Social media and search engines suffer from a lack of trust: trust in journalism is on the rise

– The global Edelman Trust Barometer recently published by communications marketing firm Edelman indicates a drop in trust in search engines and social media channels. Only 51 per cent of the respondents from the 28 countries included in the survey trust search engines and social media channels (a drop of two percentage points compared to 2017).

– As many as seven out of ten respondents are worried about fake news being used as a weapon.

– As a counter-trend to the distrust in social media and search engines, trust in journalism has increased globally. Now, 59 per cent of the survey respondents say that they trust journalism (an increase of 5 percentage points compared to 2017).

– Trust in the media continues to be extremely low in the United States, where institutions are experiencing a general crisis of confidence. Trust in organisations, government, businesses and media has dropped significantly since 2017. 

– In the Unites States, trust in the media has dropped especially among those who voted for President Trump. 27 per cent of them reported that they trust the media. Of the respondents who reported having voted for Hilary Clinton, 61 per cent say that they still trust in the media.

Edelman Trust Barometer is a global survey published annually by communications marketing firm Edelman. It monitors the survey respondents’ trust in institutions and industry sectors. The survey has been carried out since 2001. The most recent results were published in January 2018 and the latest data were collected in October-–November 2017. Some 33,000 respondents over the age of 18 responded to the survey in a total of 28 different countries. Finland was not included in the survey. The full survey report can be found on Edelman’s website. 

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