Belgrade-based daily Danas cited survey results which showed that 39% of people in Serbia do not trust the media while just 23% partly or fully trust the media.
The survey results were presented at the Media Talks conference which was organized by USAID. The poll of 1,500 people was conducted by the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) NGO.
CeSID Programme Director, Bojan Klacar told that the lack of trust is highest among educated people in urban developed areas between the ages of 20 and 40.
“What is paradoxical is that younger population trusts more social media than TV or other national media outlets, and the reason for such a trend is the media content and the fact that through social media, young people see their society more realistically”, Klacar said.
“Fake news is viewed as a problem by every fourth person polled with 16% saying that the problem is the influence of political parties,” Klacar said and added that 15% see a lack of professional journalists as a problem.
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He went on to say that 10% of the surveyed people cited tabloidization and vulgarization as problems, 9% said censorship, 8% said low-quality content and 24% of the polled people said they choose the media that they trust.
Klacar added that the weather forecast was the most sought after the news, followed by communal information and local cultural events.
“More than a third of the polled want the media to be open and take into account the views of the viewers and readers and every fifth person says that it’s important to be able to comment on websites,” he said.
Short videos are the preferred format for 26% of the survey participants, 19% prefer factual stories, and just 7% want to read analytical stories.
A third of the polled don’t know how to access online content. The poll showed that 11% of the population is prepared to pay for media content and would set aside an average of 745 Dinars for that purpose.
A total of 1,500 people, ages between 15 and 65, participated in the survey,
(Dnevnik, 25.06.2019)
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