Irish people’s trust in the news has remained stable over the past year, bucking international trends and contrasting sharply with a collapse in trust among UK news consumers, the latest Reuters Digital News Report shows. However, UK trust levels in the news have fallen from 40 per cent to 28 per cent, with the phenomenon attributed to the legacy of Brexit and to a “toxic” general election campaign that saw both sides criticise the media. In the US, trust levels have dropped three points to 29 per cent, with the trend partly attributed to the “anti-media rhetoric”of US president Donald Trump. In the UK trust levels have plunged most among news users who lean to the political left, while in the US, it is right-leaning people who are much more likely to mistrust the news. Some 75 per cent of Irish people said they trusted the UK public service broadcaster, but only 64 per cent of people in the UK did.

Source: The Irish Times June 16, 2020 16:07 UTC