The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer Canadian results were released last month and showed, similar to the global results, that respondents cited their employer/place of work as the most trusted source of information. That was in contrast to scores against government, business, NGOs, and media in general. Summed up, one of the key takeaways from 2021 is that people are more likely to trust what is local, especially now.
Other studies have noted a similar shift, wherein at times, local community news is shown to be more trusted than daily newspaper brands. In a recent study by the Whitman Insight Strategies Initiative and Creative Circle Media Solutions, they explore how the pandemic has affected the feelings and emotions of local media consumers. The study revealed that consumers have a high level of trust for local community newspapers, exceeding daily news brands. Similarly, new data from Totum Research shows that nine in ten Canadians read community newspapers for local information, exceeding advertising and job/real estate information.
High level insights from the Edelman Canadian report also reveal that Canadians’ trust in most information systems are at a record low in 2021. Traditional media stands ahead of the rest with a trust level of 55%, while the latter three information sources – search engines (47%), owned (32%), and social media (22%) are categorized as untrusted by the general population. While all four information sources exhibited a decline in trust, breaking this out by media type may show different results. The Proof Strategies CanTrust Index 2021 report released this past month showed that the declining trust in news media was not as evident in printed newspapers, wherein trust remained steady year over year at 55% in 2021.
For more information on the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer Canadian results, click here to download the report.
