Newspapers trusted more than newsportals: Survey

A large number of Indians trust newspapers when it comes to news although the number of social media users are high and increasing in the country. People's trust on social media for news was "moderate or low," a survey-based study by Lokniti-CSDS in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung on media consumption behaviour in India has revealed.

The survey said that although Twitter and WhatsApp have emerged as most highly trusted among social media platforms, only a sixth of users "highly trust" them for news. The report, titled Media in India - access, practices, concerns and effects said very few active social media users were found to have high trust in the information or news receives on social media. "Most have moderate to low trust."

Around one-third of active Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter users reported they were threatened, harassed or trolled by known or unknown people after sharing content on platforms during the last year, the findings said. "This harassment may result in self-censorship or a spiral of silence on social media. That's because the survey also found that around two in every five social media users have in the last year either stopped themselves from expressing their political opinions, or at least thought twice about doing so, because they feared being misunderstood, seen in a bad light by people they know or being harassed by strangers," the survey said.


News television continued to remain the most popular medium for news. Newspapers, however, fared better than online websites, the findings said. Nearly 48% respondents said they read a newspaper as opposed to 37% who said they surfed websites for news.