Who's Trusted, Who's Not?

Some types of news sources are more trusted than others. National television is the most trusted by some distance -- overall, 82 percent trust it, with just 16 percent distrusting it. This is the case in all markets except Brazil, where national or regional newspapers come first. National newspapers (75%) are next most trusted in the other nine countries. National television and newspapers are also the news sources most used across the 10 countries.

Internet blogs are the least trusted news sources across the 10 countries, with one in four (25%) saying they trust them and almost as many (23%) saying they distrust them. Blogs are least trusted in Brazil (where 20% trust them and 45% distrust them) and the US (25% trust vs 38% distrust). Blogs are most trusted in South Korea (38% vs 25%), Indonesia (36% vs 16%), and Egypt (30% vs 15%). Across the 10 countries, one in two felt unable to say whether they trusted blogs or not.

Only 3 percent name blogs as their most important news source. South Korea is the only exception (17%).

People were asked, without prompting, to name the specific news source that they most trust to provide them with the news they want. The most trusted individual news brands mentioned are usually country-specific television networks and newspapers. The following chart shows the top three mentions per country, along with the percentage naming them. (For more details, please see the country-specific information in the Country Profiles section.)