After being the target of strong criticism, accused of spreading false news in spades, journalists have regained the confidence of Quebecers in the past year. At least that is what emerges from the local section of the most recent Edelman Trust Barometer, published on Wednesday.
The sounding carried out online between 1er and on November 28, 2022 with 1000 Quebecers enlighten us for a 23e year in a row on people’s perception of the media. Thus, 58% of Quebecers surveyed trust journalists, which represents an increase of 8 percentage points compared to last year.
“It’s really a nice increase! says Martine St-Victor, General Manager of Edelman Montreal. It shows that facts, science too, are important for our society. I hope to see this percentage even higher in the next few years. »
More generally, the Barometer reveals that 60% of respondents trust the media, which is one percentage point more than the previous year. Of the four institutions scrutinized by the survey, the media find themselves tied with businesses, but behind the government, which attracts the confidence of 61% of respondents, while NGOs collect 63%.
This is a much better level than for Canada as a whole, where only 51% of people trust the media — a drop of two percentage points in one year. It is also much more than in the United States (43%), than in France (39%), than in Australia (38%) and than in the United Kingdom (37%), points out Martine St -Victor.
The latter is particularly pleased to see that the traditional media represent the most reliable source of information in the eyes of the Quebecers surveyed, 68% of whom place their trust in them, an increase of 6% compared to the previous year. . In addition, 61% of respondents say they trust search engines, 50% in private media and only 27% in social networks.
“When you see all the fact checking that is made in the media, especially during the last election period when we recalled the promises and actions of the parties, I think that makes a big difference in public opinion. We see all the work of research and explanation”, notes Mme St Victor.
The war in Ukraine and the inflation that is hitting Quebec also play a role, according to her. “In times of crisis, we tend to turn more to the traditional media to stay informed, to find answers to our questions. We saw this at the start of the pandemic, for example. People need the media as a guide in difficult times. »
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What worries him, however, is that in times of crisis, anxiety creates a greater divide in society. No less than 51% of those polled believe that “the country is more divided today than in the past”. “The numbers on the divide broke my heart. I didn’t think it was a problem in Quebec. But seeing that only 17% of those questioned would agree to have someone as a colleague who does not have the same point of view on a subject at all, it shook me,” says Martine St-Victor, who sees an alarm bell.