On Wednesday, India ranked at 31 when it came to “trust in news” out of the 46 media markets surveyed by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ)’s Digital News Report 2021.
The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) provided logistical support for surveying the Indian market. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s study focused on trust in news and featured India for the first time in its main report.
According to the study, 73 per cent of the respondents in India use smartphones to access news, while 82 per cent source news online, including from social media, and 63 per cent acquiring information solely from social media platforms like WhatsApp and YouTube.
The highest rates of trust remained in Finland (65 per cent) while the United States fell to the lowest among the countries covered, at just 29 per cent. France was little better at 30 per cent despite an increase of seven points.
“The focus on factual reporting during the COVID-19 crisis may have made the news seem more straightforward, while the story has also had the effect of squeezing out more partisan political news,” said lead author Nic Newman.
