Who can we trust? Media use and trust in sources

In a previous article I examined political engagement among respondents to a questionnaire about politics and the media. In that piece, the figures suggested that although many respondents both understood the UK voting system and voted, 60% reported feeling unheard locally and 75% nationally. What, I wondered, was driving these feelings of discontent?

I then turned to the data on media consumption to see whether it offered any clues. Figure 1 shows responses to the questions: 'How often do you engage with political content from legacy sources (radio, television and newspapers)?' and 'How often do you engage with political content online?' Respondents could answer: Daily, Weekly, Occasionally, or Rarely. The percentages shown in the following graph represent respondents who answered 'Daily' or 'Weekly'.

Regular consumption of political media was common. 31 of my 53 respondents engaged with political content from legacy media daily or weekly, and the same number reported doing so online. 17 said they regularly used both. However, only 5 respondents said they posted replies, comments, or responses to online political content daily or weekly. This suggests that political media consumption is largely passive, whether through legacy or online sources. It also reflects the findings of my previous article, in which considerably more respondents reported voting (67.9%) than contacting a politician or political party directly (34%). However, although respondents regularly consume political media, do they trust the sources they rely upon?

When asked whether they trusted the media sources they used, respondents expressed surprisingly low levels of confidence in both legacy and online media. The question used a Likert scale answer from 1 'absolutely not' to 5 'absolutely do'.

The chart shows that 54.9% of respondents expressed distrust in legacy political media, a figure that rose to 60.0% for online media. This suggests that many people have little faith in either legacy or online political content. The concerns about trust in online sources raised in my survey are also expressed in the Reuters Digital News Report, which identifies trust and misinformation as significant issues for news consumers.

These figures present a conundrum. While more than half of respondents regularly consume political media, only around a quarter expressed trust in either form. 25.5% gave a score of 4 or 5 for legacy media, compared with 20% for online sources. Around one in five selected the midpoint of the scale, suggesting neither trust nor distrust. That legacy media was trusted slightly more than online media in my survey is perhaps not surprising in a country with many well-established news providers. However, people can choose which media they consume, and in my conversations outside the questionnaire itself I found several people who stated that they trusted their sources explicitly because they chose them. This raises a further question. Does the ability to choose one's own sources lead to a better-informed public, or does it simply allow people to reinforce existing beliefs?

My respondents regularly consume political media, distrust much of it, and overwhelmingly believe social media increases political tensions (over 92% agreed, with 83% believing it increases them 'by a lot'). Yet they continue to rely on these sources for political information. Whether these attitudes reflect healthy scepticism or a deeper crisis of confidence in political media is impossible to determine from my survey alone. What they do suggest is that many people continue to rely on sources they do not entirely trust, a contradiction that deserves further investigation.