Decreased trust in news media in Canada, survey shows

Also, in conjunction with this fall in confidence, citizens are increasingly questioning media freedom, as most of them are wary of social networks where they say they have found fake news, which will not help the mainstream media. the news spreads. shoulders with questionable web content.

Data from the Center for Media Studies (CEM) Situation Report and the NETendance survey published recently showed a strong increase in this confidence. However, these data are based on surveys conducted in January and February 2021 and September 2021 respectively.

However, the most recent survey, the Canadian portion of the Reuters Institute’s (DNR) Digital News Report, conducted in January and February 2022, shows a noticeable decline in this confidence.

Marked a decrease in confidence

So, after the favorable jump in 2021, confidence in most news, usually, as defined by the DNR, dropped seven points among Francophones to 47% at the start of 2022 and by five points among Anglophones, where it was at 39%. It should be noted that the confidence gap between Francophones and Anglophones has become constant over the years in this report.

Although the level of trust in Canada has never been very low and some countries such as Finland (with 69%) are well ahead of Canada, with an overall score of 42%ahead of France (30%) .

Several other elements were discovered by the Canadian component of the investigation DNR directly corresponding to this loss of confidence.

Differences between Francophones and Anglophones

For example, when respondents were asked whether the news media in the country is independent of political power, only over a quarter of them answered yes. Similarly, nearly 30% of respondents believe they are independent of economic power. These have, respectively, dropped 10 percentage points in the first case and 9 points in the second, and this, in the five years, since the last time the DNR this question was asked in 2017.

On the other hand, the results changed slightly on the side of the Francophones, whose perception of media freedom was more positive than that of the Anglophones, i.e., 38% and 37% respectively considered them independent of political and political influence. -economy, compared to 27 % and 28 % of their English -speaking compatriots.

Furthermore, regardless of language, respondents who recognized political right were more likely to doubt news media freedom than respondents who were center or left. But the trend is more marked among right-wing Anglophones.

As for the diversity of political currents expressed in the media, half of Canadians see very little of it, saying that all news media in the country are close to politics or relatively close to each other.

When they are asked on the other hand whether the media is more preoccupied with their own interests than those of the population in general, we also get results that tell.

Thus, Anglophones are slightly more likely (35%) to think that commercial interests predominate over social interests. They are 29% to think the opposite. Among Francophones, 29% say news organizations favor their commercial interests over society, compared to 25% who think the opposite.

26% also believe that the media puts their own political opinion before the interest of society, against 27% who think the opposite. Not surprisingly, again, respondents who identify as right-wing are more likely to believe that the media puts their own interests ahead of their audiences.

Lots of fake news

Another part of Canadians ’mistrust can be attributed to the fact that they are increasingly experiencing fake news on the web. The data are worrying because it seems to be accompanied by a certain desensitization.

So, in 2022 (as in 2021 for that matter) 71% of Canadians (73% of Anglophones and 65% of Francophones) said they found misleading information online, mostly about the coronavirus and about politics, when weeks before the survey.

However, at the same time, their concern about fake news online will slightly decrease between 2021 and 2022. The survey tells us that 60% of Canadians say they are worried about the possibility of separating the truth. from fiction to the Internet, a lower three percentage points.

As before, Anglophones (6%, a decrease of 4 percentage points) were more systematically concerned than Francophones (48%, a decrease of 3 points).

Lack of trust in social networks

It is not surprising, then, to see that Canadians have little confidence in social networks. Only 18% actually trust them, compared to 26% who trust news sites. This last data is intriguing because it shows a lower level of trust in the news media when they are online.

Despite everything, the proportion of respondents paying for online news and for access to paid news continues to grow.

Avoid (bad) news

After two painful years of pandemic, which was in the middle of the fifth wave at the time of the survey, it is not surprising to know that seven in ten Canadians (71%) say they have. actively avoided the news. This is a big increase from the survey in 2019, even before the word pandemic became ubiquitous, when this percentage was 58%. More women than men (67%) deliberately do not hear the news.

It should come as no surprise to know that the two main reasons for avoiding the news are its potential negative impact on mood and too much coverage of topics such as politics or COVID-19.

Among other factors, we note, in descending order, the exhaustion caused by too much information being assimilated and the scope considered subjective or unreliable. Notably, the poll was taken before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and it was a safe bet that its intensive coverage was also cited as a reason for avoiding the news.

TV is always in mind; Marginal Twitter

Digital News Report examines Canadians ’primary news source each year and by 2022, it will still be television, at approximately 40%, that has won the prize, a percentage that has been maintained since 2020. At 25%, it continues social media networks to rise, but they still lag behind news sites or applications, remaining approximately 27% for the third year.

It should be noted that when we talk about social media, the importance given to Twitter by many media, columnists and commentators seems disproportionate to its actual use by the population, even on the French-speaking side. The social media used by French speakers to read, comment or share news is, in order, Facebook (50%), Messenger (27%), TikTok (10%), Twitter (6%). Snapchat, under the pack at 0%, seems to have no interest in the information.

Among English speakers, this rank is completely different and more widely distributed. Although the first three places are also occupied by Facebook (34%) and Messenger (14%), followed by WhatsApp (9%), Reddit and TikTok (7%) in the last position.

Listening to the podcast, which stopped between 2020 and 2021, continued its ascent. In 2022, 36% of respondents in the country say they listened to at least one podcast in the month before the survey (41% of Anglophones and 29% of Francophones), an increase of three points over the previous year.

The DNR is based on an online questionnaire administered by YouGov. Canadian data were calculated from a random sample of 2012 participants registered with this polling firm, including 526 Francophones. An independent Francophone sample was then completed to obtain 1004 participants. Canadian data were collected from January 21 to February 21, 2022. The results were weighed to represent the Canadian adult population.