‘55 percent of Turkey trust news’

* Photo: Başka Dergi

Click to read the article in Turkish

University of Oxford's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has released its Digital News Report for 2020.

With the aim of understanding how news is being consumed in a range of countries, the research was conducted by using an online questionnaire at the end of January and beginning of February 2020.

Accordingly, the report is based on the data collected by a survey of more than 80,000 people from 40 countries, including Turkey.

Referring to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the report has emphasized that "even before the coronavirus crisis hit the world, more than half of its global sample said that they were concerned about what is true or false on the Internet when it comes to news."

In the January poll conducted by the Reuters Institute, less than four in ten people (38 percent) said that they trusted most news most of the time, which marks a fall of four percentage points from 2019.

Considered by countries, the report has shown that the level of trust to news is 55 percent in Turkey while it is 56 percent in Finland, 45 percent in Germany, 29 percent in the US, 23 percent in France, 28 percent in the UK, 21 percent in South Korea, 56 percent in Portugal, 28 percent in Greece, 39 percent in Mexico and 51 percent in Brazil.

Most trusted outlet: FOX TV News

The report has also shared statistics about the level of trust towards certain news outlets in Turkey. Accordingly, 77 percent of the participants said that they trusted FOX TV News, which ranks first in the list.

FOX TV News, which is rather critical of the government, is followed by NTV News with 74 percent, by oppositional daily Sözcü with 73 percent, by Habertürk news channel with 73 percent, by daily Cumhuriyet with 73 percent and CNN Türk with 72 percent.

While 67 percent of the participants said that they trusted the news of state channel TRT, 65 percent said that they trusted state-run Anadolu Agency (AA). According to the report, the participants trust the pro-government Ahaber news channel the least with 56 percent.

The report has shared the following commentary about the overall trust:

Overall levels of trust in the news increased by nine percentage points although there doesn't seem to be any obvious explanation for such a change.TV news sources like Fox and NTV – along with critical voices like Cumhuriyet and Sözcü – tend to be most highly rated for trust. Pro-government media tend to be trusted less, though they have higher scores from those that use them regularly.

Sources of news

When the sources of news for people in Turkey are considered, the report has shown that 85 percent of the participants access news online in Turkey while 68 percent access them on televisions, 58 percent on social media and 42 percent thanks to the printed press.

While there is a decrease in the rate of those who access news on TV, there is an increase in those who read and watch news on social media.

Regarding the sources and devices used for accessing news in Turkey, the report has shared the following commentary:

Although online news is widely used by our urban based sample, across Turkey as a whole television remains the most important source of news. Print newspapers also continue to be well read by international standards, though use is declining. Smartphones are now easily the most important device for accessing online news.

In terms of social media channels, while 49 percent of the participants from Turkey said that they use Facebook to read and watch news, 45 percent opted for YouTube, 41 percent for Instagram, 31 percent for WhatsApp, 30 percent for Twitter and 10 percent for Facebook Messenger." (HA/SD)