and in seven countries, there was a bigger share of citizens who do not trust TV than those who trust it.

Over the course of five years, trust in TV has shown a positive evolution in the majority of European countries (65%). Yet significant decreases were seen in various eastern European countries, such as Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria and Serbia.

“The more national PSM are perceived to be free from political pressure, the higher the level of press freedom in a country,” said David Fernandez Quijada, manager of the EBU's media intelligence service commenting on the Trust in Media 2019 reportTrust in Media 2019 report. “This World Press Freedom Day, we should champion the valuable role of our public service Members in upholding democratic values and promoting a free and independent media landscape.”