Few Dutch worried about fake news, most trust the media, survey finds

Three in 10 people in the Netherlands are worried about fake news, a far lower percentage than in similar countries such as Germany, Belgium and Denmark, according to a new report published by the Dutch media commission.

And just 11% of people say they have no trust in the media, a much lower percentage than the 17% recorded last year, and the lowest among all 37 countries in the research.

In total, 75,000 people took part in the research, which was carried out by the Reuters Institute. Of them, 2,000 were in the Netherlands.

However, the source of the news is important. Dutch respondents said they are less likely to trust news on social media than traditional sources. In fact, over half of 18 to 25-year-olds said they did not trust news on social media at all.

This does not mean people have never been confronted with false or misleading news – almost half said they had come across it within a week. This again was the lowest percentage in the survey.

Traditional

The research also showed almost nine in 10 Dutch people check the news on a daily basis, including 93% of the under-25s. While traditional newspapers have been compensating for the decline in print readership via websites and apps, it is ‘worrying’ that few people are prepared to pay for news, the media commission said.

Just 13% said they had paid for news at least once in the previous year.

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