Trust in news in Switzerland is increasing again

Public broadcasters enjoy the most trust, followed by subscription newspapers. Tabloid media and new digital offerings receive less trust, as Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Trust is particularly high in German-speaking Switzerland at 49%, and 40% in French-speaking Switzerland. This puts Switzerland above the global average of around 40 percent. In previous years, confidence had fallen for three years in a row.

There is little trust in AI-supported news worldwide. Only around a quarter of respondents are interested in AI functions such as automatic summaries or translations. Younger people under the age of 35 show greater interest in chatbots and personalized reading styles than older users.

The economic situation of the media remains tense. Nevertheless, 22% of Swiss respondents said that they would pay for online news - an increase of 5 percentage points. Worldwide, the willingness to pay is 18 percent.

Highest level of news avoiders

At the same time, the number of people in the country who deliberately avoid news has risen. The figure is now 39 percent. This puts Switzerland almost exactly at the global average of 40% - a record high.

In 2017, only 29% of respondents worldwide deliberately avoided the news at least sometimes. The reason often given was that news consumption has a negative impact on the emotional state or that people are overwhelmed by the sheer volume.

The Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has been collecting data from 48 countries on the shift from analog to digital news consumption since 2012. Around 2,000 people were surveyed at the end of January and beginning of February.