The sense of importance of and trust in the news media vary considerably by country. In general, adults in northern European countries – for example, Sweden and Germany – are more likely to say the news media are very important and that they trust the news media, while people in France and Italy are the least likely to say this.
Among British adults, 43% consider the news media very important to society, but only around a third (32%) say they trust the news media. This includes just 5% who trust the news media a lot.