Media Vs. Government Sources Of Information

Hi, Lou. Something about the media today, about who we trust or don't trust in the media. According to a poll, more people around the world trust the media than trust their governments. Ha! That is not surprising and a good thing in my view. No nation can survive without a critical media.
On average 61% said they trusted the media, compared to 52% who believed their government's explanations. The poll also shows what we both know, that there is a growing use of internet news sources, including blog. I am not sure that is totally good because so many people believe what they read labeled as "news" is always true. In reality there is even more misinformation, propaganda or incorrect news on the internet than within news sources off line because there is so little editing of many on line sites.
10,230 people in 10 countries were polled for the BBC, Reuters and US think tank The Media Center on the media and issues of trust. Almost three-quarters of people (72%) said they followed the news closely every day, with national TV (82%) and national or regional newspapers (75%) the most trusted news outlets, according to the poll. Online news sources were the first choice among 19% of 18-24 year-olds, compared to just 3% of those aged 55-64. I am not surprised that the younger respondents preferred the web. They do not read news as much as older people and are not as interested in newspapers for acquiring their news information.
But it is good to see reflected in the poll that overall levels of trust among all ages in the media have risen in the past four years. Results varied across the range of countries surveyed. Trust in journalists was highest in Nigeria (88%, with 34% trusting the government), Indonesia (86% v 71%), India (82% v 66%) and Egypt (74%; government question not asked).
Only in three countries did governments score higher than the media. In the US, 67% said they trusted the government compared with 59% prepared to put their trust in the media. Sigh....How can they trust Bush here??? Maybe the activist media we have in the U.S goes a bit overboard and turns off people to it.
In the UK 51% trusted their government (media 47%) and in Germany 48% trusted officials (media 43%). The three other countries surveyed were Russia, South Korea and Brazil, where just 30% said they trusted the government version of events. However, the survey suggests that retaining trust is getting harder. I think the media exposures of government deceit is weakening that trust people had in their governments, and this is good.
More than one quarter of people surveyed said they had stopped using a news source within the past 12 months because they had lost trust in its content. While TV and newspapers remain dominant around the world, many consumers are developing a more nuanced approach to the media. Some 77% prefer to check several news sources rather than simply rely on one, a habit particularly evident online. That, I think, is the proper way to view news, lessening the chance that one site will propagandize the viewer. But Blogs are among the online sources that people are consulting a great deal. The good news is that few place ultimate trust in their content: 25% said they trusted blogs, with almost the same number (23%) distrusting them. Just 3% of all respondents said blogs were their main news source. The only exception to this trend was in South Korea (17%), where online news is highly popular.
Overall, 56% of those asked said TV news remained their first port of call. Newspapers came second, with 21%. The most trusted media outlets around the world were large global news organizations such as the BBC or CNN. Internationally, 48% said they trusted the BBC, while 44% backed CNN.
So I ask you, where do you read or listen to news most often? Do you trust the media more or less than your government?