India ranks 31 among 46 markets in report on trust in media
Premium- Legacy print brands and government broadcasters, DD News (Doordarshan) and All India Radio, retain high levels of trust among consumers, the report said
Controversies and multiple sources of news notwithstanding, India ranked 31 among 46 markets, though higher than the US, as far as trust in media goes. These are findings from a survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in its Digital News Report 2021. Further, India is a strongly mobile-focused market with 73% accessing news through smartphones and just 37% via computer, according to the report.
The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) provided logistical support for surveying the Indian market. The data is based on mainly English-speaking, online news users in India. Respondents are generally more affluent, younger, have higher levels of formal education, and are more likely to live in cities than the wider Indian population, the report said.
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India has more than 600 million active internet users, many of whom access the internet only through mobile phones – aided by low data charges and cheap devices. Overall, 82% of the population relies on online media, including social media for news, 59% on TV, 50% on print and 63% on social media like Facebook and WhatsApp.
Legacy print brands and government broadcasters, DD News (Doordarshan) and All India Radio, retain high levels of trust among consumers, the report said. Print brands, in general, are more trusted than television brands, which are far more polarised and sensational in their coverage, it added.
The same print news brands, however, including Times of India, Hindustan Times, and The Hindu – and newspapers in general, have borne the brunt of the slowdown. The pandemic has hit print circulation and decreased advertisements, leading companies to slash salaries, cut jobs, and close editions across the country due to the drastic decline in economic activity in one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. The industry has also had to cope with reduced government and commercial advertisement spending, which fell by more than half since the start of the pandemic, the report said.
Despite the growing popularity of digital media among younger, urban and educated audiences, television remains the most popular source of news overall. India has 392 news channels, dominated by regional language channels and private players. Broadcast television channels, like print media in India, are self-regulated and often have strong political affiliations and corporate ownership, with no regulations on cross-media ownership.
The increasing use of social media like WhatsApp, YouTube, and Facebook for news has led to problems of misinformation and hate speech, the report said pointing to how in late 2020, Facebook India’s policy head resigned after accusations that the company deliberately took a lenient line on ruling party supporters who allegedly violated hate speech rules with anti-Muslim posts.
With increasing popularity of digital media, the government has come up with new legislation for social platforms, news websites, and over the top (OTT) content providers. New guidelines expect platforms to trace the origin of information that can be misleading or objectionable based on an order from a court or competent authority. Authorities have on several occasions asked platform companies to block posts, including those by activists, journalists, and opposition politicians.
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