Facebook is a more trusted news source than the Daily Star, according to a survey of nearly 2,000 UK adults.
Conducted for the BBC by Ipsos MORI in February, the survey’s aim was to gauge “public perceptions of impartiality and trustworthiness of the BBC”.
As part of the survey, 1,864 adult aged 15 and over who follow the news were asked which sources they feel are trustworthy and impartial.
Respondents were asked to rate 26 news providers, including commercial radio generally, out of 10 for each category, with daily and Sunday editions of newspapers categorised together.
BBC News (6.5 for impartiality, 7.4 for trust), ITV News (6 and 6.6) and Channel 4 News (6 and 6.2) make up the top three spots in both categories.
The Sun (3.5), the Daily Star (3.6) and Mail newspapers (4.1) made up the bottom five for impartiality along with Facebook and Twitter (both 3.9).
Along with the other tabloids, websites Huffington Post, MSN News (both 4.6) and Yahoo (4.7) made up the lower scale of impartiality.
Aside from the Telegraph newspapers (4.9), the broadsheet newspapers all scored between 5.7 and 5.3.
They were closely followed by Google News and the Metro (both 5.2). Sky News, Five News (both 5.5) and Al Jazeera (4.7) were judged to be less impartial than the other broadcasters.
Tabloid newspapers, the websites mentioned above and Al Jazeera all scored below 5 in terms of trustworthiness, with the Daily Star and Twitter (both 3.3) trailing Facebook (3.4) in last place.
Aside from the i (5), all broadsheets scored between 5.7 and 5.9, trailing the top three broadcasters and Sky News (equal with Channel 4 News on 6.2).
The survey, cited in today’s BBC annual report, showed that despite the BBC scoring higher than its rivals for impartiality and trust, it has not yet fully recovered the level of public trust it enjoyed prior to the Jimmy Savile scandal.
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