Trust in business media goes up

Readers of American media now have high levels of trust in the media, particularly the business media, according to the Edelman 2008 Trust Barometer.

Forty-five percent of Americans have high levels of trust in the media to “do what’s right,” up from 33 percent three years ago.

And business magazines rank the No. 1 most credible source in 10 of the 18 countries surveyed. Articles in business magazines were considered credible sources of information about companies 77 percent of the time in Spain, 71 percent of the time in Brazil, 69 percent in India, 67 percent in Ireland, 65 percent in Russia, 63 percent in Germany and 60 percent in the United States.

The study also found:

• Mainstream media was still the most frequently used source of business information in North America, with readers relying on TV coverage 71 percent of the time, newspapers 68 percent of the time, business magazines 56 percent of the time, but blogs just 11 percent of the time.
• CNN (53 percent), MSNBC (26 percent), Fox News (25 percent), CNBC (21 percent) and The Wall Street Journal (19 percent) at the most relied-upon sources for news about companies in the United States.
• Fewer Americans below the age of 35 (50 percent) get information about companies from newspapers than in any other country surveyed.

The survey also found that Americans trust business more than any other sector — including the government.