The report is based on 100 interviews conducted in Brazil, India, the United Kingdom and the United States between Dece
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 4:33 am
For many citizens, the trust they place in media sources serves as an “institutional economizer” in the search for information, eliminating the need to verify information themselves. But a growing percentage of the population no longer trusts traditional sources of information, and it is less clear by what criteria these citizens trust or distrust a source. Evarestos Pimplis and Louise Faudeux, MediaLab of Information A Reuters Institute report qualitatively examines how audiences who don’t trust the medianavigate the digital information environment, and in particular how they interpret the information they find on social media, messaging apps or search engines.
It focuses on “ generally distrustful” individuals, those who have lower-than-average trust in news and lower-than-average interest in politics. The respondents were regular users of three platforms: Facebook, WhatsApp and Google . The study offers insights for media outlets on strategies to reach distrustful audiences and build trust. How do “generally distrustful” users use platforms? Reuters’ Trust in News Project research focuses largely on the relationship between news attitudes twitter data and underlying political variables.
Many of those who trust the news they see least do so out of indifference or disconnection from politics , news and journalism. These groups are exposed to less news, trust fewer sources and are less informed about journalism. At the same time, digital platforms such as social media, search engines and messaging apps play a vital role in providing access to information for those with low interest in current events. These individuals may be more impacted by the way platforms organize and present information. What do these users think about the information on the platforms? Most respondents did not express a particular desire to access news.
They reported using digital platforms mainly to stay in touch with friends and family or to search for other types of information that they considered more relevant to daily life. Some respondents reported occasionally seeing news on the platforms, which seems to suit them because they do not particularly enjoy news. The content they were most often exposed to was limited to celebrity news, likely fueling the perception of news as irrelevant and disconnected from their lives. The lack of trust among respondents is largely linked to skepticism or even cynicism towards the news media and the perception of information as unpleasant , painful and even harmful .
It focuses on “ generally distrustful” individuals, those who have lower-than-average trust in news and lower-than-average interest in politics. The respondents were regular users of three platforms: Facebook, WhatsApp and Google . The study offers insights for media outlets on strategies to reach distrustful audiences and build trust. How do “generally distrustful” users use platforms? Reuters’ Trust in News Project research focuses largely on the relationship between news attitudes twitter data and underlying political variables.
Many of those who trust the news they see least do so out of indifference or disconnection from politics , news and journalism. These groups are exposed to less news, trust fewer sources and are less informed about journalism. At the same time, digital platforms such as social media, search engines and messaging apps play a vital role in providing access to information for those with low interest in current events. These individuals may be more impacted by the way platforms organize and present information. What do these users think about the information on the platforms? Most respondents did not express a particular desire to access news.
They reported using digital platforms mainly to stay in touch with friends and family or to search for other types of information that they considered more relevant to daily life. Some respondents reported occasionally seeing news on the platforms, which seems to suit them because they do not particularly enjoy news. The content they were most often exposed to was limited to celebrity news, likely fueling the perception of news as irrelevant and disconnected from their lives. The lack of trust among respondents is largely linked to skepticism or even cynicism towards the news media and the perception of information as unpleasant , painful and even harmful .