Print most credible medium; fake news worries remain: Ormax

Despite the onslaught of digital media, audiences prefer traditional print for in-depth, credible news. Print leads media credibility index measured by media consulting firm Ormax, at 62%, followed by television (55%) and radio (54%). Traditional media have higher news credibility than digital media, though most web platforms have seen a marginal improvement in their credibility in this track, the firm said.

Further, 64% Indian news consumers see fake news as a major concern. These are figures from the third round of Ormax reports titled ‘Fact Or Fake?’ which measures the credibility of various news media, as well as the perception around ‘fake news’, through a survey of 2,000 news consumers across 15 states in India. The first edition of the report was released in September 2020, followed by the second in April 2021. 

The News Credibility Index is unchanged since the last track (65%), highlighting that fake news continues to be a huge concern amongst Indian news consumers.

Twitter remains the most credible digital medium for news, albeit with a drop in its Credibility Index over time: 57% in September 2020 to 47% in April 2021 to 42% in December 2021. Television too has seen mixed results, from 56% in December 2020 to 53% and 55% in April and December respectively the next year. The trajectory for social media has also been chequered, from 31% to 27% and finally 32% by December.

“Fake news, and lack of news credibility in general, continues to be a growing concern globally. Almost two out of three Indians see fake news as a problem, and that should be a major cause of worry for all news companies,” Shailesh Kapoor, founder and CEO - Ormax Media said in a statement. He added that the company had launched this report in 2020 to enable more informed conversations on the topic. “In the subsequent editions, we plan to study these indices by languages, to understand if there’s a difference in news credibility between Hindi, English and other major Indian languages,” he said.