The trust in media in Germany has slightly decreased, but it remains at a higher level than before Covid-19. According to a study by the Institute for Journalism at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Institute for Social Sciences at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, with the support of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the trust of Germans in the media has slightly decreased in 2022. However, it is still at a higher level than before the Covid-19 pandemic. The most trusted medium remains television.
The study found that almost half of Germans (49%) believe that they could trust the media for really important things, either “rather” or “completely.” During the Covid-19 pandemic, the peak was 56% in 2020. Before Covid-19, the approval rate fluctuated between 41% and 44%. Overall, the research shows a level of trust in the media that is above the prevailing level before the pandemic. Only 17% of respondents said they “rather not” or “not at all” trust the media, while 39% took a neutral stance and expressed “partly, partly” (2020: 38%). In comparison, the periods before the pandemic showed a lack of trust of 19% to 27%, where respondents said they “rather” or “not at all” trust the media.
Despite the traditionally high levels of trust enjoyed by public broadcasters, there is currently a decline. Currently, 62% of the German population consider public television to be trustworthy, compared to 70% in the pandemic year 2020. From 2016 to 2019, this value varied between 65% and 72%. With a trust index of 62%, public television ranks at the top of credible media types, followed by local and regional newspapers (60%) and national newspapers (55%). The gap to information services of private television stations (21%) and tabloids (4%) is more significant.
