Overview

This poll was conducted as part of the We Media Global Forum (May 2006, London) which focused on Trust. Before you take a look at the results we invite you to take the poll yourself so you can see how your responses compare.

More people trust the media than their governments, especially in developing countries, according to a ten-country opinion poll for the BBC, Reuters, and The Media Center.

Media is trusted by an average of 61 percent compared to 52 percent for governments across the countries polled. But the US bucked the trend -- with government ahead of media on trust (67% vs 59%) along with Britain (51% vs 47%).

Trust in media was highest in Nigeria (88% vs 34% gov't.) followed by Indonesia (86% vs 71%), India (82% vs 66%), Egypt (74%, gov't. not asked), and Russia (58% vs 54%).

National TV was the most trusted news source overall (trusted by 82%, with 16% not trusting it) - followed by national/regional newspapers (75% vs 19%), local newspapers (69% vs 23%), public radio (67% vs 18%), and international satellite TV (56% vs 19%). Internet blogs were the least trusted source (25% vs 23%) - with one in two unable to say whether they trusted them.

TV was also seen as the most 'important' news source (56%) followed by Newspapers (21%), internet (9%) and radio (9%).

One in four (28%) reported abandoning a news source over the last year after losing trust in its content.

A total of 10,230 adults were questioned by GlobeScan in the UK, USA, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, and South Korea in March and April.

For an overview of each country visit the country profiles.