Trust in Media

Overall trust in the media varies across the 10 countries, with the greatest trust expressed in developing countries such as Nigeria (88% have a lot or some trust), Indonesia (86%), India (82%), and Egypt (74%). These are the countries where trust in national governments tends to be lower in comparison.

Interestingly, Americans (59%) and Russians (58%) express similar levels of trust in their media "to operate in the best interests of society."

In the four other countries surveyed, media is more distrusted than trusted, including in the UK where only 47 percent have trust in the media, South Korea (45%), Brazil (45%), and Germany (43%).

Comparing these current trust findings with 2002 results to the same question shows media is trusted the same or more today in 7 of the 8 countries for which comparative results are available (that is, all countries except Germany, where trust has fallen from 49 percent to 43 percent; and Egypt and Brazil where no tracking is available). Trust has increased over the last four years in Nigeria (from 61% to 88%), India (76% to 82%), USA (52% to 59%), Russia (48% to 58%), and the UK (29% to 47%).

GlobeScan President Doug Miller comments, "With public trust levels in general eroding over the last four years, it is noteworthy that the media has retained or increased its trust in most of the 10 countries in the same period."

Country profiles provide an overview of results for each country included in the poll.