Finns trust the news media more than any other nation surveyed as part of a global study conducted jointly by the Oxford University Research Center and the Reuters Institute.
The study found that public confidence in the Finnish media increased by nine percentage points during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Finland is still the country with the highest level of public confidence (65%), and the United States now has the lowest level (29%) in our study," outlined report. "We also find a growing trust gap between news sources that people tend to trust, and social media and search news that stays the same."
The high level of trust in Finland is due to the fact that Finnish society tends to have a strong belief in institutions, the report further stated.
The think tank also noted that the pandemic has been particularly effective in illuminating misinformation and urges the public to re-evaluate their news sources.
About 81 percent of Finnish respondents said they received news from traditional news sites and mobile applications. While typically younger generations have accessed the news online, the time spent at home due to the pandemic has meant that more and more people over the age of 45 have also browsed news sites in the past year.
Digital subscriptions keep newspapers alive
Despite reports of the impending death of newspapers, the study found that the network has not replaced traditional news media, such as Finnish newspapers, television and radio, but has instead complemented each other.
With the pandemic, digital subscriptions to newspapers and magazines increased temporarily, but this was not enough to compensate for the loss of advertising revenue. Despite the fact that the commercial media felt threatened by Yleโs extensive, free online offering, the report found that readers of free online news content are also more likely to pay for subscriptions.
The report also stated that about one in five Finns who pay for digital subscriptions are almost 50 percent more likely to have ordered at least Finland’s most popular spreadsheet, Helsingin Sanomat.
The study found that, in general, high-income, highly educated, young men interested in politics are most likely to pay for online news content. Subscribers to local newspapers, who accounted for 31 percent of respondents, were also motivated by interest in their local communities.
Source: The Nordic Page