French confidence at rock bottom

In this year of presidential election, no media obtains a majority of confidence from the French. Even radio (49%) which has been prancing alone in the lead since the launch in 1987 of our Media Barometer with credibility still at 52% last year.

Less listened to with the development of telework during the health crisis, this media was shaken up this year by the takeover of editorial control of Europe 1 by the industrialist Vincent Bolloré. However, the French, still according to our study, consider 91% “important” or “essential” that the media be “independent of economic interests and circles”. This is even the case for 94% of respondents who cite the radio as their main mode of information.

→ ANALYSIS. Before the presidential election, the demand for independence from the media at the highest

By losing 3 points of credibility, this media of mobility and intimacy finds itself at the same level as the written press (at 49%, + 1 point). While trust in television is also progressing (44%, +2 points), trust in the Internet (24%, –4 points) is back to its historic lows.

“We are seeing a convergence of credibility between traditional media, with a widening gap with the Internet”, notes Guillaume Caline, director of public issues and opinions at Kantar Public-Onepoint. Even if the French got a little less information from the Internet this year (32%, – 2 points) in favor of television (48%, +2) and the printed press (6%, +1), “the trend led by young people (who favor 66% Internet, editor’s note) won’t reverse”.

The Covid pandemic, a subject treated too much for eight out of ten French people

This distrust of the four information media (television, radio, print media, Internet) is prompting an increasingly large part of the population to “put the news at a distance”, emphasizes Guillaume Caline. In the middle of the campaign, only six out of ten French people (62%, as in 2018) say they are “quite” or “a lot” interested in the news, less than during the previous presidential election, when the news was followed by 64% of respondents. But in 2017 we did not observe such a dropout among young people aged 18-24. They were still 63% to take an interest in current affairs, whereas they are only 38% (– 13 points over one year) five years later.

This alienation of the youngest is to be compared to their negative perception of the media’s treatment of subjects that are dear to them. They are thus 68% (compared to 53% for the population as a whole) to believe that climate change and its consequences have been badly treated. And only 20% ( once morest 37%) have a satisfactory perception of journalistic work on violence once morest women.

They are closer to the opinion of their elders for the appreciation of other subjects, such as the Covid-19 pandemic which has saturated the media space for eight out of ten French people (79%). As well as Éric Zemmour’s presidential candidacy, which the media talked regarding too much for 73% of respondents. The youngest are a little more lenient on the transfer of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain, too publicized for one in two French people (50%) and 46% of 18-24 year olds.

→ EDITORIAL. Quality journalism, an essential cog in the wheel of democracy

More positively, the French believe that the media have given “the place » to a majority of events subject to their assessment: the entry of Joséphine Baker into the Pantheon, the regional and departmental elections, the departure of Angela Merkel or even the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015. A certain recognition of the investment editorial for topics deemed important.