A staggering 44% of Europeans and 35% of Belgians do not think the media in their respective countries disseminate “reliable” news. This was revealed yesterday (Thursday) in a study produced by the European Commission.Essentially, the media are considered to be most reliable in Scandinavia.
On the contrary, Southern Europeans (that is to say the Greeks, Spanish and French) are the most sceptical.
A slim majority of EU citizens (53%) and 64% of Belgians believe that their media paints an accurate picture of events.
More than half of Belgians (51%) view the news produced by their country's media as constrained by “commercial and political pressures”, compared to 47% who believe that the contrary is the case.
Regarding the diversity of material, 71% of Belgians consider that their media supply a “variety of views and opinions”, or 5% more than the European average.
In relation to public service broadcasters, 54% of Belgians consider that they are subject to political pressures. Generally in Belgium, in terms of accuracy rankings, radio (with 76%) is considered more accurate than television (73%), with newspapers scooping third place in this ranking (with 71%). For 64% of those questioned, social media is not reliable.
This survey was compiled using nearly 28,000 European citizens, of whom 1,000 were Belgian, all being questioned in person between September 24th and October 3rd.
The Brussels Times
