Which European countries trust the media most?

Finland's Prime Minister takes part in a debate held by Finnish broadcaster YLE. The report found high trust in media in the country.   -  Copyright  Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva / AFP

By Scott Reid  •  Updated: 14/06/2023 - 17:15

Report shows wide variations in different countries between how much trust people have in jouarnalism.

A major international study has revealed huge variations between European countries in how much people trust news outlets. 

The 2023 Reuters Institute Digital News Report surveyed more than 93,000 people in 46 markets covering half of the world's population.

Trust in news internationally fell two percentage points, with four in ten people saying they trust most news most of the time. 

However, behind the international figure is a massive difference between different countries. 

Finland has the highest levels of trust based on this measurement, at 69%. Other European countries with very high levels of trust include Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The report suggests there are lower levels of trust in countries with "higher degrees of political polarisation", such as Hungary and Greece. The report pointed to Greece having gone through a year "characterised by heated arguments about press freedom and the independence of the media"

Beyond this single measurement, however, there are differences between news outlets. For example, in the UK, where only 33% said they trusted most news most of the time, the BBC was trusted by 61% and other major broadcasters and some newspapers were not far behind. 

The study also found a large fall in some countries in the number of people interested in the news, again partially due to political polarisation. 

Digging further into the figures, the report found people in many countries specifically avoided the news, with Greece (57%), Bulgaria (57%), Argentina (46%), Poland (44%) and the UK (41%) in the lead when people were asked "do you find yourself actively trying to avoid news these days?" 

The proportion of people who said they were very or extremely interested in news in France and Spain have also nosedived. France fell from 59% to 36% from 2015 to 2023, with Spain falling from 85% to 51% over the same period. 

The report cited two anonymous people interviewed, with one stating they had to sometimes turn away from the news "for the sake of my mental health". 

Another said they specifically avoided news about the UK economy "as it is just depressing".