Frans Timmermans, first vice-president of the European Commission, said late last week that the freedom to receive and impart information and the pluralism of the media were enshrined in the EU\u2019s Charter of Fundamental Rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have very good reasons for that: freedom of the media is the backbone of the values on which this Union is built. A free and pluralist media is the watchdog in our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey, published last Thursday, was conducted by Eurobarometer on behalf of the European Commission. Almost 28,000 citizens from all social categories across the EU\u2019s 28 member states participated.<\/p>\n
\nAidan White, director and chief executive of the Ethical Journalism Network, said greater investment and more resources are needed to ensure quality journalism to allow the media to function as society\u2019s \u201cwatchdog\u201d. Read the full story below<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Mr Timmermans, a former Dutch foreign affairs minister, said the issue of media pluralism and democracy, in a \u201cpost-truth\u201d world \u2013 a term recently enshrined in the Oxford English Dictionary \u2013 \u201chas become even more topical given global developments and given some of the elections and referendum campaigns that we have seen, where the use of information and disinformation played a huge role\u201d.<\/p>\n
The survey found that low levels of trust in traditional media were more acute in southern countries such as Greece (26 per cent), France (34 per cent) and Spain (38 per cent) \u2013\u00a0 with the exception of Portugal (73 per cent) \u2013 especially among the least well off and least educated.<\/p>\n
However, in Scandinavian countries a much higher proportion of citizens trusted their national media \u2013 with Finland at 88 per cent, Sweden and Denmark at 77 per cent, and other northern countries such as The Netherlands at 73 per cent, and Germany and Austria at 72 per cent.<\/p>\n
In Ireland, 61 per cent of respondents believed their media provided trustworthy information, but only 44 per cent of citizens in the United Kingdom had faith in their media outlets.<\/p>\n
The survey was conducted between September and October, after the UK Brexit vote, but before the election of US President-elect Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Traditional journalism is in decline. The media has been accused of bias \u2013 against Brexit and Trump \u2013 and mocked for getting both votes wrong.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the use of social and other online media, including \u201cfake news websites\u201d, is on the rise, especially among the young.<\/p>\n
G\u00fcnther Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, stressed: \u201cquality and fact-based journalism are essential to our democracies\u201d.<\/p>\n
The survey results echo a trend already observed in the US where, according to a survey by Gallup this month, \u201ca majority of registered voters (52 per cent) say election media bias favours Clinton\u201d, while an earlier poll in September revealed that Americans\u2019 trust and confidence in the mass media \u201cto report the news fully, accurately and fairly\u201d had dropped to its lowest level at 32 per cent.<\/p>\n
Credit: European Commission<\/p><\/div>\n
European citizens not only showed low levels of trust in their national media, but also raised concerns about the rise of hate speech online, the Eurobarometer report found.<\/p>\n
Although a majority of respondents (55 per cent) think social media is not a reliable source of information \u2013 the figure is much higher in Sweden (80 per cent), the Netherlands (73 per cent) and Finland (68 per cent) \u2013 53 per cent said they follow debates on social media. \u201cFor example, by reading articles on the Internet or through online social networks or blogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among those active on social media, a large majority (75 per cent) had \u201cheard, read, seen or themselves experienced cases where abuse, hate speech or threats are directed at journalists\/bloggers\/people\u201d. As a result, almost half of them (48 per cent) said that they are discouraged from engaging in online debates.<\/p>\n
V\u011bra Jourov\u00e1, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said: \u201ccitizens need to feel safe expressing themselves in the online environment and journalists must be able to go about their work free of interference\u201d.<\/p>\n
The second Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights, where EU officials, NGOs, journalists, media representatives, companies and academics gathered to discuss the topic of Media Pluralism and Democracy<\/em>, was led by Mr Timmermans, Mr Oettinger, and Ms Jourov\u00e1, at the European Commission in Brussels.<\/p>\n
Its conclusions, on \u201cthe key role in democratic societies of a free and pluralist media, and in particular digital media\u201d, are to be published this week.<\/p>\n
The report concluded that \u201cin the eyes of Europeans, there is still considerable work to be done in ensuring the independence of national media\u201d.<\/p>\n
By Katia Yezli<\/em><\/p>\n
![\"eu_trust_media_chart\"](\"http:\/\/chief-exec.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/eu_trust_media_chart-1024x694.jpg\")