Thread by @risj_oxford

Indifference, not hostility, is the primary challenge for journalists when trying to increase trust in news. This is one of the findings from a report we published today, based on new survey data from 🇧🇷🇮🇳🇬🇧🇺🇸

📱Full report here
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/overcoming-ind…
🧶 Key findings in thread

The report shows that people who lack trust in news are not the most vocal critics about news coverage, but often the least knowledgeable about journalism and the least interested in the editorial decisions publishers and editors make everyday reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/overcoming-ind…

The report lays out 3 types of people in 🇧🇷🇮🇳🇬🇧🇺🇸

👎 the ‘generally untrusting’
🧐 the ‘selectively trusting’
👍 the ‘generally trusting’

These groups are defined on the basis of the relative number of news brands they say they trust ‘somewhat’ or ‘completely’

📊 See chart

Our data shows that the 'generally untrusting' toward news tend to be older, less educated and less interested in politics. In 🇮🇳🇬🇧🇺🇸 they are also less connected to urban centres

The 'generally untrusting' in small towns vs in cities
🇮🇳 42% | 23%
🇬🇧 30% | 21%
🇺🇸 40% | 15%

In the US the 'generally untrusting' skew far more Republican (55%) than Democrat (16%). But views toward news are much less polarised in other countries.

📊 Attitudes toward political leaders, however, are strongly correlated with levels of trust in news as this chart shows

Our data shows that people are often more trusting of sources they use and less so of those they do not. Levels of trust are much lower for specific news brands.

🇬🇧 Even @BBC have slightly lower figures (75%) if we compare it with information in the news overall (78%)

Levels of trust are lower for news found on platforms but they vary widely by country. Here's the % who say they trust news ‘somewhat’ or ‘completely’

On Facebook:
🇧🇷 42% | 🇺🇸 35% | 🇬🇧 29% | 🇮🇳 65%

On WhatsApp:
🇧🇷 45% | 🇺🇸 32% | 🇬🇧 28% | 🇮🇳 57%

Many people hold cynical views about how journalists do their jobs. These figures from 🇧🇷:

🙈78% think journalists try to cover up mistakes
💰36% think they often accept undisclosed payments from sources
🏴‍☠️35% think they often allow opinions to influence coverage

More in chart

The least trusting are more indifferent about how journalism is practised

📊 As the chart shows, we find that factors involving editorial practices, including transparency about how news is produced were deemed less important to people who were generally untrusting toward news

📌 These are just a few highlights from the report. We encourage you to explore it in full in these links:

📄 Download PDF here
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/…
🇪🇸 A summary in Spanish
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/superar-la-ind…
📱 Explore the report online
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/overcoming-ind…

Of possible interest @jayrosen_nyu @Rosental @marklittlenews @holden @AMLwhere @ctardaguila @cjimenezcruz @baekdal @jpmarthoz @michellemanafy