CIME Public Trust Survey 2011

In 2011, Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) launched a web-based survey to examine the opinion of news consumers on public trust of the media, available in October and part of November 2011.  The survey examined media consumption and preferences, perception of regard for ethics in various media, and importance of ethics in media to readers.

Of 612 respondents from 5 continents, 52% of the replies came from women and 48% from men. Figure 3 on page 6 shows the frequency of following the news, with the majority of respondents being daily news followers. Sources of news by rank of importance include: internet - 49%, television - 21%, newspapers - 14%, social media - 11%, radio - 4%, blogs - 1%. "North America appears to be the biggest consumer of internet based news while other regions are also close behind. However, in these other areas less than half of the people use the world wide web as a primary source of information. Print media remains important for a quarter of the population in Asia and Australasia and television is still relevant to almost a quarter of Europeans and Africans. Furthermore, social media was, relative to all other mediums, the most popular source of information in Africa (19%)."

Among other statistics and survey results are the following:

• 10% of respondents said the news covers everything they would want to read.
• 38% said they are satisfied with most of the content, while slightly less (28%) were somewhat dissatisfied.
• 68% of the respondents of the survey somewhat or strongly disagreed with the statement that the news accurately reports all sides of the story, and only 2% strongly agreed.
• Print media and the radio received the most indications of confidence (11% and 10% respectively) from news consumers. Television was the least trusted medium.
• 84% said they would stop using a media source if they find out their reporters and journalists prepare their stories by using unethical means.

A chart on page 12 shows the proportion of readers who would pay for reliable news (72%) versus those who would prefer free news, regardless of ethics (6%), or those for whom ethics in the news don't matter (22%).

Approximately 80% of African, Latin American, and Asian respondents stated that the government strongly or somewhat interferes with the media. The lowest government control of media was declared in Europe with 49%, followed by North America with 56%. The survey also measured public opinion on ethical standards of national media by geographic region and, in some cases, by country, as well as opinion on whether international media are more reliable than local, national, or regional media.

Recommendations include the following:

• " To keep up with the current trends, news agencies should conduct market research regularly and give preference to the medium that the target audience favours. This will certainly differ by regions and countries.
• News companies need to take into consideration what the public actually wants and close the gap between public interest and the offered news coverage. Failing to do so risks losing their audience to another news provider.
• Reputation is a valuable asset for any organisation built through a long period with hard work but it can be destroyed easily in a split second by making one single mistake. Once the trust of the public in a media outlet shakes, their readership is at stake. This indicates how important it is to carefully monitor each publication on behalf of the company and make sure that each individual journalist is aware of their responsibilities and the ethical rules they need to adhere to. Hence, the role of experienced and knowledgeable editors is crucial.
• While around 25% of the public is ignorant towards the level of reliability, a significant 75% is there to alter demand for news and ready to pay for quality content instead of free information. To ensure long-term economic viability and sustainable readership, strict ethical conduct is necessary for every news agency.”