The importance of trusted news sources during an election: Vividata

This past summer, Vividata, in partnership with Kantar, released the Canadian Trust in News Study. This study examined how Canadians feel about their news sources in the era of “fake news,” their preferred and trusted sources, and the importance of quality journalism.

In October of 2019, Canada will have its next national election. In any country, national elections are a gripping time for news audiences, especially with the propagation of “fake news.” Trust in the news sources audiences use is paramount as they search for election updates, candidate platforms, and an idea of who they should elect to run their country.

As far as trust in news coverage of politics and elections, digital media is losing out in terms of the impact of “fake news” on trust. Sixty-six percent of news audiences claim to trust social media less as a result of “fake news.” Also, losing audience sentiment regarding trust are Web sites or apps of digital-only news outlets. It is not surprising digital-only channels are losing audience trust, as the creators of “fake news” rely on these channels to spread their content.

Regarding trust, there is a distinct traditional and digital media dynamic at play. Traditional media clearly garners much more trust from news audiences than digital media.

This is an edited version of a column written by Rahul Sethi, Vividata’s Insights Manager. You can read the full version here