Politico and the Financial Times are seen as the most influential media sources for MEPs and other “opinion formers” in Brussels, a new Comres poll has found.
However colleagues and personal contacts were seen to be more influential than traditional media when it came to making informed decisions at the European Parliament.
Some 77 per cent of respondents said traditional media was influential in helping them make informed decisions, while 93 per cent said professional colleagues and personal contacts influenced them.
Under half (48 per cent) said social media was an influential source of information to them.
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US politics website Politico and the Financial Times were seen as the most valuable media sources with 69 per cent and 62 per cent of respondents to the poll saying they were influential in informing their decision-making.
The BBC (59 per cent), the Economist (55 per cent) and Twitter (55 per cent) made up the rest of the top five sources for EU news.
However more named the Economist and Twitter as “very influential” (25 per cent each) than the BBC (32 per cent).
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Facebook was the only media source to decline in influence since last year’s survey took place.
Although it went down two percentage points to 32 per cent, the social media site still ranked higher than the New York Times (31 per cent), The Parliament Magazine (22 per cent) and The New European (9 per cent).
Seventy-six MEPs, 43 EU institution staff and 111 Brussels opinion formers, including journalists, were questioned as part of the poll.
All three most frequently cited Politico as being influential to them.
Meanwhile MEPs value the BBC more highly than EU opinion formers, who ranked it below Twitter and European policy news website Euractiv.
Most influential media compared between groups of respondents
The poll was commissioned by PR company Burson-Marstellars, whose Brussels chief executive Karen Massin said: “The year’s survey shows that trust is a key factor for influencers when it comes to informing decision-making.
“They value their personal contacts and, increasingly, the EU media.
“But they are also embracing modern communications tools, especially Twitter and WhatsApp which are now essential in politics, advocacy and news reporting.”
The full report can be seen here.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons
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