Katalin Halmai (Brussels); F. Kata Szabó;
European Union; EP; Hungary; survey; media; Publicus; public television; Eurobarometer; state media;
2023-11-21 06:00:00
While in 25 member states the state media leads the list of the most credible news providers, in Hungary 25 percent of those who trust the state news providers prefer to get their information from social networks, according to the Eurobarometer poll.
In Europe, 48 percent of citizens trust public service television and radio as a source of news. Not so in Hungary, where the percentage of those who believe the state media is the lowest among the 27 EU member states examined, 25 percent. With its 26 percent indicator, even the Polish public media is somewhat more credible for news consumers than the Hungarian one.
Apart from these two countries, there is no member state where less than a third of the people trust the state news service providers: even in Greece and Malta, which share the third place from behind, this rate is 39 percent.
– can be read in the recent Eurobarometer survey published by the European Parliament, which examined the media habits of EU citizens.
While in 25 member countries public media leads the list of the most credible news providers, in Hungary it is people, groups or friends followed on social media, as well as other news platforms, including blogs and podcasts. According to pollsters, this shows
In no other member country is this exceptionally high (28) the designation of these two categories as reliable news sources. At the same time, compared to last year, those conducting the survey experienced the largest increase in trust in the EU average in the case of YouTube and other video platforms (+4 percent), as well as influencers appearing on social media channels (+4 percent).
Among the social media in Hungary, Facebook is by far the most popular: 83 percent of those who took part in the survey claimed to have used it in the last seven days. In contrast, the EU average is 63 percent. At the same time, the popularity of WhatsApp is much lower here (13 percent) than in the EU (62 percent).
For 71 percent of EU respondents, television is still one of the most used media from which they got news in the last seven days. This is followed by online press and news platforms (42 percent). The third place is shared by radio and social media platforms (both 37 percent), while 21 percent of citizens get their information from the written press. The vast majority of Hungarians
In this respect, the popularity of the written press is below the EU average, it is the source of news for only 11 percent of people.
In response to the question of whether you read local, national or European news in the past week, rather those about sports, culture or science,
While the vast majority of European respondents, 70 percent, follow the news on a daily basis, it is interesting to note that 9 percent avoid certain types of news. In Hungary, the proportion of the latter is one of the highest: 15 percent. The interviewers did not inquire about the exact type of information that the survey participants received.
Almost 26,000 citizens aged 15 and over in the 27 EU member states were asked in the poll. In Hungary, 1,019 people participated in the research.
State TV with Fidesz viewers
Viewers who are used to getting their information from television news programs mostly watch the ATV news channel, followed not far behind by those who follow the RTL news programs, marked by 62 and 56 percent, respectively. (There were several choices in the question). Among other things, this is revealed in a representative survey prepared for our paper by the Publicus Institute. 31 percent of those who get their information from television news programs usually turn to state media channels, which also means that more than two-thirds of them do not watch news there. TV2 and Hír Tv come next on the list (29 and 28 percent respectively), and Euronews news programs are watched by 6 percent of all respondents.
It is hardly a surprising result that the news programs of the state media (M1, M2, M4, M5, Duna TV channels) are primarily consumed by government party voters;
The RTL news channel, which is typically critical of the government – still among those who get their information from television news programs –
At the same time, it is interesting that 4 out of ten government supporters (38 percent) also connect to it. Of course, the latter group typically obtains information from TV2 and Hír TV programs, which support their own narrative, in addition to state TV.
13 percent of the respondents claimed that they regularly watch news programs that are on the opposite side of their political opinion or affiliation, and this “happens” for another 35 percent. 18 percent of Fidesz-KDNP voters “switch” regularly and 40 percent occasionally, in the case of the opposition it is 10 and 39 percent,
Overall, it appears that the political division and the propaganda in the pro-government media did not drastically shake the trust of TV viewers in the news programs they consume. According to 70 percent of those who watch state media, the Hírádó shown there is reliable or rather reliable. In this category it turns out that
The driving forces here are TV2 and Hír TV with 69 and 70 percent, according to the research of the Publicus Institute.
