Trust in the media is decreasing in the country

Trust in media and news continues to decline in Canada, according to a report released by the Center for Media Studies.

The nearly sixty-page document, published Sunday, revealed that only 39% of Canadians trust the news most in 2024, or one percentage point less than in 2023.

According to the authors, “this is the lowest score Canada has ever received on the survey” since 2016 (55%).

With this slight drop from last year, this score is lower than the international score, which has remained stable (40%), but it is higher than the results for the United States (32%) (30%).

The study shows that English speakers are less inclined to believe most news (37%, the same result as in 2023) than French speakers (46%).

Interest is growing

Conversely, Canadians' interest in news will increase slightly in 2024 (82%, compared to 80% in 2023). This slight increase was observed among English speakers (83%, compared to 81% in 2023) and French speakers (80%, compared to 78% in 2023).

According to the report, respondents prefer local news (60%), international news (52%) and political news (43%), science and technology topics (41%) and the environment (38%). Respondents interested in news (23%), education (23%) and entertainment (24%) about social justice.

Television is still popular

The report shows that television remains the most popular source of information among Canadians (38%, up from 40% in 2023), while use of news sites or apps is increasing (30%; up from 27% in 2023). The third most cited source is social media (24%; 25% in 2023), followed by radio (5%; 4% in 2023) and newspapers and magazines (4% in 2024 and 2023).

However, since August 2023, Meta has blocked access to most journalistic content in Canada, the use of social media as the main access point to online news is declining in the country (23%; down four percentage points in one year), but it remains the most preferred route. However, 21% go directly to a site or application for information.

TVA Nouvelles is one of the most consulted media

The four online brands most consulted by French-speaking respondents in the past week were TVA Nouvelles (26%), ICI Radio-Canada/ICI RDI (26%), Press (25%) and Montreal Journal Or From Quebec (20%).

Between January 10 and February 6, 2024, YouGov conducted a survey of the full study of 2014 Canadians, including 430 French speakers, online.