Newspapers, Doordarshan most trustworthy source of information, shows survey

Newspapers and national broadcaster Doordarshan are considered the most trustworthy source for information by news consumers while they consider the online news websites, private news channels and All India Radio (AIR) as least trusted, according to a new survey.

The 'Media in India: Access, Practices, Concerns and Effects' survey by Lokniti-CSDS and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, released on Thursday also showed that the social media platform the Indians are most glued to are WhatsApp and YouTube, which have pushed Facebook to the third position. Many of Facebook's users seem to have shifted to using Instagram.

The survey was conducted in 19 states, including Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, among 7,463 citizens aged 15 years and above.

According to the survey, the findings related to people's trust in news media presented a mixed picture as consumers of news "seem to be making a clear distinction" between different types of news sources when it comes to trusting them.

Doordarshan is the most trusted with 34 per cent strongly trusting the national broadcaster and 30 per cent having "somewhat trust". The corresponding figures for newspapers are 31 per cent and 29 per cent.

Interestingly, the government broadcaster DD has earned the trust of people but AIR is among the least trusted. Only 15 per cent strongly trust and 20 per cent somewhat trust AIR, the figures for private news channels is 13 per cent and 28 per cent respectively and for online news websites, it is 11 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

The survey showed that 15 per cent each do not trust AIR and online websites at all while private news channels' figure is a dismal 13 per cent.

It also claimed that government surveillance was not considered "immoral by many". Most smartphone and internet users were found to hold the belief that the government monitors what people do on the internet or their phone.

"However this acknowledgment does not mean that they disapprove of government surveillance. This is because when the same people were asked to give their opinion about the morality/ethicality of government surveillance, a sizable proportion of them saw nothing wrong with it," the survey said.

Read | DD, AIR most trusted media as they are not in TRP race: Prasar Bharati CEO

To a question on how people trust in various internet services for ensuring confidentiality of their personal data and internet activities, the survey said internet service providers (48 per cent) scored better than government services on the internet (47 per cent) on trust factor. Only 43 per cent had trust on search engines and 37 per cent on social media companies in this regard.

Asked about the hesitation or fear in expressing political views in the last one year on the internet or social media, it said 19 per cent said they felt apprehension very often or few times while 12 per cent said they felt once or twice. Among the respondents, 39 per cent said they never felt scared expressing their political views while 14 per cent said they do not express such views on the internet in the first place.

The survey also said 29 per cent fully agreed or somewhat agreed that social media and WhatsApp are safe places to express political opinion while 15 per cent fully disagreed.