How News Audiences Think About Misinformation Across the World

Abstract

In this chapter, Richard Fletcher examines some of the key findings from the 2018 Reuters Institute Digital News Report. This report analysed online data dealing with news consumption from approximately 74,000 respondents internationally, with particular focus on their ‘level of concern over and exposure to specific types of misinformation and disinformation associated with the news’. One of its main findings was that just over half of the respondents were either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned about bias, poor journalism, and completely made-up news. However, Fletcher explains that the level and areas of concern varies from country to country. For example, in Eastern Europe, the questionnaire showed that ‘misleading advertising was more of a concern than in many other parts of the world’. Fletcher analyses each key finding of the report, including the public perception of ‘fake news’ as a term, and who news audiences think should do more to fix problems associated with misinformation. He concludes by emphasising the importance of monitoring public concern over misinformation, in order to properly address the problems it poses.