A recent Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission research paper revealed that only one-third of Canadians consider their country’s news media to be trustworthy and unbiased. The Public Opinion Research Tracker, reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, noted that Canadians’ impressions of the quality, variety, depth of content, and trust in media are relatively weak. The survey on which the report is based was conducted by Ipsos Limited.
According to the report, only 36 percent of respondents believe that media provides trustworthy information, and the same percentage feels that news programming offers a variety of perspectives. Furthermore, 37 percent stated they are satisfied with the quality of information and analysis available via Canadian news outlets. Despite these doubts, 45 percent of those surveyed rely on Canadian news media to stay informed about global events and believe that news programming covers a broad range of issues. However, this trust is not uniform across the country. Confidence in the media is particularly low among younger Canadians, with only 23 percent of those under 34 expressing a high level of trust. Additionally, regional disparities are evident, with trust ratings ranging from 24 percent in Alberta to 42 percent in Prince Edward Island.
These findings come after a Statistics Canada report last November, which placed the public’s trust perception of the media below police, the school system, the justice system, and the Parliament. The report emphasized that more than three in five Canadians reported a good or great deal of confidence in the police, whereas just under one-third reported a good or great level of confidence in the Federal Parliament or the Canadian media. Over half of Canadians also reported a good or great level of confidence in the school system and the justice system and the courts.