More than a third of UK adults (35 per cent) who took part in a trust survey have said they are consuming more news than before, with a majority (71 per cent) doing so to keep up-to-date with the pace of events.
British respondents said they were “reading, watching or listening to the news more than I used to” because “things are changing so quickly I need to stay up-to-date” – a clear reference to ongoing Brexit negotiations.
The Edelman Trust Barometer, which published its latest findings today, surveyed 33,000 people across 27 countries, including the UK, US and China, between October and November last year.
A UK supplementary survey (see slides) also carried out interviews with more than 2,000 UK adults (aged 18+ and nationally representative of age, gender and religion) between December and January.
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The supplementary research found that nearly a third of Britons surveyed (29 per cent) say they read more political news than they did before the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) said they are “more vocal about politics” and comment on it more frequently.
This is despite 59 per cent of UK adults saying they were “tired of hearing about Brexit”.
News engagement (consuming and sharing or posting content) among UK adults was up 22 per cent on the previous year’s supplementary report.
But, more than half of survey respondents (55 per cent) said their views were “not represented” in the British media across political party and Leave/Remain divides.
Overall trust in the UK media was up five per cent year-on-year, but it remains the least-trusted institution out of business, Government, and non-governmental organisations.
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