People are putting more trust in online news than television news output, an recent Ofcom survey has shown.
The media regulator interviewed 1,824 subjects as part of their UK Adults Media Literacy Survey. Results showed that 58 per cent of internet users trusted the news sites from which they gained their news. This contrasted with just 54 per cent of television news viewers.
Radio, however, trumped both of them, with 66 per cent of listeners completely trusting what they heard.
The report showed that six in ten internet users would describe themselves as very confident in using the internet, but that they are less confident in judging the trustworthiness of a website that searching online or creating their own content.
The aim of the survey is to create a picture of media literacy in the UK in people of 16 years old and up. It follows similar previous studies carried out in 2005 and 2007.
In a section on reasons why people used particular media, a clear majority of people said they used television and radio to relax and keep abreast of the news. News, however, was not among the most popular reasons for using the internet, which most people said they used "to find out or learn things, and for contact with other people".
